This film is totally average. The story bares very little to the description given by the films marketing department, I wonder if anyone there has actually watched it. It is not a horror movie at all. Instead it is a thriller, with a small amount of action. Definitely worthy of it's straight to video release, it is certainly not as bad (or good) as some folks are making out. The script is OK, the acting is OK (at best) but the place most of it is shot is genuinely creepy. Don't expect too much and you won't be let down. The characters themselves are actually the most interesting part of the movie and could have done with fleshing out a little more.
44 Reviews
Confuses the crap out of you at first, then confuses you more
bananaspider31 December 2011
I can't give this a one because I know they (the director) was trying to do something here. But, let's say it failed to get there. The movie took way too long to even begin to give you any hints and then when it got there, the characters introduced threw you for another loop.
Why the hell was that (beautiful) girl introduced? Why did she whisper "I'm sorry" while pushing away her boyfriend in that one scene? I though the story was going to get better at that point, thinking that she was not who she portrayed. But no, that scene was just a failed scene. And why the extra story with the Chief of Police and the cop and the guy he had to protect? Who the hell knows. Completely illogical!
I had ideas in mind on how it may have ended and how I would have ended it. But it didn't go that way and so the four rating. The actors were OK but the story line they were given was not of this movie. This movie should have been one of those three or four stories tying together everybody in the end. Not this either. Oh well, nice try mr. director.
Why the hell was that (beautiful) girl introduced? Why did she whisper "I'm sorry" while pushing away her boyfriend in that one scene? I though the story was going to get better at that point, thinking that she was not who she portrayed. But no, that scene was just a failed scene. And why the extra story with the Chief of Police and the cop and the guy he had to protect? Who the hell knows. Completely illogical!
I had ideas in mind on how it may have ended and how I would have ended it. But it didn't go that way and so the four rating. The actors were OK but the story line they were given was not of this movie. This movie should have been one of those three or four stories tying together everybody in the end. Not this either. Oh well, nice try mr. director.
Who, what, where.
eddy-3407220 January 2018
This is a bizarre little movie. Not much given out in way of synopsis. Only the title. When it gets going its somewhere in Canada shot in moody tones. Something not right with people disappearing and the police are not investigating. Bit of mild horror. Could have done more with the stories. The pitch is there. Why are the hunting. Where are they hunting. Its a mystery. The back story could have done with fleshing out. Worth a second look as background noise. Diana Agron cameos. Confusing characters. The usual processes in movie making have been overlooked. So needs to be more coherent.
Truly awful on every level
judeepolds29 December 2011
Well it seems for a change someone not involved with a film is posting the first user review. I suspect this is because everyone involved with the film is far too busy denying they had anything to do with it!
I never let the words "low budget" or "independent" put me off a film, I've seen some great films by looking for this kind of stuff. I've also seen some terrible ones and this baby just joined the list very near the top.
OK so marketed as a horror film you soon realise it's anything but. NO matter, I like a good thriller...which this ain't. Confused is the words that comes to mind. Filmed in France but set who knows where, dodgy American accents mixed with a large portion of French language. Plot could be written on the back of a postage stamp but somehow ends up with a 1hr 50min film...
For me the film as advertised started at the 1hr 30min point and by then I was losing the will to live. The main location was interesting but was never used to it's full potential and the effects! Good God the effects... Body parts straight out of a dusty corner at The London Dungeon, guns with holes in the end only an airgun pellet would fit through, watery blood and the most amazing trees that shoot sparks when hit with bullets.
Acting wasn't horrendous given what they had to work with, music was OK. Cinematography was OK with the notable exception of the nightmare scenes which where, frankly, shamefully bad.
Words fail me.
I never let the words "low budget" or "independent" put me off a film, I've seen some great films by looking for this kind of stuff. I've also seen some terrible ones and this baby just joined the list very near the top.
OK so marketed as a horror film you soon realise it's anything but. NO matter, I like a good thriller...which this ain't. Confused is the words that comes to mind. Filmed in France but set who knows where, dodgy American accents mixed with a large portion of French language. Plot could be written on the back of a postage stamp but somehow ends up with a 1hr 50min film...
For me the film as advertised started at the 1hr 30min point and by then I was losing the will to live. The main location was interesting but was never used to it's full potential and the effects! Good God the effects... Body parts straight out of a dusty corner at The London Dungeon, guns with holes in the end only an airgun pellet would fit through, watery blood and the most amazing trees that shoot sparks when hit with bullets.
Acting wasn't horrendous given what they had to work with, music was OK. Cinematography was OK with the notable exception of the nightmare scenes which where, frankly, shamefully bad.
Words fail me.
Incomprehensible and amateurish
pmalt4 January 2012
This is what happens when nobody has the moxie to stand up to the writer or director and cut, edit, structure, test, tighten, condense, throw out scenes and characters that don't work or are unnecessary. Somebody wanted to keep everything in the grab bag and fought any efforts to structure this.
