Traqués

Hounded: A nice little gem which really could have gone places with a bigger budget. It has all the trimmings, local feudal style aristocracy, a country inn which seems welcoming but the patrons are rather odd, dark woods, a ritual chase to the death. A young gang decide to carry out one last burglary, they have been working for an antiques dealer who supplies them with the addresses of rural properties to raid. But this time he's sent them into an ambush. Soon they are prey, pursued by local toffs on horseback who use hounds to track them. These redcoats are psychopaths rather than psychotic though, hunting the lower orders has been a tradition for them. There are gruesome chases across fields and through woods, when the hounds catch up with one of the gang they tear into him and he is dispatched by having his throat cut by one of the hunters who then daubs his son's face with blood. OK, we are dealing with elements of satire here but that doesn't take away from the terror and the tension as the story unfolds. The hunters don't have it all their own way as the body count rises, plenty of blood and gore in this shocker which is leavened by a strain strain of satirical black comedy. Some nice plot twists as well. Directed by Tommy Boulding, Written by Dean Lines and Ray Bogdanovich. 7/10.