HUNT (2006)

The film was very well done for an independent film. The plot was fun, there was mystery, suspense and definately a top thriller. The only issue I had was the ending was a little too mainstream for an independent film. Definately worth the money.

I always remember that "Star Trek" was sold as "'Wagon Train' to the stars" and that "Miami Vice" was simply "MTV cops" to the network. "Hollywood," by which I mean the entire entertainment industry, always likes to pass off something old as something new. They are never interested in breaking new ground, just in making more money, and God forbid that they do not have ample cinematic references to make them feel that they on the right track. On our end of the entertainment universe we only get to watch these things, but it is fun to work on the cinematic math on a movie. For example, "The 13th Warrior" equals "The Seven Samurai" plus "Beowulf" with "Clan of the Cave Bear" thrown in for fun. I bring this all up because it does not take you long to figure out that "The Hunt" equals " The Blair Witch Project " meets " The Most Dangerous Game " via " The X-Files " (if you are old enough to remember "The Most Dangerous Game" substitute " The Twilight Zone " for the "X-Files," but if you have never heard of "The Most Dangerous Game" think of something more recent like " The Eliminator " or " Hostel " instead, although the flip in the story reminds me of " Audition " these days). The tagline for this 2006 film is: "A great number of hunters - a great number of deer. Statistically something was bound to go wrong." This is certainly an interesting tagline, but not especially on point for describing "The Hunt" (it makes the movie sound like that video game where the deer hunt the hunters). Jack Hamberg (Joe Michael Burke) wants to make a commercial video about deer hunting using a bow and arrow and he has hired news cameraman Atticus Monroe (Robert Rusler) to film it. He gets funding from Jon Kraw (Cliff De Young), whose ex-wife Tessa (Amy Briede) is now married to Hamberg. Just to add to the mix, Hamberg is taking his stepson, Clint (Mitchell Burns) along to make the video. While out on their hunt the trio crosses over into a private preserve, at which point the hunters become the hunted. It takes a while for them to catch on, but there are just too many familiar warning signs for us to avoid and so we know full well what to expect. That is obviously "The Most Dangerous Game" part of the proceedings, and the fact that Monroe is filming most of what happens is the "Blair Witch Project" part of the equation. "The X-Files" part comes at the end, and between the caption on the cover of the 0VD ("They went on a hunt. They became the hunted") and the eerie picture of the "beast" depicted, I really think they are giving away too much of the game here. But my main complaint is not that the people who put the DVD package together are spoiling their own film, but that in addition to all of the above the movie adds a second major thread that takes place after the Hunt. With the three people missing, Jon Kraw is doing everything he can to find his missing son and the others. So as we follow the events of the hunt we know that the search for them is going to last more than a week. To continue the "Blair Witch Project" element, Kraw videotapes what is happening with the search and his investigation. But unlike "BWP," not everything shot in "The Hunt" is "filmed" by the characters, which makes it a sort of half-hearted conceit. Much is made that this film was directed by Fritz Kiersch, who has some cult status because he directed " Children of the Corn " (I think the fact it was a Stephen King short story might have something to do with what people think of that particular film). But by telling the story through the two time frames and mixing the first-person and third-person camera bit, things get needlessly complicated. The same happens with all of the interpersonal tension that develops between the trio being hunted. The point was to add the elements together to make this movie and not multiply by them insteadm which is why I rounded down on "The Hunt."

I found the acting to be excellent given the plot was weak at times. Overall, I rate it as a very good movie.

I have to admit that I'm a fan of some thriller/horror/slasher/sci-fi flicks, but I didn't get this one. I happen to like Predator, and I thought Blair Witch was good by playing on a different set of fears than the usual movies in this genre. This movie basically came across to me as a one hour and ten minute family drama tacked on to an instructional bow-hunting buildup to 7 minutes of transparent effects. We kept checking the remaining time, trying to figure out how they were going to squeeze any action into it. They didn't. And, just because the fence is bent up, don't go under it.

The Hunt (Fritz Kiersch, 2006) I've been trying to write a review of The Hunt for, according to my spreadsheet, almost exactly a month now. (I watched it on November 11 and I'm writing this on December 9.) I've started it three or four times, and then it sizzles out about halfway through. I like the parallel that makes to the movie, actually, which starts off in a kind of slow-but-awesome mode and then degenerates into a weird mishmash of survival horror and sci-fi before jumping right off a cliff in the final minutes. Made in mockumentary format (in the same "here's this video we found" mode as The Blair Witch Project et al.), The Hunt is the parallel stories of a trio of guys who go into a private land-lease they've rented in order to make a hunting video and the frantic efforts of one guy's ex-wife and her new husband to find out what happened to them. The hunters are played by Joe Michael Burke (Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles), Mitchell Burns (Pearl), and Robert Rusler (The Whole Ten Yards), while the frantic ex-wife (of Burke's character) and her husband are Amy Briede (Surveillance) and the ubiquitous Cliff DeYoung (Last Flight Out). It's the trying-to-find-the-guys scenes that make this movie worth watching. DeYoung is by far the most experienced of the actors in this flick, and that's obvious. That part of the script is better-written, as well; we get a real sense of creeping dread as Briede and DeYoung's characters encounter roadblock after roadblock in their investigation, and then try and figure out why everyone who lives in the area is so close-mouthed about the history of disappearances in the area. The hunting plotline starts off interestingly enough, setting up some real tension between Burke's and Rusler's characters, but all that gets abandoned once the whole sci-fi-survival-horror thing kicks in unless it's convenient to the plot. The other reason to watch it is the controversy which didn't surround the film when it came out (a la Blair Witch, but has sprung up in the years since its release. While this is another "OMGTRUE!" flick that has the "all events are fictitious etc." disclaimer at the end, some media-critic Internet pundits have done a little research, and found out that this movie is indeed based on a number of true stories; if they are accurately reporting the accounts (note I'm not saying "if the accounts are accurate"), then this is far closer to a "based on a true story" flick than is, say, The Strangers (which was billed as based on a true story). As such, if you're a fan of this sort of thing, it's worth your time. That said, I can't tell you what "this sort of thing" is, because that would be a major spoiler. But still. If you like things that are a little (okay, a lot) outside the purview of accepted reality, you'll probably want to give this one a look. If you're just looking for a good movie, put this one closer to the bottom of your list. **

So-so beer and pretzel movie. B-grade movie, decent acting. Movie starts slowly, but the suspense builds and actually did hold my interest once the characters got in the woods to hunt deer. Once there, the hunters become the hunted. I enjoyed the "surprise" ending too, although it was somewhat predictable. Worth renting for a weekend evening if you don't have anything better to do.