Something strange is going on with these ten-star reviews; I suspect they are from people connected with the movie who are trying to balance out the one-stars --- which are the honest ones. Whoever wrote this needed to take a class in screen writing because it was a misuse of the actors; the dialogue was wooden...but the worst part was the lack of tight plot structure. I gave it a fair shot --- watched for about an hour and suddenly sat up and said "this is not happening." It's not a matter of being "different" or "non-linear" or any comments that try to make strengths out of weaknesses. This truly crumbles.
Something strange is going on with these ten-star reviews; I suspect they are from people connected with the movie who are trying to balance out the one-stars --- which are the honest ones. Whoever wrote this needed to take a class in screen writing because it was a misuse of the actors; the dialogue was wooden...but the worst part was the lack of tight plot structure. I gave it a fair shot --- watched for about an hour and suddenly sat up and said "this is not happening." It's not a matter of being "different" or "non-linear" or any comments that try to make strengths out of weaknesses. This truly crumbles.
I tried
mrcinema7212 September 2012
Diana Agron is a "Goddess" to me I feel obligated to watch everything she is in. I agree with the previous review. The Editing was Terrible in this film. The pacing was off, scenes went on forever. The Story was actually not that bad, it could and should have been a better film. Also the description on the back of the DVD cover is incorrect. I says "a group of high school friends aproaching the graduation decide to spend some time in the woods the find an abandoned fort where Blah, Blah, Blah. there is no need to continue, because none of this happened. The description on the IMDb site is more accurate. The Cinematography wasn't bad. Again great potential but it didn't get their.
I wanted to rent "The Hunter" and got this by mistake
sreid28 July 2012
I started watching it thinking "6.2 on IMDb ! its gotta be decent". I noticed the acting and production was bad but it was like watching a bad accident. I am sure they named it closely to the Willem Dafoe movie to trick viewers into watching it. It seemed like the producer thought "hey we have a spooky looking fort and a bunch of cheap spark effects.... lets make a movie!" Seriously ..sparks from shooting a tree was bad enough, but sparks coming off a person! I have seen porno's with better acting, story line and budget. That's all I really have to say about this movie, I really don't want to waste 10 lines of text on it because that would be putting more thought into the review than the producer put into the entire movie. I think I am going to work really hard around the house today to make up for the 2 hours that were totally blown watching this. i am sure the only good reviews will be from family and friends of the cast and crew. How it ranked at 4 stars amazes me.
Bad, worse, The Hunters...
horizonbay30 December 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Don't waste your time on this one because after watching it, all you are going to feel is emptiness. I think the movie was pushed towards too many different directions where none of them were properly explored in the end. You don't feel anything for any of the characters whether they are on the good or bad side. I had the feeling that the movie was cut together from many different short movies. There were scenes where I thought "Wait a moment! Did someone switch the movie while I was almost falling asleep!?" There is no point in mentioning everything bad about this movie because it would be rather an endless and extremely boring review.
A Big W.T.F.
ohsokool30 December 2011
Where do I start? I saw the trailer and as a fan of "b-movies" I figured I'd give it shot. The only reason why I watched this clusterfluck all the way through, is so that I'd be justified in writing a fair review. And to be fair, this movie is horrible. Great shots and cool cinematography, and really the acting isn't bad, its the storyline; (insert drum-roll here) there is none. Absolutely none. The synopsis of this film is so inaccurate. Nothing makes any sense.
Where does this movie take place? France? America? Canada? Why does it take 23 minutes to even get an idea of what this movie "might" be about? Don't even think about watching this film high, drunk or on drugs because it will sober you up quick.
To the writer of this film, I wish I had the money you obviously have. I'd take a few wads of hundred dollar bills and smack you in the face with them repeatedly. This has to be the worst b-movie I have ever seen. Watch at your own risk.
Where does this movie take place? France? America? Canada? Why does it take 23 minutes to even get an idea of what this movie "might" be about? Don't even think about watching this film high, drunk or on drugs because it will sober you up quick.
To the writer of this film, I wish I had the money you obviously have. I'd take a few wads of hundred dollar bills and smack you in the face with them repeatedly. This has to be the worst b-movie I have ever seen. Watch at your own risk.
A very cool set and good cinematography can't save this...
byolaf22 May 2012
The Hunters isn't the worst movie you've ever seen, it's just a bit of a mess. There are two things to recommend it highly, the cinematography is well above par for this kind of movie, and the location is just incredible. I think the sound editing and music is also quite good. The problem is the good things just serve to highlight the not-so-good things. If the good cinematography is of people trying way too hard to act, it's not interesting. If the location is terrific, but it's not really used all that well, you don't have much of a reason to make the film.
There is some excellent casting for the leading hunters and the main enemy, but the other characters are often miscast, overplayed, or underwritten. Certain scenes feel improvised, while others just seem to go on and on. The lead actor seems to be rather miscast for his role, which is strange since he apparently directed. There are also characters that just kinda drop in and out of the movie, especially the lead (only?) female.
The editor seems to be trying to make this into a horror movie, but it's not, and the nasty jump cuts and random shots of some dude yelling are not scary, they're annoying. The editing overall leaves a lot to be desired, leading me to wonder if the director cut the movie as well, since there's no editor listed in the IMDb crew page.
