The Hunting is a 2021 horror movie directed by Mark Andrew Hamer and stars Angela Cole, Peyton Hillis, Joelle Westwood and Keith Migra, alongside other cast members. The film has a runtime of 93 minutes.
IMDB describes the movie as:
When a mysterious animal attack leaves a mutilated body in the forest, a conservative small town detective must enlist the help of an eager wildlife specialist to uncover the dark and disturbing truth that threatens the town.
– The Hunting review does not contain spoilers –
The Hunting makes its intention known in the starting minutes of the film. A drunken fisherman out on a little nightly fishing expedition is mauled to death by a large creature, one that we are not made aware of thanks to the guy’s blurry vision. Thus, with an opening like this, you’d expect the movie to be chockablocked with werewolf stuff and blood and gore.
The movie, though, takes a weird turn in the scene right after where we see ex-military man Connor suffering from PTSD thanks to his time in service. It becomes a mystery after this, where Connor and Dave go around trying to find Bobby and a handful of other people who have turned up missing which then turns into who is murdering these people in such gruesome ways? Much to my chagrin, the werewolf doesn’t make an appearance for most of the movie’s runtime.
Now, Dave is Connor’s goofy sidekick. Connor is supposed to be the level-headed and no-nonsense detective while Dave is his less serious assistant. Their dynamic is supposed to instil some humour into the mix but it feels really forced because, firstly, the humour isn’t funny and secondly, Connor is just so stiff that any and all interactions that he has seems fake.
Also, can I just ask why Maggie always has a bunch of hair on her face? It’s so distracting and annoying! There’s this additional angle of the Native American park employee who was added just for diversity, I guess? It’s just so awkwardly done.
As The Hunting goes on, it becomes more of a drama than a creature thriller. As I mentioned above, the werewolf is nowhere to be seen and you only watch Connor getting a handle on his PTSD or trying to figure out who could’ve done something this horrible. However, the mystery is never made interesting enough for us to be glued to the screen. In fact, it’s pretty tame and boring and with the added military angle, it waters down the plot even more.
Ok, let’s talk about the characters. Each and every person in The Hunting is a caricature of their “categories”. The gay guy is snobby and bitchy, gossips and looks down on everyone with an air of superiority. Also, teenagers. Then there’s the diversity character who is just there for the heck of it and who knows a lot about mystical things that people don’t usually know about. Lastly, the little switcheroo with the werewolf character might be shocking but doesn’t really come out of the left-field, if you think about it.
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The Hunting 2021 is terribly boring. The poster lied when it showcased a huge werewolf as if there were a lot of horrible things to showcase. Rather, the movie is a drama about trauma, guilt and how to overcome these issues. The characters are terribly boring and the acting is below average. The cinematography isn’t half bad but it doesn’t make up for the mind-numbing boredom that you are subjected to for 93 minutes. Well, at least the werewolf isn’t CGI so that’s a plus.
The twist at the end, which was supposed to be the eye-opener of the entire movie, probably brings out some gasps but is overall underwhelming. We never see the why or the how, just that it is which is not only confusing but also really annoying. It’s not scary at the least and winds up being annoying and simply underwhelming.
Summing up: The Hunting
The Hunting is a confusing movie. Unlike what the poster might suggest, this is more of an awkward drama rather than a thrilling creature feature. It’s awkwardly acted and features some half-baked characters. There are better werewolf movies out there, give this one a skip.
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The Hunting 2021 – I just saw this cheese ball and I was sorely disappointed. The guy playing the detective who has PTSD is constantly reminding us he has PTSD to the point it becomes a joke.. His portrayal of a detective is amateurish at best. His partner is an even bigger caricature of a policeman. Overall the movie is incoherent. It just drones on and on without a clear goal. It’s true when they say that a pretty video doesn’t make a good film. It’s shot like a soap opera. Very neat and clean. But camera moves are unmotivated. It’s missing that horror movie atmosphere. The plot is nowhere to be found and all the characters lack clear motivations and goals. They just wander through the movie from one scene to the next without new or important information to share. Bad acting, bad directing, bad writing and bad effects. One bad and boring flick. I was hoping to like this movie by the end, but if felt short on so many levels. Not sure if it’s a first time film for the director who did so much behind the scenes, that he forgot to focus on the one truly important job. Direct his technical team and his actors with skill so it would really captivate us, the audience. He spread his efforts thin! Leaving the movie with no redeeming qualities. Too bad. It had potential.