I Watched Hunt Club So You Don’t Have To

Oh boy…where to begin?

There I am on a Sunday afternoon searching Amazon Prime for something to pass time. One of the new releases offered was Hunt Club. The trailer was iffy, but it had a solid cast of old favorites, so I gave it a shot. I really like bad movies but this one pushed me to rethink that.

Hollywood seems to be obsessed with these types of movies – rich man organizes a game where other rich men literally hunt the poor who are there to due to the promise of more money than they’ve ever seen. It’s been done many times before and often far better – The Hunt from 2020 comes to mind. Hell, even 1994’s Surviving the Game with Ice T and Rutger Hauer was better.

The first scene is full of red flags. The cinematography is that of a low-budget porn film. It opens on a drunk Mena Suvari (American Beauty) who is stumbling out of a liquor store and trying to get into her truck when she is assaulted by a group of men. They don’t get very far before a woman appears out of nowhere and singlehandedly fights off all the men with laughable choreography. I ask myself, is feminist exploitation a thing?

From there, it just gets worse, but I hung in there for the sake of journalism.

Fast forward a year to Cassandra (Suvari) and her then-savior, now-girlfriend Tessa (Maya Stojan), walking into a diner and immediately getting into a fight because Cassandra looked toward a couple of men. Tessa storms out leaving Cassandra alone to join the two strange men for breakfast (seems safe). The older gentleman, Carter (Casper Van Dien of Starship Troopers fame), who dresses a bit like Boss Hogg from The Dukes of Hazzard, explains that he and his son, Jackson (Will Peltz, Unfriended) are on the way to Jackson’s first hunt where he is going to become a man. Shockingly, when they invite her along, Cassandra accepts without hesitation as if what happened a year before hasn’t given her a few more street smarts.

Soon, Cassandra and the men she’s known for less than five minutes are on a boat to an island where this hunt is being held. The plot is telegraphed worse than the opening scene’s punches. Upon disembarking, we’re introduced to the other hunters including Teddy and Preston (Jason and Jeremy London, Dazed & Confused and Mallrats) and another tagalong girl, Lexi (Jessica Belkin, American Horror Story) who has come for the promise of $100,000 if she wins the hunt. We come to find out that means making it 24 hours without dying.

Somewhere along the line we’re introduced to Virgil who is played by the legendary Mikey Rourke (The Wrestler, 9 ½ Weeks, Sin City, Angel Heart, etc.) who appears dressed like someone’s Aunt Blanche from Las Vegas who doesn’t accept her age. He is either the owner of the island and/or the brains of the operation…I was never quite sure. There are a total of nine hunters that Virgil is hosting but don’t worry, they aren’t hunting just two women; Virgil has a cadre of scantily clad others stashed in a barn. From here, the rest of the movie follows the checklist of “final girl saves the day with the help of a vigilante.”

Exploring (or exploiting) a feminist theme

There is a definite feminist lens to the movie which comes through in ways that I’m not sure the director, Elizabeth Blake-Thomas intends. Blake-Thomas is a British award-winning filmmaker and philanthropist who is the founder of Mother & Daughter Entertainment. Their motto is, “Making content that matters” so I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt that her vision was much more inspiring than what the finished product suggests. The feminist idea comes across too heavy handed, in my opinion. We don’t need the shot of Cassandra standing in an overtly Rosie the Riveter-inspired outfit or ongoing discussion of how the heroines are linked to the mythical gods of war. The way the women come together to destroy the men of the island and save each other is enough.

What I found to be a bit disturbing is the lack of clothing on the women as they wander the island. For a feminist-themed movie, the costumers don’t leave much to the imagination. Not that there is anything wrong with that…people should dress as they please, but I think it would be hard to fight for your life in too-short shorts and a crop top.

Another life lesson is buried in here: be who you are. There is some homophobic discussion of Jackson and his questionable leanings presented to the rabid hunters by his father. You see, Carter found a corset in Jackson’s closet, and he hasn’t even had a girlfriend (gasp!). So, Cassandra spends an evening half-dressed (why?) trying to let Jackson know that it is ok to live unapologetically as he is. Spoiler alert, the pep talk doesn’t work because it’s time to ramp up the violence and daddy is already in his head. And did I mention that we’re just now finding out a huge piece of the puzzle as to why Cassandra is about to go all murderous on this pack of bigots? Apparently, she has an estranged daughter who is missing and may have fallen prey to these individuals. Who knew?

This movie was an hour and twenty-six minutes of my life that I will never get back. Although Carter’s monologue about how women are taking over the world and men should stand up and be men again is almost worth it. Maybe fast forward there.

I love certain members of the cast who I once deemed to be great actors. Too bad it feels like they all showed up just for the paycheck and left their acting skills at the door. However, on what was surely a shoestring budget, I’m not sure how great the payoff was in exchange for the ink blot on their reputations.

Watch the trailer. If you dare.