There was a pretty good movie to be had here had the script thought of better uses for the location and the actors been reeled in by a better director. But overall, it's better than bad, and if you're scouting for an incredible castle in Germany (?) you could do worse than watch this. Perhaps it's best to just think of it as a weird travelogue to Fort Goben.
There is some excellent casting for the leading hunters and the main enemy, but the other characters are often miscast, overplayed, or underwritten. Certain scenes feel improvised, while others just seem to go on and on. The lead actor seems to be rather miscast for his role, which is strange since he apparently directed. There are also characters that just kinda drop in and out of the movie, especially the lead (only?) female.
The editor seems to be trying to make this into a horror movie, but it's not, and the nasty jump cuts and random shots of some dude yelling are not scary, they're annoying. The editing overall leaves a lot to be desired, leading me to wonder if the director cut the movie as well, since there's no editor listed in the IMDb crew page.
There was a pretty good movie to be had here had the script thought of better uses for the location and the actors been reeled in by a better director. But overall, it's better than bad, and if you're scouting for an incredible castle in Germany (?) you could do worse than watch this. Perhaps it's best to just think of it as a weird travelogue to Fort Goben.
the trailer fooled me!
shayma00010 January 2012
It was an absolute waste of time. The trailer is much better than the movie. It made me feel stupid because I actually watched it until the end since I thought that something interesting might happen any minute !!
At some point I felt like watching a movie done by college students! low budget is not an excuse, I've seen so many interesting low budget movies that really take you there, to the thriller atmosphere. For instance, the caller (2011) has all the elements of a good thriller movie.
It also failed to deliver the psychological part which made the script much more fragile. With some movies you know that you shouldn't expect a lot from the beginning but this one had a good start somehow which I hated because it fools the viewer to expect more when there is nothing coming that worth to watch.
After I watched this, the only sentence that was in mind is " are they serious? "
At some point I felt like watching a movie done by college students! low budget is not an excuse, I've seen so many interesting low budget movies that really take you there, to the thriller atmosphere. For instance, the caller (2011) has all the elements of a good thriller movie.
It also failed to deliver the psychological part which made the script much more fragile. With some movies you know that you shouldn't expect a lot from the beginning but this one had a good start somehow which I hated because it fools the viewer to expect more when there is nothing coming that worth to watch.
After I watched this, the only sentence that was in mind is " are they serious? "
Different, but definitely not bad
leburger30 December 2011
A lot of negative reviews, oh well.. If people were expecting another run-on-the-mill horror to freak out to on a Saturday night, then this film obviously granted a disappointment, as it has a somewhat different angle, and the film is actually more of a suspense/mystery than a horror, really.
On a positive note, the filming locations were absolutely fabulous, the cinematography was of high quality in every respect, and even though the English spoken in the film was regarded as 'bulky' by some reviewers, you cannot really dismiss the fact that it is a French/Belgian movie. I, for one, thought all the way it was set in Canada (in Quebec), in that case, the language inconsistencies of the film would have been pretty well explained :-).
You could say that the acting was somewhat peculiar, but "peculiar" does not necessarily mean "bad". After all, French/Belgians films sometimes have a different take on acting. Think of, for example, 'Calvaire', that contains as much strange humour as 'The Hunters', you just need to be able to notice it :-).
All in all, 'The Hunters' is a rather strange experience meant not for everyone; on the other hand, as mentioned in other reviews, it offers you very nice photography, absolutely fabulous filming locations (the fort!), some sociological commentaries, and a rather decent cast, the tempo of the film is pretty slow, but in this case, it only compliments the piece.
On a positive note, the filming locations were absolutely fabulous, the cinematography was of high quality in every respect, and even though the English spoken in the film was regarded as 'bulky' by some reviewers, you cannot really dismiss the fact that it is a French/Belgian movie. I, for one, thought all the way it was set in Canada (in Quebec), in that case, the language inconsistencies of the film would have been pretty well explained :-).
You could say that the acting was somewhat peculiar, but "peculiar" does not necessarily mean "bad". After all, French/Belgians films sometimes have a different take on acting. Think of, for example, 'Calvaire', that contains as much strange humour as 'The Hunters', you just need to be able to notice it :-).
All in all, 'The Hunters' is a rather strange experience meant not for everyone; on the other hand, as mentioned in other reviews, it offers you very nice photography, absolutely fabulous filming locations (the fort!), some sociological commentaries, and a rather decent cast, the tempo of the film is pretty slow, but in this case, it only compliments the piece.
The most interesting thing about The Hunters is that the box flat out lies to you
Robert_duder21 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I'm not sure I've ever seen a movie where I read the case to the DVD, and then watch the movie and it literally has NOTHING to do with what the case says. For the first time ever...I'm going to post the IMDb summary into my review. This is what it says...
