Netflix has added an overlooked action thriller movie gem

Stephen Porzio

The film was also low-key one of the most controversial films of recent years.

Netflix has just added The Hunt, the 2020 overlooked action thriller movie gem.

The film sees 12 working class strangers wake up in a remote clearing with no idea where they are or how they got there.

It turns out they have been kidnapped by ruthless elites (the leader of which is played by two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby) who have gathered to hunt the 12 for sport.

One of those kidnapped – an army veteran named Crystal (Betty Gilpin, Glow) – decides to fight back, however.

Co-written by Damon Lindelof (Lost, Watchmen) and directed by Craig Zobel (Mare of Easttown, The Penguin), the release of The Hunt was overshadowed both by Covid-19 and the movie becoming embroiled in a controversy involving then-US President Donald Trump.

Though the politician didn’t name the movie, he appeared to accuse it in a Tweet ahead of its release of being made “in order to inflame and cause chaos”. You can read more about this right here.

The Trump controversy led to the film dubbing itself in its marketing “the most talked about movie of the year no one’s actually seen”.

The Hunt also had its release delayed as a result of the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings in 2019.

It’s a shame the film was overshadowed by these events because it’s a solid, mean-and-lean horror action thriller that boasts a ferocious lead turn by Gilpin, along with a strong dose of satirical black comedy and a great supporting cast.

The latter includes Emma Roberts (American Horror Story), Ethan Suplee (My Name is Earl), Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Ike Barinholtz (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) and Macon Blair (Blue Ruin).

You can read a sample of the positive reviews for The Hunt right here:

Austin Chronicle: “This is Gilpin’s film. If you’re wondering, this is proof final that the Glow star is a mesmerising force.”

The Australian: “What I think this intelligent, violent movie is saying is that both stories are wrong because in races where it’s us (or US) versus them there can be no winner.”

The Daily Beast: “This gleefully trashy, superficial satire takes shotgun aim at both Democrats and Republicans for their stereotypical assumptions about, and thin-skinned fury at, each other.”

IndieWire: “Glow star Betty Gilpin plays [Crystal] with almost sociopathic cool in an inspired and strange performance that splits the difference between Linda Hamilton and No Country for Old Men baddie Anton Chigurh.”

Wall Street Journal: “This gleeful, gross-out gorefest looks as tacky and violent as its trackdown plot would suggest, and lives up to certain parts of its bad reputation. It is also funny, genuinely topical, extremely shrewd and, heaven help us, slyly wise.”

The Hunt is streaming on Netflix in Ireland and the UK right now.

Read more: