Hunter Hunter (2020)

DECEMBER 18, 2020

GENRE: SURVIVAL, THRILLER
SOURCE: THEATRICAL (DRIVE-IN SCREENING)

When you think of Devon Sawa and horror, you'll probably think of Final Destination or Idle Hands (if you're into deep cuts you can go with Devil's Den), i.e. fun genre movies, right? Well, don't walk into Hunter Hunter expecting anything like those - this is one of the bleakest films I've seen this year, and no I'm not forgetting things like The Lodge and The Dark and the Wicked. There are a few quick moments of levity involving some city morons who keep leaving trash around in bear country, but otherwise it starts off moody and ends on a more or less devastating climax. Merry Christmas!

Sawa stars as Joe, a fur trapper who lives way off the grid with his wife Anne (Camille Sullivan) and daughter Renee (Summer H. Howell), the latter of whom is starting to learn the family trade while mom deals with things like collecting water and bringing in their fur to town for trade. They don't seem to be the happiest people on the planet, and business is getting slow both from a surplus of some sort (Anne is getting less than she used to for their furs) and also a wolf that is wiping out the game. Having tired of it, Joe decides to go trap and kill the wolf for however long it takes, leaving the two women alone and without an easy way to contact him (just some finnicky walkie talkies - it's set sometime in the '90s). One night they hear someone crying in pain and assume it's Joe, but it's another man (Nick Stahl) who got caught in a trap.

Being that this is a genre film - and that Joe has found some bodies in the woods - it isn't really a spoiler to say that Stahl's character is dangerous, though due to his injury he has to play the part of normal unlucky guy until he is well enough to strike. So the movie generates its suspense from the "not if but when" he will reveal his true nature to Anne and Renee, and also Joe's continued absence - will he come back in time to rescue them? Has he already been killed by Stahl's character, or even one of his own traps? As a result I'm not sure if this will be a particularly rewatchable movie, since you'll already know those answers and - again - it's not exactly a big crowd-pleasing type, but I admire writer/director Shawn Linden for avoiding conventions at pretty much every turn. No matter how many movies you've seen and how accurate your guesses may be on who survives the film, I guarantee you that there's a sequence no one can see coming.

(And I say this with some irony, because I saw it at the drive-in where the murky screen was obscuring some of the action - those of you watching at home with proper calibration will be even more stunned, I suspect.)

I also appreciate that Linden didn't beat us over the head with the theme here (one that will require a bit of spoilage to discuss, if you want to skip this paragraph). The film's title is more overt than anything in the film - Stahl's character is also a hunter, but his "game" is other people, and they are offed as unceremoniously and randomly as the deer and rabbits are by Joe and his family. They kill things that weren't bothering them because that's just what they do - and then find themselves as the equally unlucky prey of another human. They didn't do anything to deserve their fate, but neither do all those fluffy bunnies, right? This is not the most unique idea anyone's ever come up with, no, but again Linden keeps it from being preachy or anything. In clumsier hands there probably would have been a monologue more or less saying what I just did, but Linden leaves it for us to parse out for ourselves.

He also leaves one character's fate up to our imagination, which is less successful. This person is caught in a trap in the woods, and when they are found they're asking their would be rescuer to tell their spouse they love them and such (prompting the standard "Tell them yourself!"), and that person does indeed go get help, but no rescue (or body retrieval) is ever shown. I just assumed I missed it because the screen was too dark, but I asked someone else who saw it on VOD and they were pretty sure there was no closure. There are only like six people in the movie, so to leave one of their fates ambiguous (and not in a climactic, "what do you think happens next?" kind of way) is a bit of a red mark against it.

The other red mark is another spoiler, but it's the kind of spoiler you have to warn people about - the dog dies. Offscreen thankfully, but still. It's such a grim movie as it is, offing the poor pooch feels like twisting the knife. Granted, it happens fairly early, almost like a warning for the bummer material to follow, but what makes it worse is that the mom (who finds it) doesn't have the heart to tell the daughter - who is clearly very lonely and wanting a more normal life - that her pal is gone. So she keeps asking to go look for him, and when she hears Stahl's pained moans she thinks it might be him at first... and we know he's dead! It's just so hard to watch!

Long story short it's a solid thriller that is a perfect fit for this horrible year of no happy endings. Obviously it won't be for everyone (I am glad I didn't take my wife, as she probably would have made us leave), but for those who can stomach the unending bleakness and occasional shots of skinned animals, you'll find it's a standout for such things, and puts Linden on the "to watch" list. It's one of those movies you will keep thinking about for a few days, and despite what I said about it not being rewatchable, I wouldn't mind checking it out again someday to at least watch the darker (meaning visually, not "dark" as in content) scenes on a screen that will allow me to know exactly what I'm looking at. And it's nice to see Stahl again, an interesting actor who has had some issues in his personal life that has left him off-screen for quite some time now. Here's hoping he's got his demons under control and can mount a proper comeback.

What say you?

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