Alice and her friends are approaching the end of the school year where their dead-end lives will end and the chance of a new life will begin. Before heading off to college they spend one last day together in the woods, the one part of town that has always been off limits to them growing up. As they stumble upon what they thought was an abandoned fort only to find the walls dripping in blood and decomposing body parts lying around, they are startled to learn they are now a part of an undercover investigation. After being told to get out of the woods they realize they're trapped, for the Hunters, who call the fort home, never let anyone out alive.
Yep...not true. "Alice" is barely in the movie. Her friends and her do not go to the woods. There are hardly any friends in the film other than a random guy she runs into. But if you look at the top of the IMDb page it says this---
"A new police officer wants to meet up with somebody in an abandoned fort in the woods. What he doesn't know is that the place also serves as a meeting point for a group of hunters - whose prey aren't animals."
That's what The Hunters is actually about. The concept and idea behind The Hunters is kind of interesting, men looking for a thrill and hunting humans for sport. It has moments of being outstandingly gory and even some half decent performances but The Hunters doesn't deliver itself in the proper way and is slapped together with a forced performance by a TV "It Girl." Steven Waddington and Tony Becker give solid performances in their lead roles. I actually think they give performances far beyond that of what this movie really is. The TV "It Girl" is Glee's Dianna Agron. She gives and is what I can only described as a complete and utter waste of a character. She has no point to the story and maybe they edited her part down to nothing but it literally is pointless. Chris Briant gives a solid performance as the main hero of the film. His character actually has a good arc and is well told.
Briant is also the director of the film but I don't believe it is his directing or his performance is the issue. I think the problem is with the messy script. You don't really know what direction it is going and the crime angle of the story is almost unnecessary. The film is not a total waste once you wade through the unfortunate aspects. Still this thriller is easily miss-able. 6/10
Alice and her friends are approaching the end of the school year where their dead-end lives will end and the chance of a new life will begin. Before heading off to college they spend one last day together in the woods, the one part of town that has always been off limits to them growing up. As they stumble upon what they thought was an abandoned fort only to find the walls dripping in blood and decomposing body parts lying around, they are startled to learn they are now a part of an undercover investigation. After being told to get out of the woods they realize they're trapped, for the Hunters, who call the fort home, never let anyone out alive.
Yep...not true. "Alice" is barely in the movie. Her friends and her do not go to the woods. There are hardly any friends in the film other than a random guy she runs into. But if you look at the top of the IMDb page it says this---
"A new police officer wants to meet up with somebody in an abandoned fort in the woods. What he doesn't know is that the place also serves as a meeting point for a group of hunters - whose prey aren't animals."
That's what The Hunters is actually about. The concept and idea behind The Hunters is kind of interesting, men looking for a thrill and hunting humans for sport. It has moments of being outstandingly gory and even some half decent performances but The Hunters doesn't deliver itself in the proper way and is slapped together with a forced performance by a TV "It Girl." Steven Waddington and Tony Becker give solid performances in their lead roles. I actually think they give performances far beyond that of what this movie really is. The TV "It Girl" is Glee's Dianna Agron. She gives and is what I can only described as a complete and utter waste of a character. She has no point to the story and maybe they edited her part down to nothing but it literally is pointless. Chris Briant gives a solid performance as the main hero of the film. His character actually has a good arc and is well told.
Briant is also the director of the film but I don't believe it is his directing or his performance is the issue. I think the problem is with the messy script. You don't really know what direction it is going and the crime angle of the story is almost unnecessary. The film is not a total waste once you wade through the unfortunate aspects. Still this thriller is easily miss-able. 6/10
Oh dear..im 30+ mins into it & i am falling asleep...
keithgoddard7229 December 2011
Well i am going to start this short review by typing it in two parts, one at the beginning and the other at the end, i am doing it this way because I've got 30 or so minutes into it & found it so boring im doing this review? So far the acting is dire! The actor named "Bernard" isn't convincing at all he is one of those actors who has ZERO facial expressions! & some of the roles he had was really not real for instance there is a part in the film where he is talking to the leading actor named "Chris Briant" in a courtyard, now they work for the government and yet "Bernard" is shouting out governmental information in front of other people walking past this wouldn't happen in real life! this kind of communication would be done behind closed doors! OK i cant i just cant take anymore! i watched another 10 mins and the lack of realistic acting & storyline is killing me! i will be taking this film back to the video shop and asking for my money back..Terrible! anyone that watches the FULL film should be given a medal! Its a shame cause there is some really good actors in there its just the rest that are not convincing..i'd give this a 3/10 for storyline with a 5/10 for the overall film...
Truly Horrific... Horrifically Awful that is...
rosslittle-278-65728028 January 2012
This film is a horrendous waste of nearly two hours of your life. It is a failure on every level.
The plot... or plots... or lack of a plot... is the most glaring and intensely mind numbing problem with the film. It hits you from the outset: the threads are all there if held together by nothing else than the most tenuous of links, but they seem to have been crafted and developed with much the same skill as high school short story. Lamentably though, had this been a high school short story then at least the teacher would have taken their red pen to each page and scored the word 'Drivel' across it. And, don't even get me started on the absolutely massive glaring holes in what little plot there is.
