Hunters

Director - Adam Ahlbrandt (The Cemetery, Cross Bearer)
Starring - J.D. Brown (When Black Birds Fly, Tales from the Crapper), Adam Ahlbrandt, and Haley Madison (Bludgeon, Applecart)
Release Date - 2016
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Some will die slowly" and "Can you take the violation?"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     There has been several films that I have been waiting years to see.  These highly anticipated films were announced and then little to no information was given on the film.  There was two films that I had been waiting for.  The first is the follow up to 2014's Pieces of Talent.  That film, Missing Pieces, was announced but no other information was released on the film.  The second film was Adam Ahlbrandt's Hunters.  When I was first brought onto Horror Society a friend in horror asked me to share a crowd funding link for Adam.  I had never heard of him before but I was happy to help out.  We became friends on Facebook and talked about horror and growing up in WV/VA.  We became friends over time and he let me review two of his films, Cross Bearer and The Cemetery.  Both were exceptional horror films.  It was then that I became excited for Hunters but it would be another three years before I would finally see it.  The film was recently released by Massacre Video.  As soon as it was out I quickly ordered a copy of the film on blu!

     The film follows two brothers who are making a movie and I use that term loosely.  The two kill and rape people while recording it all on film.  One of the brothers keeps his face hidden under a mask.  We then jump and meet a group of twenty somethings as they head out to location scout for a film project.  Things start out innocently but when they try to meet up with some friends that are camping near the location things turn deadly when they learn the brothers are making their movie nearby and plan on using them as the cast.  To make matters worse, some of the people in their group are not who they say they are.  Now they have to fight for their lives among people they thought were once friends.  
     Hunters is one of those films that was hyped to the point it felt like an urban legend.  When I met Adam back in April of 2015 at Cinema Wasteland he told me he was afraid of screening the film due to the fact he was being threatened by the police and risking imprisonment due to the film's content.  This only fueled my curiosity for the film even more.  From that date I had to wait well over a year before checking it out which was a bit of a let down considering the version of the film I saw was not that extreme or graphic.  I respect the hell out of Adam and his amazing career but Hunters was not able to top The Cemetery as his best film.  The acting in this one is great by the entire cast.  I could spend all day talking about how amazing the cast was.  The film has amazing performances from Adam Ahlbrandt, Haley Madison, Ellie Church, Linnea Quigley  (Yes, that Linnea Quigley), Kacie Marie, and Dave Parker but the film's stand out star is J.D. Brown.  Brown absolutely killed it in this film.  He delivered one hell of a disturbing performance that touches all the wrong nerves.  In fact, his performance is so perfect I couldn't imagine him getting cast in another film as any other type of character.  The story for this one is one we have seen before.  People killing others while recording it.  Seen it before with August Underground, Amerikan Holokaust, and probably several dozen other films.  Not much for originality for the overall story but there is several differences that sets it apart from the others.  The film switches between traditional camera shots and that of found footage.  I was not a fan of the found footage scenes but it does set it apart.  The characters also changes the story for this one up as well.  Until the every end you have no idea who or how these people know each other but with that reveal comes a twist ending that works very well.  To be honest, the story did not have me sold until the last 30 minutes where the film really hits you.  Finally, those of you looking for blood will find it here.  The film opens with a blood bath and then becomes stagnant for a few scenes before hitting us with even more blood.  There is a kill here and there that is shocking but nothing really seemed as extreme as I was lead to believe.  The effects for these kills are great as well which only helped the story move along.  Overall, Hunters was a solid film.  It does hit a dry spell but ends on a good note.  Not as graphic as I was hoping but was still entertaining once you make it over the mid-movie slump.