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The Hunt (2020 film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Hunt' is a 2020 American horror thriller film directed by Craig Zobel and written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof. The film stars Betty Gilpin, Ike Barinholtz, Emma Roberts, and Hilary Swank. Jason Blum was a producer under his Blumhouse Productions banner, along with Lindelof. The film is about a group of high income liberal people who kidnap working class people with conservative political views to hunt them for sport. Zobel and Lindelof have said that the film is intended as a satire on the profound political divide between the American left and right.
The film was first announced in March 2018, and the cast signed on a year later. Filming took place in New Orleans. The film was originally scheduled for release on September 27, 2019. However, as a result of the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings in early August 2019, Universal Pictures decided to delay it.
'The Hunt' was released in theaters in the United States on March 13, 2020, by Universal Pictures and received mixed reviews from critics. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the closure of most theaters within a week of the film's release, which resulted in the film underperforming at the box office, grossing only $12 million. Universal made 'The Hunt' available digitally on March 20.
Plot
In a group text, Athena Stone anticipates an upcoming 'hunt of deplorables' at a manor house. A number of 'elite' people are aboard a private jet. A man named Randy emerges from the cargo hold. He is subdued by one of the other male passengers, who stabs him in the neck to stop him from talking about 'this' - to which Richard states that nothing has happened yet. Another hunter, called Ted the Doctor, tries putting Randy to sleep but he then grabs the champagne bottle and starts swinging it around until Athena stabs him through the eye with a stiletto heel, killing him. He is then dragged back into the hold and laid down next to an unconscious woman, called Yoga Pants.
Ten captives including Yoga Pants wake up gagged in a forest. In a clearing, they find a cache of weapons and keys to their gags, but upon retrieving them, Yoga Pants and another captive are shot and killed from a nearby pillbox.
Another captive, Dead Sexy, makes a run for it and falls in a trap, a captive called Shane runs and rescues her, stepping on a land mine right after, killing him and mortally wounding Dead Sexy, who is found by another captive called Staten Island, whose gun she steals and uses to kill herself.
Staten Island tries to escape over a barbed wire fence, running into a captive called Target, along with two others named Vanilla Nice and Big Red. Everyone but Target makes it across, who is shot by multiple arrows. The trio leaves Target to die and flee into a filling station, whose owners Miranda "Ma" and Julius "Pop" identify their location to be in Arkansas. The trio, each kidnapped from a different part of the United States, realises their situation's similarity to the "Manorgate" conspiracy theory. Big Red eats a poisoned doughnut, and Ma and Pop reveal themselves to be in league with their captors and kill Staten Island before finishing off Vanilla Nice. They then communicate with the other hunters via radio.
Crystal, one of the captives, arrives and after asking to buy some cigarettes, attacks suddenly, grabbing the shotgun under the counter and shooting Pa, killing him. She states that the price is too high for cigarettes in Arkansas, and kills Ma. She inspects her surroundings and discovers that the license plate of a truck outside is a fake with a real Croatian one beneath. A drone is released to survey the area when the other hunters are unable to contact Ma and Pop via radio. Another captive, a conspiracy theorist and podcaster named Gary, appears and shoots down the drone.
They board a railroad car full of refugees, whom Gary believes to be crisis actors; the train is then raided by Croatian soldiers. Gary tries to convince the soldiers that "Manorgate" is real when a refugee, revealed to be a hunter named Crisis Mike, admits to Gary that he is indeed one of the hunters but the others are innocent. He reveals the raid was unplanned and offers a head start if Gary cooperates. Gary takes a grenade from Crisis Mike and uses it to kill him. Crystal is then taken to a refugee camp where she meets another captive called Don. Oliver, an envoy from the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb, arrives to take them to the embassy. During the drive, Oliver probes into why they were selected for the hunt. Suspicious, Crystal kicks Oliver out of the car and runs him over. They find Gary's body in the trunk with a box marked "bribe money" and a map.
At the pillbox, Oliver's intended destination, the hunters - the passengers from the private jet - reveal their contempt for right-wingers and the purpose of the hunt. Don releases a pig into the bunker, and in the ensuing panic the hunters shoot the pig and almost shoot each other. Crystal kills most of the hunters, then wounds tactical consultant Sgt. Dale, who was there to defend the hunters in case of an ambush. Athena calls out to Don via radio, asking if he killed Crystal. Don says he doesn't know Athena and he refuses to disarm, aiming his gun at Crystal, and she kills him. Crystal tortures Sgt. Dale to get Athena's location before she shoots and kills him.
A flashback reveals that Athena's group text was a joke. However, it was leaked on the internet, creating furor over "Manorgate". Subsequently, the group text's participants' careers were ruined, including Athena, who gets fired by her bosses. They decide to make "Manorgate" a reality and abduct those responsible for spreading the conspiracy theory. Athena had insisted that Crystal be included in the hunt after seeing a post that specifically targeted her.
