Curator Watchlist
A nasty, fast-moving satire-thriller with a strong central performance and some gleeful kill-or-be-killed energy, but the political point it’s making is broad and often feels more like a provocation than a fully sharpened idea. If you want a pulpy, violent update of The Most Dangerous Game, it delivers enough… Read more
Where to watch: Buy
Wed · 1h 30m
Director: Craig Zobel
Starring: Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ethan Suplee
Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are—or how they got there. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted turns the tables on her pursuers.
Craig Zobel
Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ethan Suplee
A nasty, fast-moving satire-thriller with a strong central performance and some gleeful kill-or-be-killed energy, but the political point it’s making is broad and often feels more like a provocation than a fully sharpened idea. If you want a pulpy, violent update of The Most Dangerous Game, it delivers enough momentum to work; if you want bite, nuance, or especially elegant action, it’s shakier.
The Hunt is built on a simple, durable engine: strangers, a remote location, and a lethal game with a nasty social edge. Craig Zobel keeps it moving, and Betty Gilpin gives the movie its best asset by making the hunted feel resourceful, funny, and unpredictable rather than just victimized. When the film leans into momentum and physical comedy, it’s easy to see why it became such a conversation piece.
The problem is that the satire is more blunt-force than incisive. It wants to jab at tribalism on both sides, but the caricatures are so broad that the movie often feels like it’s arguing with a meme version of America. That can be entertaining in the moment, but it also limits the film’s bite and makes the whole thing feel smaller than its premise.
As a genre exercise, it’s watchable and occasionally very fun. As social satire, it’s hit-or-miss. The result is a movie that plays best as a nasty, disposable thriller with a sharp lead performance rather than a truly provocative statement piece.
clem (3.5★) · 6192 likes
me vs trying to figure out what side of the political spectrum this movie is on
hollie amanda (2★) · 2512 likes
this isn’t even a movie americans just be like that
aaron (3.5★) · 1963 likes
okay a few points: - she kinda snapped - I blinked and emma roberts was gone - I LOWKEY LOVED THIS IM SO SORRY FILMBROS
maria (3★) · 1738 likes
i can't say with which of these two i identify the most... the pig or the dude who asks where the hand sanitizer is
davidehrlich (3★) · 1225 likes
“The Hunt” begins with a bunch of NPR-addicted neoliberals poaching a wild pack of Trump-worshipping MAGA types for bloodsport. Director Craig Zobel’s ultra-violent satirical update of “The Most Dangerous Game” aspires to be the movie that America needs right now; it’s a giddy slaughterhouse of mirrors that hopes to bring this country together and make it great again by reflecting the absurdity of us vs them resentment. The movie literalizes the rhetoric of a culture war that has divided the
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survival, class conflict, political satire, culture war, revenge, human hunting, conspiracy, social polarization
satire, thriller, horror, action, survival game, dark comedy, culture war, gory, high-concept, political allegory