This lack of plot is compounded by the fact that none of the actors can actually act so what little character development there is, is entirely unbelievable at best and largely ends up being laughable. I mean, I actually guffawed more than once at the terrible terrible lack of acting skill. I don't think the cast were entirely to blame though, the script was so utterly clichéd and clumsy that there really was no other way to deliver it.
As you might think, surely the cinematography would make up for this. Well, I have two words for you BLUE FILTER. This to me, is an absolute giveaway that all is not well - when every scene has a blue hue added to it and the scene desaturated in post production. And whilst on the topic of production, did they lose ANY scenes in the edit? I mean ANYTHING? I'm surprised they just didn't string the rushes together and call it job done.
The location is, erm, repetitive - if you like looking at the walls of forts (or more accurately the same wall of a fort) then you will love this. Also, wet leaves feature quite a lot as do incredible bullet attracting and spark producing trees. It's an incredible coincidence that every single bullet that didn't meet its target hit the nearest tree and produced a shower of sparks. And, someone explain to me the problem with the breath - now you see it... now you don't... even in the same scene the temperature apparently changes wildly. As for Special FX... the blown off leg was particularly hilarious, as were the mounted heads - I can't tell you how bad they were - Like Hammer Horror but without the tongue in cheek self awareness.
All in, utterly awful - I cannot recommend enough that you employ the two hours of this film's duration in any other way possible but watching it.
The plot... or plots... or lack of a plot... is the most glaring and intensely mind numbing problem with the film. It hits you from the outset: the threads are all there if held together by nothing else than the most tenuous of links, but they seem to have been crafted and developed with much the same skill as high school short story. Lamentably though, had this been a high school short story then at least the teacher would have taken their red pen to each page and scored the word 'Drivel' across it. And, don't even get me started on the absolutely massive glaring holes in what little plot there is.
This lack of plot is compounded by the fact that none of the actors can actually act so what little character development there is, is entirely unbelievable at best and largely ends up being laughable. I mean, I actually guffawed more than once at the terrible terrible lack of acting skill. I don't think the cast were entirely to blame though, the script was so utterly clichéd and clumsy that there really was no other way to deliver it.
As you might think, surely the cinematography would make up for this. Well, I have two words for you BLUE FILTER. This to me, is an absolute giveaway that all is not well - when every scene has a blue hue added to it and the scene desaturated in post production. And whilst on the topic of production, did they lose ANY scenes in the edit? I mean ANYTHING? I'm surprised they just didn't string the rushes together and call it job done.
The location is, erm, repetitive - if you like looking at the walls of forts (or more accurately the same wall of a fort) then you will love this. Also, wet leaves feature quite a lot as do incredible bullet attracting and spark producing trees. It's an incredible coincidence that every single bullet that didn't meet its target hit the nearest tree and produced a shower of sparks. And, someone explain to me the problem with the breath - now you see it... now you don't... even in the same scene the temperature apparently changes wildly. As for Special FX... the blown off leg was particularly hilarious, as were the mounted heads - I can't tell you how bad they were - Like Hammer Horror but without the tongue in cheek self awareness.
All in, utterly awful - I cannot recommend enough that you employ the two hours of this film's duration in any other way possible but watching it.
Painful to watch
calandra182 January 2012
Possibly the worst "film" I have ever wasted my time on. There was no plot, no storyline and the scriptwriting was something out of {unprintable term here] and possibly written by an illiterate mute dolphin? The 'acting' was on a similar level as the storyline. I have bitten my nails to the quick, and not out of fear or suspense from this pieceofshit, but out of an attempt to not claw out my eyes and run screaming from the room. I truly hope whomever had the brilliant idea to create such non-recyclable piece of trash finds themselves hunted and speared by whaling boats after being tossed overboard by GreenPeace. Please don't bother, it truly gives a new rating to movies-complete and utter FAILURE!!
THE WORST movie I have seen!
petertransport30 December 2011
Warning: Spoilers
This might not ACTUALLY be the worst I have ever seen, I have seen a LOT of movies, but I can't remember one that is worse. Some are bad, but they are also tongue-in-cheek bad, this one is just bad, and takes itself seriously! The characters were ALL terrible, un-believable, I just wanted them all to die! The main character is, we are led to believe, an ex-services man in the Foreign Legion or some other unit, but seriously, I think my step-son, who is 13 would have handled himself better! The story made no sense, was dis-jointed, and left me feeling numb, like I had just wasted an hour and a half of my life! Give it a very wide berth! Shame on you, screenwriters!
Please get out of here ! Just go !
demetrius1126 January 2012
"Please get out of here ! Just go !". This is an actual line from the movie, but in my opinion it is also a hidden message the director managed to pass to the audience, begging them to stop watching before the "breathtaking" (awful) finale. Even though I have decided due to the overwhelming number of terrible movies out there, to stop commenting on all of them, this was a movie I could not let pass just like that. It is not so much the idea of the story, as much as the horrific execution! And I suppose this is also the reason it is categorized as a horror movie.
