The Hunt (2020) Review – Controversial, Fantastic Splatter Chaos

Welcome to Knockout Horror. It’s Day 24 of our 31 Days of Halloween review marathon and today we are checking out something that probably doesn’t fit all that well as a late October movie – The Hunt (2020). This movie proved to be rather controversial back on its release and we are going to look at why. Let’s go.

Controversial One Woman Army Horror

As I mentioned in my opening, The Hunt, if I am being perfectly honest, is a bit of a poor choice for some October viewing. It’s not spooky, it’s not supernatural, it’s not autumnal, and it’s not a traditional horror movie.

“The Hunt slots quite neatly into a little corner of splatter horror that sees a seemingly ordinary person pitted against a group of marauding killers in a desperate fight to the death.”

It doesn’t really fit the vibe in any meaningful way, but I do like to throw in a bit of a wildcard when putting these features together. In the case of this movie, that wildcard comes in the form of a proper splatter horror.

The Hunt sees a group of seemingly unrelated people waking up in a field containing a large wooden crate. After opening the crate, which contains a variety of weapons, the group quickly realise that they are actually in a life or death game against a group of hunters who are aiming to pick them off one by one.

The Hunt slots quite neatly into a little corner of splatter horror that sees a seemingly ordinary person pitted against a group of marauding killers in a desperate fight to the death. The trick with these movies always tends to be that said character is actually far more capable than they originally seem.

Whether it’s Ready or Not, Revenge, You’re Next, or The Furies, this blend of utter horror carnage and one man army action silliness can be a hell of a lot of fun and that’s exactly the case here. This movie is simply mindless, popcorn horror fun.

Our protagonist is Crystal, played brilliantly by Betty Gilpin. She’s not your average person by a long shot and she’s about to make the antagonists here regret the day they made a simple mistake when seeking out victims.

So why the controversy?

The Hunt has a bit of a tarnished history. It was originally slated to release back in September of 2019, but a series of mass shootings pushed things back into 2020. Probably a smart move given the movie’s subject matter.

After a six month delay, the film finally hit screens in March of 2020, just in time for the entire world to shut down due to the pandemic. The movie lasted three days before a VOD release was announced and the cinema run was cut drastically short.

It had a tiny reissue back in the following May, but the overall return was dire. The Hunt made just over $12 million worldwide on a $14 million budget. If that wasn’t bad enough, the film generated a whole lot of critical noise thanks to its political satire.

The movie sets its story against a background of extreme left and right political division. The victims are paranoid, conservative, conspiracy-minded individuals and the antagonists are liberals who paint themselves as immensely virtuous, but are actually extremely hypocritical. The same group Get Out took aim at a few years earlier.

It’s not taking a side so much as laughing at the ridiculous nature of both these groups who immediately despise and distrust the other purely due to political affiliation. The left who feel they are morally superior and enlightened but are entirely willing to kill people for questioning them, and the right who create horrifying, life-ruining conspiracies purely because someone is more open minded and accepting of change.

That nuance was lost on many commenters and the backlash was pretty fierce. The front cover wears the criticism like a badge of honour, but in reality it is hard not to imagine it painted the narrative in a negative way and forced some people to simply avoid it.

The truth of the matter

In reality, the political satire here is neither as biting or a sharp as it wants to be or as people might expect.

“It’s the political satire equivalent of replying with “yo’ mama!”.”

If you think that painting right wing people as country bumpkins who believe that there is a conspiracy behind every single little thing, and left wing people as folks who become irrationally angry over misgendering is horrifyingly offensive and biting satire, then I don’t know what to tell you.

The Hunt’s political themes are so deliberately clumsy and silly that if the writers were intending the movie to actually provoke discussion or serious discourse, they would have missed the mark by miles. It’s just designed to put everyone into a blender together and see who gets offended first.

The political commentary is about as subtle as a sledgehammer and the stereotypes are so immensely over-the-top that you would have to work really hard to genuinely have a problem with them.

My biggest criticism in this regard is that it’s all a bit lazy and unimaginative. It’s the political satire equivalent of replying with “yo’ mama!”. I still found the movie quite funny, though. Not remotely clever or offensive, but funny.

Director Craig Zobel has a keen dedication to comedy and there is a really nice mix of silly character conversations, unexpected fourth wall breaking, and slapstick farce to keep the movie feeling tremendously light.

Kills are a lot of fun

There is a very high body-count, here. Right out of the gate, there’s people exploding left and right, being impaled on spikes, and torn apart by gunfire. Again, it’s all done with tongue in cheek, but the sheer variety of deaths keep you guessing on what’s coming next.

When we finally meet our protagonist, Crystal, the movie pivots into something more akin to a comedy-horror version of John Wick than anything else. This is a proper one-woman-army film and Crystal is seriously capable.

She’s calm, emotes very little, and is ruthlessly efficient. She doesn’t really care about how she has found her way into this situation, she just wants to go home and will murder anyone in her way that threatens to stop her.

It’s a ton of fun. Fight scenes are beautifully well choreographed and some are legitimately intense. It doesn’t quite match the lofty heights of some of You’re Next’s best scenes, but the action is consistently great.

There are occasional moments where the action slows down a bit, but it really isn’t long until things pick back up and the violence gets going again.

A massively underrated horror protagonist

Betty Gilpin is utterly fantastic, here, too. I’m quite happy to say that she actually elevates the movie to the point where I would suggest watching it just for her.

“My advice, if you are easily offended, just give it a miss.”

Her consistently deadpan delivery makes Crystal one of the most unique characters in horror and she’s so unflinchingly unbothered by what is happening that she feels completely in control at all times.

Crystal acts as something of an avatar for the viewer, and the average person, when it comes to the movie’s political aspect, too. I have to give a special mention to a fantastic, scenery-chewing turn by Hilary Swank, as well. She is a ton of fun, here.

When it comes to negatives, there really aren’t too many. Naturally, this isn’t a particularly deep movie so anyone looking for a well thought out story or more involved narrative might be left wanting. The movie isn’t remotely scary, either but it isn’t trying to go for that.

The middle of the film does drag a little bit. There is an attempt to expound on some of the story’s plot points that gets in the way a bit. It isn’t really needed, let’s get back to the killing. I do feel as though the satire can get in the way a little bit, at times, too. It’s not clever enough to blend in seamlessly and there are moments where it feels like a clumsy episode of South Park combined with an action horror.

My advice, if you are easily offended, just give it a miss. I don’t think it’s a particularly biting movie and it’s really designed to appeal to the average person who is sick of all the extreme left and right discourse. Push all that to one side and try to appreciate it for the fantastic action and the slapstick silliness. The Hunt is a great time.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.