Crystal finds Athena, and asks whether Don was part of the hunt. She does not confirm or deny that he was. Crystal insists that Athena has confused her with another woman from the same city, with the same first but a differently spelled middle name. The two fight and impale one another on the blades of a food processor. Athena succumbs to her injuries, but Crystal recovers. She cauterizes her wound with a blowtorch from the kitchen, takes Athena's clothes, a bottle of champagne and Athena's dog, and climbs aboard her jet, explaining to the shocked crew that she has killed their bosses and wants to go home.
Cast
Production
In March 2018, Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the film, and set Craig Zobel to direct it, from a script by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof. The original title of the script was initially reported as '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 half of the supporters of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. An early draft of the script depicted working-class conservatives as the film's heroes.
In March 2019, Emma Roberts, Justin Hartley, Glenn Howerton, Ike Barinholtz, and Betty Gilpin were announced as being cast in the film. In April 2019, Amy Madigan, Jim Klock, Charli Slaughter, Steve Mokate, and Dean West were added as well. Hilary Swank's casting was announced in July. Filming began on February 20, 2019, in New Orleans, and was completed on April 5.
Nathan Barr composed the film score, replacing Heather McIntosh. Back Lot Music released the soundtrack.
Release
'The Hunt' was theatrically released in the United States on March 13, 2020, by Universal Pictures. It was originally scheduled for release on September 27, 2019. It was, for a time, moved back to October 18, 2019, before shifting back to September 27. On August 7, 2019, 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 studio announced that the film would be released on March 13, 2020 (Friday the 13th) in the U.S., with a new trailer, partially in response to the success of the similarly controversial film 'Joker'. Producer Jason Blum stated in an interview that "not one frame was changed" since the delay and that it was "exactly the same movie".
In mid-March 2020, movie theaters began to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures. Three days after the film's release, on March 16, 2020, Universal Pictures announced that the film would be available digitally through Premium VOD in the United States and Canada on March 20, before the end of the usual 90-day theatrical run. This was also the case for the studio's other films such as 'The Invisible Man' and 'Trolls World Tour'.
The film was released in three Santikos Entertainment theater locations in San Antonio, Texas on May 1, 2020, after the chain reopened.
Reception
Initial reactions
'The Hollywood Reporter' wrote that there were a pair of test screenings for the film which garnered "negative reactions". The second screening was held on August 6, 2019, in Los Angeles, in which "audience members were again expressing discomfort with the politics" of it, an issue Universal had not foreseen (although other studios had initially passed on the script for that reason). In a statement to 'Variety', Universal pushed back on a report that test audiences had been uncomfortable with the film's political slant, and also countered claims that the script had originally had an explicitly political title.The film's trailer received backlash by some in the conservative media for portraying supporters of Donald Trump being hunted by liberals. Trump also issued a tweet on August 9, 2019, criticizing the film industry while stating, "The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos"; although Trump did not specify the name of the film, news outlets said it was most likely a reference to 'The Hunt'. Kyle Smith, writing in the 'National Review', argued that the film would likely have a right-wing, anti-liberal tone that had been misinterpreted by conservative critics of the film's trailer.
In an interview with 'The Guardian', director Craig Zobel stated he didn't make the film in order to create controversy.
Box office
'The Hunt' grossed $5.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $12.4 million.In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside 'Bloodshot' and 'I Still Believe', and was projected to gross $811 million from 3,028 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $2.2 million on its first day, including $435,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $5.3 million, finishing fifth. The weekend was also noteworthy for being the lowest combined grossing since October 1998, with all films totaling just $55.3 million, in large part due to societal restrictions and regulations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the closure of many theaters due to COVID-19, the film played almost exclusively at drive-in theaters in the following weeks; it made $279,500 in its 11th weekend and $217,500 in its 12th weekend.
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 272 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critics consensus read, "'The Hunt' is successful enough as a darkly humorous action thriller, but it shoots wide of the mark when it aims for timely social satire." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 50 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.Accolades
{|class="wikitable sortable"|-style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
!Year
!Award
!Category
!Recipient(s)
!Result
!class="unsortable"|Ref.
|-
|rowspan="5"|2021
|rowspan="4"|Critics' Choice Super Awards
|Best Action Movie
|'The Hunt'
|
|style="text-align:center"; rowspan="4" |
|-
|rowspan="2"|Best Actress in an Action Movie
|Betty Gilpin
|
|-
|Hilary Swank
|
|-
|Best Villain in a Movie
|Hilary Swank
|
|-
|'HNiD' Awards
|Best Scream queen
|Emma Roberts
|style="text-align:center;"|'Write-in'
|style="text-align:center"|
|-
|}
Notes
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References
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