The Hunt feat. Julieann Marie

How do you know who's lying? Hello, Sydney. It's your killer host. My name is Parker, your resident horror fanatic. I'm Caroline, Scaredy Scream Queen. I'm Ian, Scary Movie Skeptic. And welcome to. What's your favorite scary movie? What's your favorite scary movie is a horror film podcast where we're on a journey to find our favorite scary movie one at a time. Whether you hate them or love them, join us and discover yours. Spoilers ahead, so plan your movie screening every weekend before the episode release. Hello everyone, and uh welcome to another episode of What's Your Favorite Scary Movie? I've never started an episode like that, but I guess never too late to start. I hope everyone is um enjoying this episode from the confines of their own homes as we distance.

You may hear that I am not here with Caroline and Ian as usual, but I am here with a very special guest. Her name is Julianne Marie, and she is a beautiful, incredible uh writer, journalist for many publications like Bloody Disgusting and Fangoria Plus and uh Nightmares Conjurings. Hi, Julianne. Hello there. Do you have anything to add to that bio? Um not really. I'm uh I'm a hardcore horror fan. I'm a longtime horror fan, and uh a couple years ago I decided to dissect them for for writing purposes. So here I am. I think I uh I think my opinion's pretty uh I don't know, right? I have good taste, right, Parker? I mean, what is taste but um you know subjective.

So I yeah, I feel like usually we get along pretty well on movies, but you know, a lot of people don't get along with me on movies, so what does it even mean? Wrong. Well, we're both it's funny because we we recorded another episode prior to this, which you guys won't hear yet, but for a movie that may or may come out in April, we'll see. We don't know. And um this one's a little bit more rough because we uh we don't have a lot to say about it. Yeah. So it's true. There is an episode for everyone to look forward to if it ever sees the light of day. Yeah. Today we are discussing the um roller coaster journey that is the hunt, both getting to our screens and then somewhat on our screens.

It was a wild ride. The hunt, right now, wide release in 2020, but we'll discuss later. It uh took a long time getting there because it was supposed to come out last year. She had a roller coaster right, yeah. Um yeah, yeah, which um as we'll discuss, I don't really know why. It's really not that offensive, but anyway, we'll get into that. Uh, The Hunt was directed by Craig Zobel. He had previously directed Compliance from 2012 and episodes of The Leftovers and a very good episode of Westworld. Of course, fanboy over here. Yes, my fave show, and uh one of my fave episodes, the Connie No Mai. So Joe, check it out. Also, this movie has some well, at least names that I'm familiar with because I'm fans of the work.

So I I was kind of I've been curious for a while to see the result. Uh, it was written by Damon Lindelof, who is the showrunner of The Leftovers and Watchmen, and who has a quote created by credit on Lost. He is also one of the writers of Prometheus from 2012, Star Trek Into Darkness from 2013, and World War Z from 2013 as well. So that guy has been around the block and a lot of popular things that probably a lot of us have seen. Cool. Yeah. Uh, and then the other writer uh credited on this is Nick Cuse, who also wrote episodes of the Leftovers in Watchmen and the Netflix show Maniac. Okay. We got Betty Gilpin as Crystal.

You might know her from Chloe on Netflix, which I don't watch. Is it good? You tell me, Parker. Uh, I watched the first season and thought it was fun, and then the second season I watched one episode and was like, eh, no longer for me. And also, this year's The Grudge. Woo! Remember that? Remember that, guys? I'd rather not. Whoa, whoa. Um, Miss Hillary swank as Athena, and we all know she's I mean an icon, million dollar baby from 2004, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the movie. The movie, the movie, not the show. And then we have Big Difference. Yeah, it's just a tag. We have some uh brief appearances from Ike Barenholt, Emma Roberts, Kate Nolan, Glenn Howerton, and musician Stirgle Simpson.

Um, and who remind me, who's the guy who's in This Is Us? He's in there for a hot second, too. Wait, what's his name? See, I saw that in an article, and I've never once watched This Is the same, but I just know that he's cute. I mean All these people look not famous that I'm looking at right now. I don't know. It doesn't matter, it's whatever. He's barely in it anyway, so who cares? But yeah, it was kind of funny how you know, I've anytime there's like a star-studded horror movie coming out, it's kind of like, oh, interesting. Like my first thought is always like, oh, this must be a good one to get all these big names interested, you know.

