Hunted (2021)

Streaming Services: Shudder
Movie Name/Year: Hunted (2021)
Genre: Action, Thriller
Length: 87 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Production/Distribution: Charade Films, Kidam, Savage Productions, Wrong Men North, Longride, Shudder
Director: Vincent Paronnaud
Writer: Vincent Paronnaud, Léa Pernollet, David H. Pickering
Actors: Christian Bronchart, Lucie Debay, Ciaran O’Brien, Jean-Mathias Pondant, Kevin Van Doorslaer, Gilles Vandeweerd, Dianne Weller, Arieh Worthalter
 
Blurb from IMDb: "The company of wolves is better than that of man." Once upon a frenzied time, Woman meets Man. Woman dances with Man. Man kisses Woman. Man grips Woman. Woman escapes Man. Man chases Woman - nothing new. Or is there?
 

Selina’s Point of View:
Based on the trailer, I thought this would be a retelling of Red Riding Hood. The story and the costumes all supported that. Instead, Hunted was more of a revenge tale.
 
I recently saw Promising Young Woman (2021) – which you can read about tomorrow – and, although it has a very different plot, Hunted explores some of the same societal issues. It really digs in deep on how women get treated when they are deemed vulnerable.
 
Hunted was a lot more heavy-handed and straight-forward, which is saying a lot. Promising Young Woman wasn’t exactly discrete about the message.
 

I feel like a lot of what was explored here was muddied by the content. It was extremely graphic at times, at least in script, and had some pacing issues that made it both overwhelming and boring at the same time.
 
The main antagonist was creepy, but felt a bit depthless. I get what they were going for: that sadist-for-sadism-sake kind of thing. I know that it occurs in real life, but when it’s not depicted right on screen, it just feels like lazy writing. I don’t believe it was done right, here. I feel as though giving him some depth would have helped.
 

Then there was this strange addition of a mother-son duo in the beginning. She was telling him tales of, essentially, what was going to happen. When they appeared again later in the film, I thought there might be an interesting place for them, but they were little more than red herrings.
 
There were parts I enjoyed. Revenge stories are entertaining to me. When Eve was beating on the Accomplice, that was definitely fun. When she rose up to protect herself, also a good moment – it led to a decent climax.
 
I don’t think this is the movie I would seek out for a revenge fix. There are better flicks for that.
 
If you want to see Hunted for yourself, it comes out tomorrow on Shudder.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore – 50/100
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 5.9/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2.5/5
 
Trust the Dice Parental Advisory Rating: R
 
Movie Trailer: