How do I start a review on a movie for which I want to just dive right into the ending? What a shocking brutal climax to the last several minutes of a film!
Hunter Hunter was released December 18th, 2020. Pretty sure this was NOT on anybody’s Merry Christmas movie list to watch…unless you are like me. A Horror fanatic that watches disturbing, horrific, and unsettling movies at all hours, all months of the year, anytime I can possibly fit it in!
I love a quote I found by Jared Mobarak (https://jaredmobarak.com/2021/01/01/hunter-hunter/): “Hunter Hunter is a case of style over substance and your ability to appreciate that more than denigrate it, will be the sole barometer of whether you leave satisfied”
I couldn’t have said it better than that. The storyline is pretty simple and straightforward, with little to hide from sight. But the style in which the characters, plot, and conflict are presented to us, the viewer, is methodical, very persuading, and well thought out.
So, to the story itself.
Hunter Hunter introduces us to a family that is living far off the grid in the 90’s. No cell phones, hardly any interaction with any other people, miles away from the nearest civilization. They are fur trappers, which we see is an extremely difficult life. Price of living continually raises as their trips to the nearest gas station/miniature grocery store provide higher costs for supplies and food, and much less money in return for the furs they sell to the store owner.
The Mersault family, Joseph (Devon Sawa), his wife Anne (Camille Sullivan), and their teen daughter Renee (Summer Howell) have been living off the forest on, what we find out is, Federal land. The nearby rangers state to Anne, at one point, that they are likely not allowed to be living there, and therefore can’t help the family in any situation that rangers may normally be able to help with.
One such scenario in which the rangers cannot, or choose not to, assist the family is the return of a certain “mean” wolf that could be a large threat to the family. Said wolf seems to be targeting the family’s traps, eating their caught prey, and, in one scene, confronting Anne and Renee as they wash clothes and retrieve water from the nearby river. Anne shows her extreme desire to protect her daughter as she screams her lungs out at the wolf until it leaves. I probably would’ve lost my vocal cords if I screamed like that.
Joseph seems hellbent on hunting down the wolf and ridding their lives of its threat. Makes sense, however, he plans on leaving the women at the house until the deed is done and they can deem themselves safe again. In his expedition to find the beast, he stumbles upon a gruesome setting in the middle of the forest that sets this movie into a different direction than just a simple wilderness survival thriller. Since watching Hunter Hunter I’ve wondered if Joseph truly set out to find the actual wolf, or if he knew of a threat far greater.
Hunter Hunter is much more than a story about a wolf stalking a family in the deep woods. The movie’s highlighted theme is an age-old view at trying to determine what is worse: Beast or Man? The movie’s answer to this becomes apparent with the introduction Nick Stahl’s character, Lou. Joseph has been gone a while with no communication via satellite phone and Anne has really started to worry what may have happened to him, when she hears a man struggling in the woods near their home.
She fears that it is Joseph badly injured but is shocked to find that it’s another man with a rather nasty leg injury. Anne drags him into the house to tend to his wounds, where Renee looks on in terror and fear. And this sets us up with the aforementioned grisly climax. The disturbing nature of the ending just gave me chills thinking of it.
In Hunter Hunter, nothing is truly hidden, but the story unfolds a slight torn piece of grimy paper before us one piece at a time. As a little bit more is revealed, curiosity is piqued for what comes next. It is definitely what drew me further into Hunter Hunter. The slow revelations provided. Through the presentation style and tone, and the sudden gore carefully portrayed throughout, it’s obvious what type of movie Hunter Hunter is going to be straight from the opening scene. The movie progresses at a slow amble through expressive gritty scenes, all the way to the savage grisly climax at the end. Although it was painstakingly drawn out at times, the payoff at the end is well worth it.
I do have to say that the wolf almost ruined the movie for me. It was somewhat early in the flick where they show it approaching Anne and Renee…and it didn’t look real. But, as I’ve said above, this movie is not necessarily about the wolf. Look past it as I did and there’s a reward at the end.
I thought the acting was spot on. I didn’t even recognize Devon Sawa as Joseph, and even still looking at the photos from the movie I don’t believe it’s the main character from Final Destination and Idle Hands. Unfortunately, we aren’t afforded too much depth or history of these characters, but, in a movie like this, I don’t think that matters too much. Although, that could help with sympathizing with the choices the characters make through the movie.
Shawn Linden yet another Writer/Director combo who is somewhat of a newcomer to the scene. That list in 2020 seems to be growing by the day but could also be a side-effect of the pandemic closing down theaters and causing the major production movies to wait for release until a hopeful 2021.
Overall, Hunter Hunter was a good slow burn with an explosive in-your-face blood splatter ending. The tone and cruelty displayed throughout the movie could turn some people off, but for horror, I think it fits just fine in the survival Thriller region.
I gave it 3.25 Bloody Reels out of 5 Reels. And…I’ll never think of a skinned deer in the same light after this one…
Hunter Hunter
Released: 2020
Rating: NR
Director: Shawn Linden (In Plain Sight, The Good Lie)
Writer: Shawn Linden (In Plain Sight, The Good Lie, The Fixer)
Stars: Camille Sullivan (Unspeakable), Devon Sawa (Final Destination, Idle Hands), Summer H. Howell (Clouds, Curse and Cult of Chucky), Nick Stahl (Sin City, Terminator 3)
IMDB Rating: 6.4 out of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metascore: 58 out of 100
Rentable on these Apps as of this Blog posting: Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube TV ($6.99)
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