Um, which is just ridiculous. That's not necessarily true. As we saw, the grudge had a lot of big name people in it. Well, I mean, it it takes from the motto of like psycho and like all the I mean, Scream, even it's like you kill off well, sorry, give it away right now, but we're going to spoilers already, guys. Bear with me. Yeah, if you haven't seen Scream, you know. But like it kind of goes with like the who the whole Drew Barrymore thing. I mean, it's just like, oh, here, we're gonna lure you in with the marketing through like a big celebrity, and then they're like, nope, they're gone within like five minutes. That's what this movie does, which is cool.

Yeah, I I dug it. Yeah, and even the I am still a little I I don't know, it's a little perplexing to me that so many famous people were in on this movie. Like, I don't know. It's it's bizarre because it doesn't even seem I'm not saying off the bat that it I thought it was bad or anything, yeah, but it just seems like a bizarre movie to have attracted this time attracted a list. Yeah, I agree. Well, we'll go into the summary, I guess. Go ahead. Yeah, I have the Rotten Tomatoes summary because again, I didn't like the one on IMDB, but whatever. Uh the Rotten Tomatoes summary says 12 strangers wake up in a clearing.

They don't know where they are or how they got there, they don't know they've been chosen for a very specific purpose. The hunt. With a lot of uh um ellipsies in there, so building suspense in this summary. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, a group of globalist elites gather for the very first time at a remote manor house to hunt humans for sport. Globalist elites, really. Guys, just say liberal elites. That's what the movie says. Rotten tomatoes, don't be a coward, don't be a coward. Uh, the Rotten Tomatoes information as of March 19th, 2020, so it might have changed by the time this comes out. The critic's score was 52%, and the audience score is 65%.

And the consensus critics consensus says the hunt is successful enough as a darkly humorous action thriller, but it shoots wide of the mark when it aims for timely social satire. Yeah, I I would kind of agree with that. First impression. What do you think? I mean, it's kind of like it's it works on a visceral level, but what is it really trying to say? I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. I think I think that where it really shines is the humor is all very like it's all things we recognize, all things we've heard, and it's funny because of the way that it taps into the mockingness. Like you said, like what is it actually saying?

But at the same time, it wasn't nothing was ever specific enough to really get a grasp of um intention or I mean yeah, message, as you said. So really, I just repeated what you said, and that's what I think. I mean, it's just you know, like horror is notorious. I mean, that's that's what horror is. It's it's a genre that it's it uses it kind of how did I say this? It kind of uses fun blood gore to convey a message. And that's what horror is. It's nothing new. And when you put satire in there, which has been done to death for years and decades, you have to kind of make it more than just like a biting satire, kind of make it more like, well, what are you exactly saying with this?

And the hunt is just kind of like, well, everyone sucks, I guess, but everyone's cool too. I don't know. Like it just doesn't really, you know what I mean? Yeah. Now, I have kind of a hot take question for you. Okay. And I don't even know if I Well, yeah, I I know my answer is, but you know, again, it I mean, it's always subjective. But do you think that this was a horror movie? Yeah, I was thinking about that too. I think it's more, I would call it more genre than just horror. I think because it's it's released by Blumhouse. People are like, oh, so it's a horror movie. It's it's a it's a it's a genre movie.

It's not really, it's more action, it's more gore, um, and it's satire, but it's not straight up horror. And and that's fine. It doesn't have to be like, you know, it's it's definitely not scary for sure. But yeah. I mean, I would definitely like watch this in a marathon with like Rambo Terminator, um like Die Hard, like you're saying, these big scale action movies. Yeah instead of if I was having a horror night, I probably wouldn't think to put on the HUD. So that's kind of that was kind of my first thing when I was watching this. I was like, oh, you know, I was expecting a little more tension, a little more suspense. But yeah, I think well, I then again, if they went with that way, I think it would have been too similar to The Purge, maybe.

Don't you think? Like maybe it's maybe they were good, because like that's also Blumhouse franchise, too. Like maybe they were trying to get away from that and go more goofier and kind of funnier, which it actually was a lot sillier than I expected. Yeah. Well, I'm sure we'll kind of talk about this soon, but like the original trailer that came out back in what, like last summer, I think it was. Yeah, last July or August. Like that was very kind of more thriller, kind of more like it was more interesting, I thought. Then they kind of scaled it back, and then when they released the new one this earlier this year, it was like, oh, it was more kind of goofier.

