The Release of “The Hunt” Brings Last Year’s Criticism of It Into a New Perspective
Fox News and President Donald Trump framed “The Hunt” as controversial before anyone had seen it, unknowingly reflecting the premise of the film. (Some spoilers).
I was scrolling through political pandemic opinions on my Twitter timeline when I saw a friend’s post about a scandal linked to an article with no facts that backed up their propaganda-like statement. When I messaged them to ask if they had found any elsewhere, they spoke as if the details that pointed in the direction of their assumption were enough evidence to make it true. I felt I was chasing this friend in circles until I surrendered to save myself from mental exhaustion.
This mere example of how we operate social media grabbed my attention as I had just watched “The Hunt” two days before. The film that reflects how we express our assumptions about others’ beliefs online was originally set to release on Sept. 27 of last year. The filmmakers and Universal Pictures postponed its release after Fox News and President Donald Trump criticized the film based on a few lines of the script that mentioned hunting “deplorables.” The film was released on March 13 on Amazon Prime, and the criticism proved to be misleading from what the film was really about, symbolizing its premise before anyone even watched it.
“The Hunt” is a gory satire, action thriller and horror film all wrapped into one 90-minute film directed by Craig Zobel and produced by Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions. Twelve strangers wake up near an open field with no sense of geography and a box full of weapons to find out they are being hunted by a group of elites. One of “The Hunted” (Betty Gilpin) derails their plan as she fights her way to the mysterious ringleader (Hilary Swank).
. . . The filmmakers and Universal Pictures paused the film’s marketing campaign days after the El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio mass shootings that occurred on Aug. 3, as the trailer showed people being shot at. 22 people died and 24 were injured when a gunman opened fire with an assault rifle in an El Paso Walmart. Hours later, a gunman killed nine and injured 27 in a popular nightlife area of Dayton, also using an assault rifle. Those, of course, were not the only mass shootings that took place in the U.S. in 2019.
A few days after the mass shootings, Hollywood Reporter shared a line from the first act of the film’s script: “At least The Hunt's coming up. Nothing better than going out to the Manor and slaughtering a dozen deplorables.” Hillary Clinton used the term “deplorables” to describe Trump supporters during the 2016 presidential election.
Fox News widely covered the plot of “The Hunt.” Fox Business host Lou Dobbs called it “sick” and “twisted.” The media outlet aired various segments debating its promotion of hunting “deplorables,” and highlighted Twitter users who did the same. Political satirist Tim Young told Fox News the film “shows just how hateful the left has become.” The list goes on.
Trump told Variety Hollywood is “treating conservatives very unfairly,” and tweeted that the movie was made in order to “inflame and cause chaos.” Less than 24 hours later, a statement appeared on the movie’s website that has since been taken down. “We stand by our filmmakers and will continue to distribute films in partnership with bold and visionary creators, like those associated with this satirical social thriller, but we understand that now is not the right time to release this film,” the statement said.
Left-leaning media outlets covered the film by highlighting the criticism from Trump and Fox News. Business Insider concluded the movie “isn't about liberal elites hunting ‘deplorables,’” after obtaining the entire script. Perhaps left-wing media would have reacted in a similar light if the roles of “The Hunters” and “The Hunted” were reversed, but I can’t say for sure. That would make me a hypocrite, wouldn’t it?
. . . The happenings of mass shootings in the U.S. would have been reason enough to postpone releasing a film in which people chase others down with assault rifles, but that is not what most Fox News commentators and Trump based their criticism of “The Hunt” on. They took the term “deplorables” out of the context of the script as a whole and ran with it. Even some counterarguments were based upon more assumptions that those being hunted would likely win in the end. Let’s also remember that the elites are the murderers who hold such an arrogant title. They weren’t made out to look better than anyone else.
Zobel wrote in an email to Variety, “Once inaccurate assumptions about the content and intent of the movie began to take hold, I supported the decision to move the film off its release date.” He also said the ambition of the film was to “poke at both sides of the aisle equally.”
After watching “The Hunt” from beginning to end, that was my exact takeaway. The hunting of “deplorables” was a concept introduced in a text messaging conversation at the beginning of the film to leads the audience into action-packed satire. While there was more creative room for satire to be used, equal shots are taken at liberals and conservatives in their dialogue and in their survival.
Rather than verbally labeling them or dressing anyone in MAGA hats, co-writers Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof lace the screenplay with comments about climate change, cultural appropriation and veganism for the viewer to associate with a political party themselves. Before one of the elites kills one of the kidnapped, they say, "For the record ... climate change is real.” Blumhouse Productions also produced “Get Out,” which balanced horror and satire to turn heads toward racism in the U.S.
Betty Gilpin as Crystal in ‘The Hunt’ / Universal
Our rush to judge others by what side of the political divide they stand on is exemplified through our inability to identify Crystal with either one, the badass heroine who drives the storyline. Despite her being plucked from Mississippi and placed on the side of “The Hunted,” she starts killing off the elites without saying anything political like everyone else around her. She doesn’t really say anything at all. Gilpin portrays a bit of an odd yet intriguing personality paired with effortless humor, which isn’t overshadowed by the political team Crystal sides with, if either. That is what the film is really about.
Athena, the ringleader, proves to be hypocritical in her assumptions about Crystal when they finally meet face to face. Athena reveals the hunt was triggered by negative rumors circulating the internet about a joke she made. “You wanted it to be true, so you decided it was,” she says, right before Crystal reveals an assumption Athena has made herself. I will at least leave that to be a surprise if you have not watched it already.
While watching this scene, I reflected on how four years of journalism school taught me to read articles without jumping to conclusions or refrain from judging others for who they voted for, but it still takes a conscious mind not to. The filmmakers created an entertaining reflection of society in which most people will either be offended when watching or learn to laugh at themselves and change the way they view those in front of them and online.
That point was made clearer when a revitalized marketing campaign came out in February with a trailer that emphasized more of its satire. The new poster for the film said, “The Most Talked About Movie of the Year That No One’s Actually Seen...Decide for Yourself,” in bright orange, bold font with the original date crossed out next to the new release date.
Most reviews written after “The Hunt” came out on Amazon focus on aspects of the film itself, as well as how different the plot turned out to be from the plot criticized last August. Fox News has not published any articles about the film since its release.
It is ironic that a film that portrays how people rush to make assumptions about others based on the details they focus on had assumptions made about it based on two lines pulled out of an entire script. Yes, the plot of the film is much more exaggerated than media coverage of Hollywood and if it happened in real life the elite would look pretty guilty with a horrific sense of humor, but isn’t that satire? “The Hunt” may not be the most compelling film ever made, but the irony is powerful in and of itself.