The movie starts slowly, trying to introduce us to the characters with boring unrehearsed dialogue and repeating harmonium tunes. The repeating tunes I found quite annoying to be honest as they are there, no matter what the protagonists are doing. Is someone's head been cut off? (you wish) Harmonium tune. Are the protagonists kissing ? (You wish again) Another Harmonium tune...
Frankly, I can not understand the persistence of some producers in investing their money in such ways. This particular movie has not a single ingredient that can produce the slightest revenue. There is no blood (not really), no suspense, no action, no nudity, no romance. The target group for this movie could only be Dianna Argon fans, who are going to be very disappointed since she is basically a guest star, with no actual reason to be cast in this movie. I will not get into specific details (I do not want to spoil it for you), but the ending is a bad cliché, and Dianna's only reason of being there (besides making some extra cash in her Glee break)is because someone is not a hero until he has saved a cute blonde from the claws of evil madmen.
The movie starts slowly, trying to introduce us to the characters with boring unrehearsed dialogue and repeating harmonium tunes. The repeating tunes I found quite annoying to be honest as they are there, no matter what the protagonists are doing. Is someone's head been cut off? (you wish) Harmonium tune. Are the protagonists kissing ? (You wish again) Another Harmonium tune...
Frankly, I can not understand the persistence of some producers in investing their money in such ways. This particular movie has not a single ingredient that can produce the slightest revenue. There is no blood (not really), no suspense, no action, no nudity, no romance. The target group for this movie could only be Dianna Argon fans, who are going to be very disappointed since she is basically a guest star, with no actual reason to be cast in this movie. I will not get into specific details (I do not want to spoil it for you), but the ending is a bad cliché, and Dianna's only reason of being there (besides making some extra cash in her Glee break)is because someone is not a hero until he has saved a cute blonde from the claws of evil madmen.
A Convoluted and Nonsensical Disaster
Billy_Crash20 January 2012
This tale is so convoluted and nonsensical I can't imagine how this ever got green lit for production. Poorly written by Michael Lehman, with some questionable acting (especially from Terence Knox and Philip Correia), one can only wonder why Chris Briant, who directed and starred, didn't demand a better narrative. Either performing both duties overwhelmed Briant, or his ego exploded. Either way, knowing this was his first film for both acting and directing, the clunky storytelling may make some sense. Worst still, though one may think the editing was poor, I'm sure editor Nafi Dicko cried over this mess of story and did his best with the pitiful material he received. The ½ star, however, goes to cinematographer John B. Aronson who has given us one of the best looking worst movies ever seen, and to Steven Waddington and Tony Becker for bringing us grounded characters even in a pathetic lost cause. Sadly, what could have been a tremendous character study for both their on-screen personas, which would have provided a truly disturbing and sobering tale, was completely lost.
Why Lehman introduced a third rate police angle into the mix, and a horrendously trite and overly clichéd reveal, is beyond comprehension.
I rarely say this, but because THE HUNTERS is so poorly crafted, I recommend avoiding this mess at all costs – so you won't fall prey to giving the producers one thin dime (or euro in this case).
Why Lehman introduced a third rate police angle into the mix, and a horrendously trite and overly clichéd reveal, is beyond comprehension.
I rarely say this, but because THE HUNTERS is so poorly crafted, I recommend avoiding this mess at all costs – so you won't fall prey to giving the producers one thin dime (or euro in this case).
It's not what you think...
bushtony4 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Don't be misled by the synopsis. This is not what you think. For some reason it's being pitched as a paint-by-numbers teen slasher movie, and that's the last thing it is. So, before writing it off, allow me to inform differently and advise that The Hunters is an atypical horror/thriller that takes a different approach to the serial killer genre.
There are several interlinking plot threads:
It's the run-up to Christmas, and our hero (of sorts) is Le Saint. He is a partially recovered traumatised war veteran with PTSD, caused by setting off an IED in Afghanistan. He is reinstated into a mostly bureaucratic role as a law enforcement agent. His obnoxious boss lands him with the job of bringing a local mob figure into witness protection. Due to circumstances beyond his control, the original contact point is compromised and so Le Saint arranges to meet his new charge at an old abandoned military fort.
Meanwhile, Le Saint has met Alice whilst jogging in the park and there is a mutual attraction. However, Alice's aspiring boyfriend has arranged to take her somewhere "different" for a little sightseeing on her birthday.
The hunters of the title are two disaffected middle-aged men – a teacher and a computer repair technician. They hang out around the old fort and surrounding forest area with two young thugs who it seems they are in the process of mentoring as part of some sort of social rehabilitation process. Every weekend the four go "hunting."
Then there is Le Saint's boss who has warned him explosively and in no uncertain terms to stay away from the fort and to drop his interest in the high percentage of missing persons cases within a thirty mile radius of the city.
All of these characters and their trajectories are on a collision course. And the abandoned fort is at the centre of the impact.
It's a slow burner, but it sets up its premise with care and skill. When it kicks into action at the mid-point it becomes a relentlessly tense and convincingly violent fight for survival and the four hunters are revealed for what they are as well as what they've been doing. The mystery of the statistical excess of missing persons in the area is uncovered, along with the link to Le Saint's boss. This leaves Le Saint fighting for his life against almost impossible odds.
