The Hunt

There were dozens of films about hunting, survival in the wilderness, since DELIVERANCE, from all over the world. Many topics are possible from this basic scheme: common urban folks, as you and me, loose in countryside, deep forests, far from the madding crowd. French films are not so bad, and not only French. Easy to produce feature, because never very expensive to make, no matter the acting, cast, only the story and its originality count after all. One of those movies has absolutely to be unique, different from the others, has to offer something surprising, unusual ideas. I repeat, no matter the bad directing, lousy camera work or production design. This one belongs to this category; the director seems to be a real amateur but I don't care at all; anyway I did not expect more. I have seen enough films in my life not to have an instinct. There were tons of this kind of stuff. If I am surprised, especially in the end, I definitely take it. I only, only search, seek originality. That's all, not talent. Talent is for me optional. The link between the little boy and his step dad is quite touching for such a film, low grade one.

Saw this in the Blockbuster and picked it up as a Friday Night flick. The premise is straightforward: Hunters go into the woods-- and find something unexpected.

Difference is that the hunters are portrayed as good ordinary guys who hunt for plain sport-- they're not uneducated, Bloodthirsty hillbillies. Just Hunters. The Stepdad is played with good, solid earnestness. The kid is just a kid-- no oozy, sacchar-whiney uber-cuteness-- just a kid who gets more and more scared as time goes on while the conflict between the two adults build and build.

The ending left me kinda thoughtful-- but not in a bad way.

Saw a screening of this movie in Oklahoma City. Loved it! Very well done. All the main actors were wonderful. The little boy did a great job, too. The effects are incredible and the cinematography and style of the whole film really works well. Some funny parts, too. I liked the guy in the restaurant scenes who was talking about squirrel hunting. Funny character! The plot of the film is creepy and it really makes you wonder what's out there. You keep thinking the whole time what's gonna happen next. I about jumped out of my seat a couple times. Glad it was showing in Oklahoma City. Hope this will be available for DVD rental/purchase. A good, suspenseful thriller!

I saw this film at the Chicago Horror Film Festival and I must say that it had a surprise ending that you just don't see coming. The acting in it is also very good, surprising to see in many Independent films that you see. Plus the effects were done very well. I can't believe this one didn't win best Effects at the festival.

I did see that it did win Best Actor which is good. Robert Rusler (Vamp) did a great job in this film. His character was just so far out there and fun to watch. The kid also did a great job in the film.

The film is a little confusing at first, with all the cutting in of different kinds of footage, but once the film gets moving, it stays flowing at a pretty smooth pace.

Two hunters and a young boy head into the woods to film a deer hunting video. But they enter private property and suddenly find themselves in a mess way beyond their control. Also, the story of a search party piecing together the whereabouts of the missing...

Director Fritz Kiersch (whose only claim to fame is "Children of the Corn") brings us this one. Yeah, I hadn't heard of him, either. And after people see this film, they most likely still won't bother to give him the time of day. Sorry, Fritz. Let's run down the list of problems with this film.

The cover has two problems, which is a bad way to judge a film, but think of it like this: if you care enough about your film, shouldn't you make it appealing? First we have a tagline that tells us "The hunters become the hunted", which is just about he most overused and weak excuse imaginable. I hope that guy didn't get paid. Next, they try to sell the film by calling it "Blair Witch Project meets Predator". I'm sorry, that doesn't make me interested at all.

They were right about the Blair Witch Project part, though, as much of the film is shown through the camera of one of the hunters. (If you know anything about cameras, though, look at the model he is using and look at the film quality -- clearly this is not actual footage.) This gimmick is nothing special, and the fact they already told us it was like the "Blair Witch Project" makes it seem somewhat derivative.

We have a kid who is a horrible plot device and a horrible actor. Maybe he needed to be written out, or maybe they needed a different kid. I don't know. But this boy, who the hunters keep accurately calling "wimp", doesn't really add anything to the film. He could add some family tension (his parents are divorced), but they don't really touch on that.

The biggest ripoff of all is when they offer "the twist". You know I can't say what it is, but I'll tell you this: take two guesses and one of the two will be correct. Sadly, the one that's far less interesting is the one they decided to go with.

The film isn't a complete waste of time, though how exciting is a movie with a couple guys walking through the woods? Obviously the body count can't exceed three, and the conversation is kind of limited when you have to talk about deer and trees. As with other slow movies, I would have suggested this had been trimmed into a one-hour Masters of Horror type episode. Except, of course, there's no nudity or gore and there was already a (better) episode about deer. This still would have been weak.

You might have guessed, I'm not giving this one my seal of approval. Compared to the other films I watched this past week ("Evil Ed", "Henry", "2001 Maniacs" and "High Tension") "The Hunt" is little more than pond scum.... or deer droppings. Look for something else.