Hunting Season

1st watched 7/31/2003 - 3 out of 10(Dir-Jeff Leroy): Ok for a 3-d movie, which isn't saying much. This film was originally shot in 3-D and it actually has a good 3D feel to it, but like most 3D movies the `actual' movie is not that great. I have to admit there was one good actress in the film(Cindy Pena) as the revenge-stalker bow-wielding hunter. She actually tries to act but the rest of the males in the cast are worthless and don't seem to even be trying. The female in the picture is raped by hunters and basically stalks them on her own after the police give it a shot. There is a twist in the ending which I won't reveal for those of you who venture into watching this but it was somewhat expected. The rest of the movie including the special effects was disgusting utter-trash. Watch it for Cindy Pena if you watch it at all.

I bought this movie thinking it would be based on the excellently-written "Open Season" paperback, from the 1970s. In that story, like this one, a woman takes revenge against hunters who raped her; and, in that case, killed her boyfriend, after "hunting" both of them. However, despite the quote from Hemmingway, "There's no hunting like the hunting of armed men," this movie has nothing on that one.

Speaking of rape, since they hated "I spit on your grave," I am sure movie critics S&E loved this one, as everyone involved in the rape scene kept their clothes on – the woman had on her underwear; and, the rapists their jeans, jackets, and shirts. The only more unrealistic rape scene was in 1993's Savage Vengeance, a sequel to the vastly superior original, in which everyone was fully clothed the whole time.

This film has a few more problems… it was obviously filmed in California – auto license plates, Balboa Medical Plaza, and, the like. However, the director keeps cutting back on the State of Pennsylvania Hunting "licence" (YES, it's spelled that way; and, there are many other spelling errors as well). It just doesn't make sense.

All the practical effects are unbelievably bad. Worse, some are silly – just take a look at the rabbits that others have mentioned.

What's with the cop anyway, first he's hostile toward Sarah, then he's disinterested, then he's looking at housing construction, while feigning concern... odd.

Where to begin? This isn't your average movie. Imagine college freshman taking film class for a month and they have to make a movie. This is probably how it would turn out. These movies are VERY entertaining for me for different reasons. One being they are SO corny that they're hilarious to watch. Whether it be a horror or a drama...it's still comedy to me. The absolute BEST part of this movie was when a body fell off of a cliff and landed DEAD STILL on top of the water! AH HAHAHA! Just PLOP as if it were inflated with air. I also like to see completed film projects by amateurs and see how talented they are and what kind of ideas they come up with. I'm rating it a 2 and I'm being super generous because it did slightly entertain me. If you have a weird taste like me and like these type of movies for the cheese ball effects...go for it...At least it's in 3d as a bonus.

HUNTING SEASON (2 outta 5 stars) Well, sure this is an ultra-low-budget bunch of cheese that is barely a "real" movie at all. It's filmed on video... the acting, writing, special effects and even the sound effects are terrible... but, hey, I'd rather be watching something ludicrous and laughable than some competently-made, generic "TNT Exclusive" or some such nonsense. This is a true descendant of the bad '70s rape/revenge flicks that used to play at the local drive-ins. A young couple go out camping and are accosted by masked hunters who beat up the guy and rape the woman. The local sheriff doesn't seem to be much help so she gathers up her crossbow and hunting knife and goes after the bad guys herself. The cheap special effects are kinda fun in a cheesy way. The girl who plays the lead (Cindy Pena) isn't too bad an actress... unfortunately everybody else is dreadful. The directing, to be honest, isn't all that bad... the camera usually seems to be well-placed (which is rare for these kinds of movies). The editing, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired. To pad out the short running time (I guess) there are a lot of pointless flashbacks to all the previous scenes of gratuitous nudity and/or violence. An added bonus is that this movie is released on DVD in 3-D (but without including glasses, of course, so I can't tell how *good* the 3-D effects are). But, what can ya expect for a $4.00 DVD at Wal-Mart? I figure I got my money's worth.

I wish I could give this one no stars; it is truly THAT BAD. As another reviewer noted, everything about it is horrible (the production, acting, sound, video...everything!) I can't think of one thing about this movie that I could possibly remotely like. I've seen bad before, but this one gave me an eye twitch for days. If you want to watch the epitome of cinematic crap, here it is.

The story line isn't anything out of the ordinary and they even attempted to throw in a twist-ending (if you even get that far), but I literally sat through the whole thing with my mouth hanging open in utter amazement. It appears to be a college project gone awry.