Hunted

A woman and her son are sitting in the woods by the fire. She's telling him a medieval fairytale about a young woman lost in the woods with a gang of men. They're hungry and they are about to sacrifice her when nature hears her pleas and intervenes.

"The company of wolves is better than that of man." 

That's the truth. 

Ève (Lucie Debay) has had a crappy day. She needs a drink. A man at the bar starts to flirt with her and when she ignores him he gets aggressive. Another man (Arieh Worthalter) approaches and warns him off. He's warm and funny and in the bar with his brother (Ciaran O'Brien) to cheer him up and the woman immediately likes him. Later there's kissing and things get hotter in his car. Then his brother jumps in and drives off. So begins a couple of days Ève will never forget.

About two thirds of the way into Vincent Paronnaud's survival horror there's a moment involving a stun gun and an arrow and it's probably the most unexpected thing you'll see in a film this year. It's a scene involving characters we meet right at the start of the film and if you think back to their words you'll realise you've been watching a dark modern fairytale (look at Ève's coat) all along and from that moment on you'll become far more accepting of Hunted's many bizarre and surreal asides. Sometimes you just need a jolt to get you into the rhythm of a film and my god you'll get a hell of a one here.

It's not one for the faint hearted. These kinds of horror movies rarely are but Hunted really goes for the jugular with it's depiction of misogynistic men and the women they hate. It doesn't dwell on sexual violence like a lot of low budget horror tends to do but the spectre of what could happen to Eve at any minute looms large over proceedings making it an uneasy watch. Lucie Debay's turn as our heroine really sells it though. She starts out weary and ends primal and is believable on every step of her journey. By the end you'll be watching her through your fingers and holding your breath. 

Arieh Worthalter doesn't do as well. His character (who never gets a name) feels like he's been dropped in from a rather more fantastical story and the portion of the film about him as a result never quite gels with Eve's story, especially in the latter stages of the film. But to the film's credit it does spend a surprising amount of time with it's bad guys, they aren't just the usual one note monsters and the relationship interplay between them is quite unique. Let's just say trust is a hell of a thing. 

Hunted is streaming on Shudder right now. It's far from perfect but at least it tries to do something new with familiar material.