Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ike Barinholtz, Wayne Duvall, Ethan Suplee, Emma Roberts, Christopher Berry, Sturgill Simpson, Kate Nowlin, Amy Madigan, Reed Birney, Glenn Howerton, Steve Coulter, Dean J. West, Vince Pisani, Teri Wyble, Steve Mokate, Sylvia Grace Crim, Jason Fitzpatrick, Mokate Blair, J.C. MacKenzie, Tadasay Young, Hannah Alline, Jim Klock, Usman Ally, Walker Babington, Ariel Eliaz, Alexander Babara.

Horror isn’t just the preserve of the unknown, unearthly monster that is brought into existence by some unsuspecting teenager, nor it is the mask of a killer who terrorises locals and strangers and brings a neighbourhood to its knees through tricks, suspicions, acts of debauchery and disgust.

Quite often horror or the horrific act is what the human mind is pushed into when it feels it has been wronged, whether in the eyes of the considered low as they rage against the injustice of the system, or those who see themselves as high born, self-made and sainted, who take all for granted and then let their glass veneer face shatter as they lose all they have amassed, horror is what lays beneath the skin, the cruelty of the mind and heartbeat of a soul blackened.

There are many ways in which cinema can portray this emotional destruction of the self, however unlike the classics representations, such as Jason Voorhees, Freddie Kruger and Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there are more personal ways in which to create a monster, the acceptable human face in which to make the mind tip over the edge. The film franchise of Saw is one near perfect example of such fear manifesting itself, and in the Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof examination of reflected privilege, The Hunt, the film and horror fan is offered another outlook; one that takes that aforementioned sense of privilege and exposes it for what it truly is, a war between class, between education, supposed status and wealth.

The Hunt looks directly into the eyes of the viewer and asks the undisguised question of whose side are you on, the conspiracy theorists or the ones with the knowledge of how the hunt began, because there is no other side to take in such a war, and your answer is a telling insight into just how you would see yourself if such an event were to happen.

The film benefits hugely by having two women emerge as the final antagonists, both feeling the pain of their past and the sleight that has come from both a patriarchal setting, one of the business of war and the other of the boardroom fury, and their view is skewed directly, and unashamedly because of it.

With the impressive Betty Gilpin, as the former soldier Crystal, carrying the vast majority of the film, and enjoying great support from the likes of Ike Barinholtz, the superb and criminally underrated Ethen Suplee, and Hilary Swank, The Hunt should be viewed as a sublime one-off film that does not require a sequel; for how often does a film come round that tells its story in one go and leaves the cinephile satisfied with its conclusion.

Horror is not vampires and man-eating alien monsters from the depths of space, but rather what the human mind believes is acceptable to inflict upon another in the name of sport and retribution.

Ian D. Hall