The Hunters is well filmed, exciting and visceral without lapsing into the standard overload of gore and pornographically explicit torture effects beloved of such mainstream flicks as SAW and Hostel. It has more than its fair share of sickness and sadism, but just as much is left to the imagination as is actually shown.
Yes, it has problems; the narrative relies on contrived coincidences to drive it and there are a few head-scratching wasteful scenes – like the freak handing out the fortune teddy bears. These elements drag it down somewhat, as does some of the occasionally painful overacting. Still, stick with it until it boots into high gear and it's a good investment of time.
Hopefully it now sounds more like what it actually is and less like the cookie-cutter teen-slash brain-drainer it is inexplicably being marketed as here.
There are several interlinking plot threads:
It's the run-up to Christmas, and our hero (of sorts) is Le Saint. He is a partially recovered traumatised war veteran with PTSD, caused by setting off an IED in Afghanistan. He is reinstated into a mostly bureaucratic role as a law enforcement agent. His obnoxious boss lands him with the job of bringing a local mob figure into witness protection. Due to circumstances beyond his control, the original contact point is compromised and so Le Saint arranges to meet his new charge at an old abandoned military fort.
Meanwhile, Le Saint has met Alice whilst jogging in the park and there is a mutual attraction. However, Alice's aspiring boyfriend has arranged to take her somewhere "different" for a little sightseeing on her birthday.
The hunters of the title are two disaffected middle-aged men – a teacher and a computer repair technician. They hang out around the old fort and surrounding forest area with two young thugs who it seems they are in the process of mentoring as part of some sort of social rehabilitation process. Every weekend the four go "hunting."
Then there is Le Saint's boss who has warned him explosively and in no uncertain terms to stay away from the fort and to drop his interest in the high percentage of missing persons cases within a thirty mile radius of the city.
All of these characters and their trajectories are on a collision course. And the abandoned fort is at the centre of the impact.
It's a slow burner, but it sets up its premise with care and skill. When it kicks into action at the mid-point it becomes a relentlessly tense and convincingly violent fight for survival and the four hunters are revealed for what they are as well as what they've been doing. The mystery of the statistical excess of missing persons in the area is uncovered, along with the link to Le Saint's boss. This leaves Le Saint fighting for his life against almost impossible odds.
The Hunters is well filmed, exciting and visceral without lapsing into the standard overload of gore and pornographically explicit torture effects beloved of such mainstream flicks as SAW and Hostel. It has more than its fair share of sickness and sadism, but just as much is left to the imagination as is actually shown.
Yes, it has problems; the narrative relies on contrived coincidences to drive it and there are a few head-scratching wasteful scenes – like the freak handing out the fortune teddy bears. These elements drag it down somewhat, as does some of the occasionally painful overacting. Still, stick with it until it boots into high gear and it's a good investment of time.
Hopefully it now sounds more like what it actually is and less like the cookie-cutter teen-slash brain-drainer it is inexplicably being marketed as here.
Problematic and troublesome effort
kannibalcorpsegrinder23 July 2015
Trying to secure a potential client, a detective escorting a witness away from an abandoned fortress in the middle of the woods finds the area overrun by sadistic hunters attempting to keep their hunter grounds quiet and must try to get away alive.
Overall this was quite a disappointing effort that does have a few good points. When this one gets to the end, this one is incredibly entertaining as it tends to focus more on the stalking and brutality of the hunters than possible, which is immensely fun with the first seemingly innocent encounter along the trail and the following ambush setting the stage for their game through the woods resulting in his capture making for a fine start to this. There's the demented escape attempt from the underground tunnels and the fun brawling encounter with the deranged hunter that comes off rather nicely here, as well as the first big chase through the woods after his escape where he comes into a thrilling gunfight along the mad dash to get away which is highly exciting, along with the final gunfight pinned down against the wall that makes for a good time overall here. Those are enjoyable enough but the big flaws here manage to hold them off quite well. The biggest issue here is the fact that this one is just so boring and bland to get going that it's nearly impossible to get anything really interesting here for most of the first hour. Tending to the utterly down-beat and depressing lives of the hunters makes the film a drag to get through with this one as hardly any of these scenes make you interested in where this one's going, and the other scenes of the detective trying to get acclimated to life on the force and gaining a girlfriend with the secretary here are no better since these are just dull and lame, and both of them keep this one from getting to its horror scenes for an extended period of time. As well, this goes to such an extent at trying to humanize them that the groups' actions become quite curious as to why they would engage in this, especially at such a crowded area that occurs here and makes their decision to do this quite hard to reason. Lastly, there's also the incredibly lame finale that just doesn't seem to know what it wants to do, from agonizingly slow, drawn-out scenes with background characters that don't mean anything, a torturously slow captive sequence that makes no sense and a limp, lifeless resolution that goes nowhere and really tends to stand out as being really lame. These here do manage to bring this one down significantly.
Rated R: Extreme Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.
