The Hunt
Director: Craig Zobel
Writer: Nick Cuse, Damon Lindelof
Cast: Betty Gilpin, Ike Barinholtz, Wayne Duvall, Ethan Suplee, Emma Roberts, Hilary Swank
Seen on: 23./24.6.2026

Plot:
Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. Nobody knows how they got where they are. Or in fact, where they are or why they are there. Crystal (Betty Gilpin) is one of them, and her mistrusting nature serves her well when they are supplied with weapons – to be then promptly hunted.

I stumbled upon The Hunt and thought it looked like the kind of schlocky horror movie I was in the mood for. But I found myself watching more and more in disbelief at the kind of right-wing propaganda the film pretty quickly espoused. I only finished watching because I was hoping for some kind of final act revalation that turned everything on its head. It didn’t come.

The Hunt is basically the perfect illustration of what happens when you take horseshoe theory to its logical conclusion. Since the theory is bullshit, you end up with right-wing propaganda disguised as the so-called rational center. I am pretty sure that Cuse and Lindelof were convinced that they were punshing equally left and right, but since our political landscape is thoroughly leaning to the right (to put it mildly), this just doesn’t work.

So, what does the film give us? It gives us „evil liberal elites“ (in itself a rightwing and incredibly antisemitic dog-whistle) – people who care about racism, sexism and the environment, are filthy rich and have no problem killing people, although we know that the super-rich are much more on the right than on the left of the political spectrum. And their victims? Right-wing conspiracy theorists whose unhinged theories are pretty much proven in the course of the film. It is definitely clear who gets more sympathies here.

Although, most sympathies go to Crystal who is neither left-wing, nor right-wing but just wants her peace and this kind of nihilistic „I don’t care about politics“ stance is the worst kind of privileged head in the sand pushing that reinforces the (right-wing) status quo by its inaction and its uncaring. I hated it.

So, the film doesn’t really make a good political point and every time it approaches more of a stance than „everybody sucks“, it throws its hands up to proclaim that it is just a comedy. It undermines itself at every turn, and ultimately does nothing but make right-wing points with a tired „haha“ tacked on in the end.

Summarizing: stay far away.