THE HUNT

Luckily, the plethora of top class sophistication supplied to Keri, Stu and I mean we rarely suffer with writers block when penning the humble considerations featured on these pages. Poor Alex (Jellali Mouina) doesn’t have that luxury though. His sordid fictional submissions for a sleazy magazine have steadily been going downhill as he struggles for inspiration. His latest obscene oeuvre, tentatively titled "Pussy on a hot tin Woof" is an insalubrious tale of bestiality (if you pardon the homophonic pun of sorts!).

Jokes aside, Alex’s female battleaxe of an editor (Marie Christine Jeanney) is not happy. She wants something marketable that will rejuvenate the dwindling sales of their tawdry publication. She suggests that "violence and famous people sell" and that Alex should seek this out rather than his "doggy style" depravities.

The best he can do is approach Sarah (Sarah Lucide) his stripping dominatrix styled prostitute ‘girlfriend, whose client list had the odd prominent individual among them in days gone by. Somewhat reluctantly she discloses information about a certain gentleman whose many sexual deviances include filming himself while in the throes of depravity.

Sarah creates a diversion allowing Alex to rifle through his apartment in search of the tapes. But it’s not sordid recordings he finds. Instead he stumbles across a surreptitious invite of sorts via a bag full of cash, a hunting knife and ringing mobile phone. (Not so sure I would have answered it myself if I was doing a bit of breaking and entering but hey, maybe it’s different in France!). His curiosity, no doubt oiled by the crisp bundles of notes, gets the better of him and he follows the instructions given. Wild ‘goose chase’ perhaps - Or maybe, a game of pursuit that will give Alex the story of his life…

As the opening frames rolled, I pondered the last time I luxuriated in the joys of ‘Torture Porn’. Let’s face it; an anonymous blood stained victim, tied to a chair and faced with a masked assailant armed with a pair of heavy duty pliers can only serve to incite such reminiscing! (Kiss those pesky tongues goodbye chaps!) Along with that, as the movie progressed, the narrative itself had more than a whiff of Eli Roth’s Hostel to it. Nonetheless, it did become apparent over the course of the 75 minute runtime that it would be unfair to merely categorize THE HUNT as agony driven pornography.

A nod of the beret must go to comparatively unheard of director Thomas Szczepanski for his ability to weave some menacing tension into the unfolding drama before the main course of blood soaked carnage. I particularly found the journey to the forest via the back of a shabby transit van conceivably chilling. As Alex and his fellow hunters were escorted to the battlefield, he simply couldn’t escape the intensely suffocating glare of a balaclava clad huntsman as the seasoned killer ominously honed the blade of his machete.

The movie is in French with English subtitles in white lettering. For the vast majority these are readable but some of the quick fire discourse, coupled with the words blending with some very pale flooring, did mean in a couple of sequences it was rather tricky to interpret. In fairness, these brief inconveniences only occurred once or twice and didn’t inhibit grasping the story at all.

Staying on the issue of a foreign language movie, it is worth mentioning that the core of the film (played out in the woodland) featured very little dialogue at all. It even struck me that due to the lack of talking and the extreme violence, an isolated soundtrack devoid of any visuals would make for interesting listening due to the magnitude of victims petrified whimpers often liquefying into blood curdling gurgles!

Another great aspect of the discs audio was of course the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The scenes in the forest were accompanied by an appropriate bass heavy rumbling stomp that almost numbed the senses and effectively flexed the subwoofer. The visuals comprised of some compelling cinematography by Anna Naigeon which created a great sense of disorientation within the hostile jungle. The disc itself depicted green foliage and crimson bloodshed with opulent crispness.

As you would hope from a movie concerned with human quarry being picked off for sport, an obligation to deliver a liberal amount of gore is fulfilled! The effects are perhaps not perfect, but are a solid effort all the same with no notable CGI cheapening proceedings. Throats are slashed; arrows soar from crossbows before thrusting deeply into flesh while a bear trap or two, and even a few ravenous pigs with a penchant for human pulp, were thrown in for good measure!

OK so THE HUNT is bloody and brutal but where the movie possibly misses its target is in the believability department. The idea of society’s elite hunting the lower ranks didn’t bug me, but the ease in which Alex infiltrated the supposedly top secret shindig did. Thankfully the movies rapid pace tended to gloss over this and a couple other rather fanciful occurrences. It was also compensated by a clever twist or two (along with the gore ante being cranked up) as the movie approached its climax.

The only thing missing from the DVD was a few extras. Great to see MVD adding this title to their trashy catalogue, but very disappointing to see all we get is a menu screen with PLAY MOVIE and CHAPTER selection.

All in all a high octane and enjoyable blood filled caper set against a sleazy backdrop with a satisfying twist in the conclusion.

Review by Marc Lissenburg