Hunted
Hunted is the newest original addition to the Shudder library, one directed by Vincent Paronnaud of Persepolis fame. However, Hunted is a far cry from the poetry of the acclaimed animation.
The film starts with a jarring folk tale set around a campfire, before revealing that it is actually set in the present day. Then, it follows Eve (Lucie Debay), who has gone to a rather rundown club, to take the pressure off of her work. There, she meets a charming man (Arieh Worthalter) and decides to take it one step further. However, her intentions are short lived, upon discovery of an incredibly dark streak – Eve is chased into the woods by the Man and his accomplice (Ciaran O’Brien) and what follows is a cat and mouse thriller as she seeks to evade captivity.
The Man is relentless, not just in terms of pursuit, but within the character himself. Paronnaud, who also wrote the script, certainly tries to push the idea of who this crazy, shouty, angry man is in nearly every scene, which makes for a dreary sense of repetitiveness. Worthalter sees this as a challenge, but instead of putting a spin on the ever-so-present psychopath trope, he plays it quite cliché, making his performance often incredibly irritating, making it nearly unwatchable. Debay, on the other hand, starts off as a sympathetic enough character – wrong time, wrong place – but as the film plods on, it becomes increasingly difficult to care about her unfortunate predicament at all.
Perhaps Hunted could have been redeemed through some playful set pieces. Instead, Paronnaud refuses to deliver even one memorable moment, with so little action unfolding, it seems like these characters are going for a leisurely jaunt in the forest. When Paronnaud does present something potentially interesting, it’s ruined by the downright absurdity of it. A chase in the woods is randomly disrupted by a group of paintballers could play as a moment of surrealness, but comes across as an odd choice completely.
There is, however, violence - Paronnaud at the very least seems to delight in exploring blood and gore. Again, it is just unpleasant. There is no Tarantino-esque joy or choreography to the violence. Rather, it’s all quite bleak, with O’Brien’s accomplice serving as a mere punching bag for Paronnaud to inflict his distrubed thoughts onto.
There’s nothing new here and nothing particularly well done to justify its existence. Hunted is a dull experience, despite the fact it’s supposed to be tense. If anything, it’s good to see Eve get her revenge on the Man, purely because it signals the end of the film, not being interested in seeing her journey reach a satisfying climax.