Overall this was quite a disappointing effort that does have a few good points. When this one gets to the end, this one is incredibly entertaining as it tends to focus more on the stalking and brutality of the hunters than possible, which is immensely fun with the first seemingly innocent encounter along the trail and the following ambush setting the stage for their game through the woods resulting in his capture making for a fine start to this. There's the demented escape attempt from the underground tunnels and the fun brawling encounter with the deranged hunter that comes off rather nicely here, as well as the first big chase through the woods after his escape where he comes into a thrilling gunfight along the mad dash to get away which is highly exciting, along with the final gunfight pinned down against the wall that makes for a good time overall here. Those are enjoyable enough but the big flaws here manage to hold them off quite well. The biggest issue here is the fact that this one is just so boring and bland to get going that it's nearly impossible to get anything really interesting here for most of the first hour. Tending to the utterly down-beat and depressing lives of the hunters makes the film a drag to get through with this one as hardly any of these scenes make you interested in where this one's going, and the other scenes of the detective trying to get acclimated to life on the force and gaining a girlfriend with the secretary here are no better since these are just dull and lame, and both of them keep this one from getting to its horror scenes for an extended period of time. As well, this goes to such an extent at trying to humanize them that the groups' actions become quite curious as to why they would engage in this, especially at such a crowded area that occurs here and makes their decision to do this quite hard to reason. Lastly, there's also the incredibly lame finale that just doesn't seem to know what it wants to do, from agonizingly slow, drawn-out scenes with background characters that don't mean anything, a torturously slow captive sequence that makes no sense and a limp, lifeless resolution that goes nowhere and really tends to stand out as being really lame. These here do manage to bring this one down significantly.
Rated R: Extreme Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.
Surprising... In a good way!
o-william30 December 2011
Everything written in the DVD package is crap. You think this is gonna be a teen b movie with the bloody girl screaming all the time! BUT IT AIN'T!! It's a very strange movie very dark and very enjoyable! It'a about depressed guys, it's about madness. Very entertaining with a great cast (Top notch Steven Waddington!) and beautifully photographed. The main location, Fort Goben is so creepy!! Actually watching this movie is quite an experience! It's like a dark tale! But if you expect a horror film or an action film with funny characters you'll be disappointed. Let's drop all your expectations and be surprised as I was... in a very good way!
I like it, even if it is a lousy picture.
searchanddestroy-17 January 2012
Yes folks, I find this little film very interesting, even if it is a bit long. I would expect a bonus with deleted scenes with such a film. But the same scenes have been kept, unlike many other movies of this kind. I won't repeat the story, a hunter, man hunting one, one more, after the hundred of those we see since several years now. What I like in this feature is that there is no real bad guys, because the "bad" ones are described in such a way that we may feel some empathy for them, for instance the computer repairing, or the other one - school teacher I think to remember. So, during the first part of this movie, you wonder what will happen for all these characters - because there are many others - to meet. And you don't expect that it will happen in such a way.
I like that, it's not so common.
But for the rest, yes, it's not a masterpiece. A genuine B movie.
But when I bought it, I already knew it.
So...
I like that, it's not so common.
But for the rest, yes, it's not a masterpiece. A genuine B movie.
But when I bought it, I already knew it.
So...
Violence is the True Horror
revbighig10 October 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I have a zillion cable movie channels, but lately all showing the same handful of movies. So when I see a new title appear, I'm on to it. Knew nothing about this flick, and had no expectations. But within a short time I was hooked. Who are all these people, where does this slow, convoluted start lead? Unlike some reviewers, slow and convoluted does not put me off -- quite the opposite. It arouses my curiosity, makes me think, pay attention. I don't need to "get it" in the first fifteen minutes. I don't think it's a spoiler as it was quite obvious in the flashbacks, though seldom mentioned in these reviews, these guys were badly messed up vets who couldn't leave it behind. They brought it home and set up their new war-zone in that creepy park. And being sanctioned by the chief of police made it all work -- for awhile. I thought it was violent, frightening and very possible in this gun obsessed culture. Horror that is possible scares me far more than zombies, vampires and space aliens. I found the acting just fine, but couldn't figure out the point (or need) of the girl, unless to add a pinch of sweetness and light. I've seen far worse movies released to the cinemas. I think this one should have been.
Bad screenplays make bad movies
tmqtmq31 December 2011
I watch a lot of movies.
I rarely stop watching a movie even if it has some flaws.
I stopped watching The Hunters after 10 minutes.
I just couldn't stand it.
The Hunters dialog is terrible.
It reads like a newbie wrote it.
There is no realistic flow to the dialog or performances.
The performances suffer greatly because of it.
It could have been easily tweaked in a re-write and the performances would have dramatically improved.
I'm constantly amazed that poor screenplays make it to the screen.
I rarely stop watching a movie even if it has some flaws.
I stopped watching The Hunters after 10 minutes.
I just couldn't stand it.
The Hunters dialog is terrible.
It reads like a newbie wrote it.
There is no realistic flow to the dialog or performances.
The performances suffer greatly because of it.
It could have been easily tweaked in a re-write and the performances would have dramatically improved.
I'm constantly amazed that poor screenplays make it to the screen.
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