Does ‘The Hunt’ (2020) Land its Political Satire?
Craig Zobel—the director of the 2012 disturbing true-crime thriller Compliance, as well as the 2015 lukewarm apocalyptic survival flick Z for Zachariah—has set himself up for a greater spotlight than both previous films put together with his new thriller-comedy, The Hunt. Unfortunately, the film’s precarious subject matter—namely, the kidnapping and hunting of a group of Trump-supporting conservatives by liberal elites—resulted in a several-month delayed release after a series of tragic mass shootings in the summer of 2019. But nothing will stop it this time, as it opens in theaters across the country just in time for all theaters to be shut down due to a global pandemic. There’s an irony somewhere in here about a film whose central plot device hinges on globalist elite conspiracy theories.
Aside from The Hunt’s poor release timing, the film began generating another unfortunate kind of publicity prior to being seen. The trailer alone earned itself calls for boycotts, death threats, and even a reaction tweet from the POTUS, himself, saying the movie was “made to inflame and cause chaos.” But is the outrage justified?
First of all, let’s get this out of the way: Despite what some reviewers might think, yes, The Hunt is satire. A review in Time magazine reported the movie fails in its message because it is muddled and unclear, but for this viewer, it couldn’t be clearer. We take ourselves, and our political identities, far too seriously. If we can’t laugh at ourselves, we don’t deserve to laugh at others. And this film gives us plenty of opportunity to laugh at ourselves, regardless of where we fall on the political spectrum. Of course, as laden as it is with obvious jabs at each other—dropping trigger words like “deplorables,” “snowflakes,” and “crisis actors,” it’s easy to find ammunition to support whatever side of the aisle we sit on. The best moments, however, lie in the more subtle of these. For example, a liberal shopkeeper shouts at her husband before drinking a poisonous soda. “It’s got 43 grams of sugar,” she says. Later, a conservative talks about a popular conspiracy theory, adding, “I forwarded it to 50 friends,” which might be funny to anybody who’s received a chain email or post from their great uncle—and maybe not so funny to anyone who’s sent those emails.
Emma Roberts as “Yoga Pants,” courtesy IMDb
The Hunt doesn’t spend time exploring any particular ideology—it generally refrains from digging any deeper than surface-level stereotypes. But nor does it pretend to. There is room in this movie for everyone to get their licks in, if only to come out the other side a little less emotionally charged than before. Though it was framed by boycotters as a liberal hate film, it’s the conservatives who get the protagonist and only character with any sense of depth. Their greatest fears turn out to be founded. They barge into a gas station yelling that they’re being hunted. “But you have guns,” says the elderly couple behind the counter. “Yeah, for self-defense,” they reply. One man claims to have uncovered this secret society of liberals on his podcast. Perhaps it wasn’t true, but it certainly appears to be now. Crystal, revealing her service to the liberals’ “military advisor” learns that he too is a vet—of the national guard. The liberals may have set the whole game up, but they are nothing if not completely inept villains. There may be more jokes aimed at the conservative crowd, but it’s the liberal characters that are the jokes of the film. The cracks might be obvious, but in a film so obviously tongue-in-cheek, where every character is a caricature and no one is safe, it’s difficult to seriously suggest anyone will actually be offended.
I can’t deny that I did a good bit of laughing during this movie. There were also some pretty gruesome practical effects that impressed me and a few hilarious kills. It certainly leaned harder to the comedy side than the thriller/horror side, which may not have been what I was expecting, but for the most part succeeded. Though they worked hard to ensure that everyone got lampooned throughout, it’s still not a picture I’d show the family at Thanksgiving. The politics are far too current and incendiary for that. But if you’re stuck inside for some reason or another, it might be worth a shot. I would wait until it’s dropped below the $20 “In-Home Theater” tag, however.
Article written by Ande Thomas
Ande loves the intersection of sci-fi and horror, where our understanding of the natural world clashes with our fear of the new and unknown. He writes about monsters and foreign horror and can also be found over on Letterboxd.
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