Film

The Hunt

Name: The Hunt
Genre: Action, Thriller, Horror
Released: 2020
Cast: Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ethan Suplee, Teri Wyble, Ike Barinholtz

Other titles called The Hunt: the 2012 film, the 2015 series (BBC One).

Survival adventure
Crime
Slasher
Very dark
Relentless

The Hunt is Blumhouse's gleefully nasty riff on Most Dangerous Game: twelve strangers wake in a clearing, hunted by masked elites for sport, until one of them turns the tables. Betty Gilpin anchors it with dry, coiled menace, and the film takes deliberate potshots at both sides of the culture war along the way. Fast, mean, and proudly tasteless — for anyone who wants their action movie with real bite.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy pulpy, blood-spattered genre filmmaking that uses a satirical premise as a sharp stick, and you don't need every character to be likeable.

Skip it if the satire is broad and the politics are blunt, so if you want subtle commentary or slow-burn dread, the bluntness and rapid cutting will grate.

What it asks of you: Brisk at ninety minutes, it lurches from one bloody set-piece to the next, asking you to keep pace with its sneering tone rather than settle in.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Ready or Not2019

A bride hunted through a mansion by her own in-laws for sport, with the same pitch-black comedy and a scrappy final girl who turns predator herself — this is The Hunt's fun-house mirror twin.

But Confined to one house, so it's smaller in scale and less politically pointed than The Hunt's culture-war satire.

You're Next2013

A home invasion thriller that flips expectations hard when the supposed victim proves terrifyingly capable — the same gleeful subversion of who's actually in danger here.

But Rougher, lower-budget slasher trappings that feel dated next to The Hunt's slicker studio polish.

The Belko Experiment2017

Office coworkers locked in their building and forced to kill or be killed — same corporate-satire-meets-bloodbath energy, just cubicles instead of woods.

But Blunter satire and nastier violence, with less of The Hunt's specific political target.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Hunt

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Most Dangerous Game1932

The Hunt's entire premise — rich sociopaths hunting people for sport — descends directly from this RKO thriller, adapted from the Richard Connell story that started it all.

The literal blueprint: a shipwrecked man stalked by a mad hunter on a private island, the trope The Hunt is riffing on nearly ninety years later, and still tense despite its age.

But Creaky pre-Code dialogue and a 63-minute runtime feel like a fossil next to modern gore and pacing.

Battle Royale2000

The original teens-forced-to-fight-to-the-death classic, brutal and stylish and more emotionally devastating than nearly everything that copied it since.

But Subtitled and unapologetically grim — none of The Hunt's winking, self-aware comedy here.

The Purge2013

Kicks off a franchise built on the same core idea as The Hunt — legalized violence as society's pressure valve, wrapped in home-invasion horror.

But Claustrophobic and small-scale; the satire actually sharpens in the sequels, so this entry point undersells the concept.

Free Fire2017

A gun deal gone wrong collapses into ninety minutes of near-constant shootout among a scuzzy, hilarious ensemble — pure kinetic chaos with real wit.

But No larger satire here, just a warehouse and bullets — skip it if you wanted commentary, not just carnage.

Mayhem2017

Office drones infected with a virus that strips away inhibition go full bloody revenge on their corporate overlords — mean, gleeful, and satirical.

But Rougher edges and a lower budget than The Hunt's polished Blumhouse sheen.

Hard Target1993

Van Damme squares off against wealthy hunters stalking homeless veterans in New Orleans — lean, John Woo-directed 90s action cheese with the same DNA.

But Dated choreography and a much simpler moral universe than The Hunt's satirical ambitions.

Death Race2008

Convicts forced into a televised death sport for the entertainment of the elite — dumb, loud, unrepentantly fun if you just want the spectacle.

But All spectacle and no subtext — this one skips the political bite entirely.

Parasite2019

Both use a hunt between classes, literal or metaphorical, as their engine, but Parasite trades genre thrills for tragedy, showing how bleak the idea gets stripped of The Hunt's satirical wink.

A far more devastating take on the same nerve The Hunt scratches: what happens when the wealthy treat the poor as pieces on a board, right up until the board tips.

But No chases, no rifles — it earns its violence through slow-building humiliation rather than a body count.

Turkey Shoot1982

Same premise, none of the restraint — Turkey Shoot commits fully to human-hunting-as-blood-sport, showing exactly what it looks like without any political self-awareness.

An unhinged Australian exploitation film where dissidents are hunted through a jungle 're-education camp' by bored elites — gloriously trashy and utterly shameless.

But Cheap effects, wooden acting, and a level of gratuitous nastiness with zero interest in subtext.