Hunter Hunter is a a thriller that follows a family that lives in the wilderness who make their living as fur trappers. There’s Joe (Devon Sawa), his wife, Anne (Camille Sullivan), and their daughter, Renée (Summer Howell). They’ve been struggling to make ends meet, and things take a turn for the worse when they find out there is a wolf out in the woods, messing with all animals they’ve been trying to catch in their traps. Anne is throwing in the possibility of selling their cabin, and moving to the city, but Joe is very much set in his ways.
Joe ends up going out on his own to track down and hunt the wolf, leaving Anne and Renée behind. He stumbles onto a rather gruesome scene that implies something, or someone, else might be in the woods. He is gone for an extended period of time, making his family worried. One night, they hear a noise, and go out to see what it is, hoping that it’s their father, but it turns out to be an injured man named Lou (Nick Stahl), who they end up bringing in and helping. However, the longer Joe stays missing, Anne becomes more paranoid about the nature of the man they brought in.
The film comes from writer/director, Shawn Linden, and it is most definitely a slow burn in the classic sense. While it’s just-over-90-minute runtime might seem like it would make for a quick sit, Linden is able to let moments sit in a way that doesn’t feel too demanding or acting like filler. He takes a measured approach in revealing information and turns in the plot. The mysterious guy that shows up doesn’t appear until almost an hour in, and a lot of film operates on that style of slow revelations.
For the most part, Linden does a good job at keeping things engaging so we don’t feel like we’re just waiting for the next reveal. We get a good understanding of the family’s home dynamic, the danger of the wolf is palpable, and we see why it’s something that they need to take care of so they can survive, and when things all go south, you feel tensed up, knowing what the consequences are. The addition of a few scenes involving – I’m assuming – the only two cops in the area Barthes (Gabriel Daniels) and Lucy (Lauren Cochrane), who eventually find themselves mixed up in the strange happenings.
I think what ultimately made Hunter Hunter frustrating was its lack of concrete answers. Things ramp up significantly in the final twenty minutes, and it is absolutely the reason why this will end up making a strong impression, since it ends on a fairly strong note. However, upon thinking about the events, it isn’t so much that things don’t make sense, they do in the terms established by the film’s internal logic, but it ends in a way that favors a striking image over providing a clear payoff to what the film has been building up to, either through its theming or the trajectory of its plot.
The performances here are really solid. Sawa really sells this guy who is stubborn about his method in raising their kid, preferring to keep in the traditions of his family who have similarly lived off the land and I’m guessing away from most of civilization. Sullivan more than holds her own for the second half of the film, which mostly rests on her shoulders, as she gets more anxious and protective of her daughter played by Howell, who she has a strong, very believable dynamic with.
All in all, Hunter Hunter is a perfectly solid thriller. Shawn Linden shows he’s more than capable of bringing an aura of mystery in his storytelling, and building his reveals in a careful, measured way to a closing sequence that I have no doubt will make folks squirm and leave a mark in their mind. It’s a pretty awesome sequence, and it’s one that definitely elevates the rest of the film, but not enough to necessarily push the film into real greatness. There isn’t much underneath the surface here, and by the time it gets to its conclusions, any previous theme it may have hinted at like the fragility of living in the outskirts is given a conclusion that feels superficial. It’s by no means a bad movie, it’s one I enjoyed watching, but it’s one I can’t help but think had the potential to be more ambitious and interesting.
Hunter Hunter opens in select theaters and VOD platforms on December 18th.