Spoilers Alert:
It was one of the scandalous films of 2019, even though it was only released in cinemas this year: Against THE HUNT was protested even before his appearance; including Donald Trump. The reason behind it is as banal as it is simple. And of course the film is not worth any scandal. He’s just really evil. We reveal more about this in our review.
Athena (Hilary Swank) and Crystal (Betty Gilpin) fight on equal terms.
But of course “The Hunt” doesn’t just consist of a satire level. With his survival horror film, Craig Zobel has created a damn entertaining contribution to the genre, which has so many twists and turnarounds in its manageable running time of just 94 minutes that you think every conceivable development is possible after the first half. In the first 15 minutes alone, Zobel establishes over half a dozen main characters, only to immediately part ways with them in the next moment. Before the motivations are clear, let alone any division into protagonist and antagonist, the film is almost over again. And until then, the viewer was able to enjoy a lot of spectacular kills (in this country, given the mass of severed limbs, torn bodies and torn out eyeballs, a 18+ age rating should be guaranteed), a cruel variation of the famous children’s encouragement story by Hase and hedgehogs and the realization that in “The Hunt” you can’t trust anyone, really anyone. The two actresses Hilary Swank play a large part in the bitterly evil charm of the film (“Million Dollar Baby”) and Betty Gilpin (“The Grudge”) at. While one, as the leader of the elite clan, has probably the most cynical film villain origin story of all time, the other gives a remarkably physical performance in a spectacular one-woman show. Both culminate in a brutally clever showdown that shows that you don’t need a fully equipped arsenal of weapons, just a reasonably well-equipped kitchen to really hurt each other.
Conclusion: “The Hunt” is a fucked up, bitterly evil mix of political commentary and survival horror enriched with nasty humor, tons of twists and spectacular kills, which is enormous from the first to the last second, but above all thanks to two excellent leading actresses is a lot of fun.
“The Hunt” is scheduled to hit USA cinemas this year. In the USA, the film is already available on VOD in the wake of the Corona crisis.
