Film Review: "The Hunt" (2020).

"The Most Talked About Movie of the Year is One That No One's Actually Seen." This is The Hunt. This horror thriller film directed by Craig Zobel, and written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof. Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are, or how they got there. They don't know they've been chosen - for a very specific purpose - The Hunt.

In March 2018, Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the film, with Cuse and Lindelof to pen the script, and Zobel to direct. The original title of the script was Red State Vs. Blue State, a reference to the red states and blue states. Later, Universal issued a statement denying that the film had ever had it as its working title. The elite hunters' reference to their quarry as "deplorables" is an allusion to the phrase "basket of deplorables", used by Hillary Clinton during the 2016 United States presidential election campaign to refer to supporters of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. An early draft of the script depicted working-class conservatives as the film's heroes. By late February 2019, Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ike Barinholtz, Ethan Suplee, Emma Roberts, Glenn Howerton, Justin Hartley, Teri Wyble, Macon Blair, and J. C. MacKenzie were cast. At the same time, with a budget of $14 million, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in early April. Filming took place in New Orleans, Louisiana. The film was originally scheduled for a September 27, 2019 release date. However, it was moved back to October 18 before shifting back to its original release date. In early August, Universal announced that in the wake of the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings, they would be suspending the film's promotional campaign. Several days later, the film was pulled from the studio's release schedule. In February 2020, the film's release date had been rescheduled to March 13, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased restrictions on screenings in movie theaters, Universal announced that the movie will be available to rent from March 20, 2020 with forty-eight-hour viewing windows for $19.99, merely one week after hitting theater screens and before the end of the usual 90-day theatrical run.

The film stars Gilpin, Swank, Barinholtz, Suplee, Roberts, Howerton, Hartley, Wyble, Blair, and MacKenzie. The only film of 2020 that had me actively cheering for the heroes and booing the villain - sinister monsters who are disguised as Republicans and who don't need to touch their victims to scar them for life.

Plausibly acted, if implausibly directed by Zobel, the credulity of this provocative scenario would snap had it not actually happened more than it already does right now. It's not an easy watch, which is kind of the point, and I'm not even sure what genre it is. But it will haunt and resonate. Zobel does a great job of just making you uncomfortable, making you want to just yell at the screen and tell the characters to just stop. It never loses sight of its goal to persuade us to be more aware, more questioning of our leaders, institutions and even ourselves.

Simon says The Hunt receives:

Also, see my review for Compliance.