The Hunt

Haunting, dark-hearted slasher The Hunt is the output of the twisted minds of director Michael and writer Gerald Crum. Centred around a fame-hungry social media star who sets up a horrifying fake serial killer scene for her followers, the film reverts to stalker horror that will only feed gore-hungry torture-porn devotees, lacking any stand-out set-pieces or characters that make this worth hunting down.

Influencer Brooke (Shanon Snedden) develops a desperate and disturbing plan designed to attract online notoriety. Along with friend Sammy (Amanda Nicole Thomas) and producer Louis (Chance Gibbs), they plan to stage a serial killer livestream to trick viewers into thinking the internet star is in mortal danger – all for a massive increase in figures of course. They recruit loner caretaker Marx (Jonathan Anderson) to play their killer. But the permission they grant him leads to blurred boundaries, as he fully embraces the role he is offered…

There is a nastiness in The Hunt obvious from the get go that make it clear this brutal slasher is not for the faint of heart. Extended scenes of torture, gore and murder are prominent – great for extreme horror fanatics but undoubtedly extreme for most audiences. The Crums have established themselves firmly in this camp by now and it is unlikely The Hunt will be stumbled upon by audiences unfamiliar with their tone, but it is worth stating nevertheless that there is little left to the imagination when it comes to blood and guts in this film. Beyond a certain set-piece with a meat hook however, there is not much in the way of innovation or originality in the ‘hunt’ itself. Regular slasher connoisseurs will find precious little that they have not seen before.

This lack of originality or memorability extends to the characters. Brooke is motivated by fame and notoriety, but we never get enough of a sense of the source of her desperation, or what drives her to set up such a brutal plan to increase her following. Little perspective is given either as to her current status online or in her personal life, other than that it is unfulfilling. The character exists primarily as an attractive vessel to be placed in increasing stages of peril and submission – meaning few viewers will make any meaningful connection with her. The opportunity to use the character to make any sort of statement or commentary on the pursuit of fame online is largely passed up. Other characters like Sammy or Chase (Dylan Alford) suffer from the same downfall, built of a skeleton structure of motivators but without anything meaningful to really trace through the narrative.

Even discounting plot or character elements, the film feels lifeless and bland – the result of an unimaginative setting and boring villain. Dusty abandoned warehouses have been trite for 30 years, and the action in The Hunt rarely ventures outside of this biome. The design of the monster is par for the course – a creepy mask covering a soulless void suitable but forgettable, and not one terribly aligned with the character’s background. Furthermore, the monster’s total silence throughout the film does create a disturbing sense of mystery, but limits the monster’s development.

Outside of a vaguely engaging social media angle, The Hunt is about as generic of a slasher as they come. It’s hard to recommend this lifeless haunt to any but the most devoted of horror fans, who even then will have seen far superior versions of the same movie time and time again. For anyone looking for originality, innovation or just interest, the hunt goes on…