La chasse est ouverte

As has been pointed out 'Open Season's basic premise takes inspiration from Richard Connell's classic suspense story 'The Most Dangerous Game', first filmed back in the 30s with 'King Kong's Fay Wray, and continually used ever since. Many a trash classic has been indebted to it, not least of which the ultra-cheesy 'Turkey Shoot' (with Steve Railsback), and John Woo's 'Hard Target' starring Van Damme and Lance Henriksen. The reason it gets reused over and over? Because it bloody well works every time!

'Open Season' isn't just another rip off in my opinion. The actual "game" only takes up a small segment of the movie, and the focus is more on the relationship between the three hunters and their guests. Some complain it's boring or two slow movie. Not me, I loved every minute of it. The main reason being the three leads are played by Peter Fonda, John Phillip Law and Richard Lynch, three cult film legends. Even one of these guys being in a movie is enough to get me viewing, but having all three is manna from heaven!

Peter Fonda was going through his strange post-'Easy Rider' period where he was starring in lots of b-grade Drive In fare like 'Dirty Mary Crazy Larry', 'Race With The Devil' and 'Futureworld', and wearing orange shades a lot. John Phillip Law will never be forgotten for his roles in 60s camp classics 'Barbarella' and Mario Bava's 'Diabolik'. At this time he was about to reach his commercial peak playing Sinbad in 'The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad' before slowly descending into video hell. Richard Lynch had recently had a small but memorable role in the excellent Gene Hackman/Al Pacino road movie 'Scarecrow', but would go on to appear in Larry Cohen's 'God Told Me To', William Peter Blatty's cult classic 'The Ninth Configuration', and innumerable z-grade action, horror and sci fi flicks.

Fonda, Law and Lynch play Ken, Greg and Art, three middle class family men and war buddies who go on their annual hunting trip. Along the way they meet a couple having an affair and "invite" them to be guests in their cabin on a small island. The couple think it's a kidnap attempt and are puzzled why no ransom is discussed. The guys attempt to show them a booze fuelled "good time" with mixed results. Eventually the holiday is over and the "guests" are free to leave. However there is a slight catch...Yup, you guessed it! What nobody realizes though is that they aren't alone on the island, and things may not go exactly to plan this year.

Movies like 'Open Season' are what I live for! A 1970s exploitation classic ripe for rediscovery.

Three buddies (Fonda, Law, Lynch) kidnap a couple (Sharpe, Mendoza) up in the mountain. Forced Mendoza to be a cook and housekeeper, and the Sharpe to be a sex slave to them. And after the weekend is over, they turn them loose in the wood to hunt them, not knowing the father (william Holden)of a girl that that they raped in High School that had their retarded kid is waiting and watching to pick off Fonda and the gang one by one. I can't understand why Fonda who was getting leads in action films and drama, and Holden who is a respectable actor to be involved in a distasteful film like this. The film looks like it was shot in Spain for the supporting actors looked dubbed. Spanish Actor Simon Andreau is billed as special guest star, but is not in the US or UK print. Annoying title song sounds like Oliver Onions from Italian pop band Guido singing it. TV print loses some of the nudity, but the violence is intact. See it if you like this sort of film, others beware.

What can we say about Ken, Greg and Arty? Fine upstanding citizens, respectable family men, hard workers who enjoy blowing off steam with a little bit of adultery, kidnapping and murder!

Once a year these wonderful human beings leave their families behind for a few days and head into the arms of Mother Nature. Fast flowing rivers and endless empty forests are just what the doctor ordered, the perfect place to unwind and more importantly, the perfect place to muffle the screams of their latest victims.

This year they stumble across a couple with car trouble and take them to their isolated cabin in the woods. It's a crime that is committed with such ease and bravado there's no doubt these men have done this before. In the cabin the man is handcuffed and humiliated, forced to cook and clean. His girlfriend, on the other hand, is subjected to horrors of a different kind. When the fun is over the next day the couple are told they will be set free, however, this is no cause for celebration, as they soon realize the true nightmare has only just begun.

The three men are played by Peter Fonda, Richard Lynch and John Philip Law. Apart from being war vets, little is known about the characters they play, but judging by their pastime of kidnap and murder we can guess they are struggling somewhat to settle into normal life.

Released in 1974, smack-bang in the middle of the exploitation era, Open Season is both low budget and violence heavy. Think of it as cross between a spaghetti westerns and Deliverance. It is certainly not a movie for everyone but Peter Fonda calmed it was one of his favorite. "I had a good time on that one. That was my first chance to play a really evil guy. "

Richard Lynch often plays the villain, but seeing hero types Peter Fonda, and John Philip Law as Lynch's comrades in crime is what really makes "Recon Game" a winner. It appears the three leads had a long leash as far as improvisation goes, and their constant bantering probably strays somewhat from what might have been scripted. The film is not perfect, and there are at least a bunch of tedious moments, especially inside the hunting lodge, including a truly boring sequence involving a Monopoly game. Once the "prey" are turned loose and the hunt begins, this raw revenge flick kicks into gear. "Recon Game" compares favorably with another rarely seen hunted in the woods film, "Hunter's Blood". If you can find it, see it, and along with "Recon Game" they would make a terrific double feature. - MERK

I often like to read the comments from the back pages first and those here at IMDb are very, very disparaging of this film - much like the original critical reviews (and the still rather dismissive all-movie-guide blurb). The common reason is that these viewers were much offended by this movie. I can relate because I was offended as well when I saw it in 1974. And that horrified, sickened sensation stayed with me all the next day - so much so that I had to tell a co-worker about it, not in an enthusiastic way, but in an almost confessional way - as if I'd done something very wrong myself in having watched it. The comments at the back, I believe, are written from that emotional viewpoint. It's visceral hatred of what they've been unwillingly exposed to and I believe that may hinder appreciation for the actual quality of the film-making. They can't bring themselves to praise in any way something by which they feel so affronted.

This is testament to just how good this movie is. And by good, I mean effective. It's been three decades and counting since this nasty was sprung upon the viewing public, and though many far nastier (in graphic content and visuals) have avalanched down upon us since, few, if any, have been more gripping. You see, this is the type of movie that makes you ponder the 'nature of evil'. It's this seemingly bland, irredeemable, sociopathic evil that seems to disturb the most. No mental illness explanations ala 'Psycho' to take comfort in; no painfully, disfiguring past that has caused sadistic, homicidal madness as with 'The Hypnotic Eye' and it's ilk; no over-the-top camp sadism as with 'Blood And Black Lace' that can be watched and instantly dismissed, so ludicrously cinematic is the horror there.

No, at the risk of plagiarizing another commenter, the violence here feels too real. The acting is too good. The slowly unfolding scenarios too disturbingly believable. The final twenty minutes of the film are immeasurably welcomed by the viewer, as the film takes on an eerie but strangely satisfying turn. It provides much-needed catharsis, a relief from the tension and sadness of the first hour.

The ending ties up some loose ends nicely, leaving one with a kind of 'understanding' of what it was about. A message about what inhumane attitudes can be developed in those who have been a little too privileged, perhaps. I recently became aware that the film has an alternate ending (included in the version known as 'The Recon Game') that serves to undermine our sense of justice when compared to the version that was shown here in Canada. Perhaps tacked on as a sop to the protestations of liberal critics, it is nowhere near as satisfying a conclusion as that of 'Open Season'.

Not that this movie is available other than as a very pricey European import (some with non-removable foreign-language subtitles yet), but the North American version of 'Open Season' is the one to see first.