And I was like, that's interesting. It was more satirical, but that's more reflective of what the movie itself was. So it made sense. Yeah, and that probably has a big uh part of the pushback on the marketing, which I guess we can't escape talking about that. So why don't we just talk about that right now? Sure, we'll go into the history. Go ahead. So uh as we discussed, this movie was the marketing began last summer in 2019. Um and unfortunately last summer also saw a few like big event tragedies in America. And the big ones that affected this movie were the shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Uh, because of those two events, uh, TV networks started refusing to run ads for the hunt just because it was violence, it was people against people, there were a lot of guns, and so they were like, we're gonna hold back on this.

And I believe Universal as well was like, we've pulled some of our marketing just to be a little more sensitive to the times, you know. Well, also our uh our president had some things to say about it too, because of the Yeah, well, that's coming up. So the other big piece of the controversy that arose around this was um, and in retrospect, having seen the movie, some of my opinions on this have changed. So the Hollywood Reporter came out with a like just general press release type article running down the hunt, what it's about, new movie coming out, you know. Um, and it included lines of dialogue from the movie and a summary that posed Swank's side as liberal and Gilpin's side as deplorables, which you'll remember was the term Hillary Clinton used to describe Trump Trump supporters in the 2016 election.

Uh, they also reported that the film was originally called Red State versus Blue State. Now, the kicker here that I was very much like, well, well, if we're not getting all the information, then everyone calm down. Because people got a little upset after this article came out with just the wordage that was being used and this very like people versus people political thing. I remember a bunch of articles coming out being like, no one's actually seen the hunt. Nobody knows that liberal and deplorable are words that are being used in the movie or that are being used by the filmmakers. So there was kind of this pushback on the Hollywood Reporter article against the hunt. And then there was this pushback against the pushback that was like, Well, you don't know what you're talking about.

Do you remember this at all? No, I do. And I think I mean it's ultimately it's censorship, you know, like none of us had seen it. Me personally, like when I saw the trailer's trailer, I was like, Yeah, it's kind of like the purge, like whatever. I didn't I could care less, and you know, and it didn't offend me or anything by any means. I just was like, whatever, you know. But again, none of us had seen it, and it's like a movie deserves a chance. We don't live in friggin' China. We deserve to, you know, have a we deserve to have our our art be shown, and then we can judge it. Like that's what art is.

So I that's what the kind of the whole pushback was, and yeah, it just became a whole big. I'm I'm glad they at least came around and released it at a more suitable time that it worked, and so yeah. Yeah. Well, after all that happened, we got a couple of tweets from old commander-in-chief Donald Trump. Um, he uh tweeted and said, I have these tweets, they are from August 9th, 2019. He said, Liberal Hollywood is racist at the highest level and with great anger and hate. They like to call themselves elite, but they are not elite. In fact, it is often the people that they so strongly oppose that are actually the elite. The movie coming out is made in order uh to inflame and cause chaos.

They create their own violence, then try to blame others. They are the true racists and are very bad for our country. So he never straight up said the hunt, but because of the words used there and that this was in correlation with the release of the marketing stuff, people were like, Yeah, he's talking about the hunt, obviously. And that's the thing, like I was he was he offended by this trailer, or was he because like really the movie is I mean, we'll say it now, the movie is they're elitist liberals hunting conservatives. That's what this movie is. Yeah. So what was he offended because of like he thought it was something different, or was he offended because he was he agreed with this?

Like, I don't I don't understand why he even opened his mouth, but that was my big thing because if you watch this movie and you're not thinking well, I don't want to say not thinking critically, but if you're just watching it for the fun and not wanting to think about pull politics or thematic material or anything, like this seems sympathetic to the conservative side. Yeah. So I don't know why he would be upset and why he kept using the word racist over and over again because that's not this movie's not really dealing with raceful. Not at all, not at all. No, in fact only in the superficial like uh joking about PC culture and things like that.

Yeah. The film, it was announced, was canceled the exact same day that tweet went live. And I also pulled up a quote from the director in an interview with Variety. He said, Our ambition was to poke at both sides of the aisle equally. We seek to entertain entertain we seek to entertain and unify, not enrage and divide. It is up to the viewers to decide what their takeaway will be. Wow, you it's art? Shut up. You heard it from Julianne first. This movie is art on the record. Cinema. You know, I recently believed that I had this conversation with Caroline on the podcast when we were talking about hostile. And I remember that I had said that the big um, the big kind of push now is uh against hostile is the politics of viewing that movie and what it says about you as a movie viewer to want to see like that hypergore with boobs and sex and you know misogyny and homophobia.

But I think that that movie thematically is saying something very different than that. It's just that kind of weird cognitive dissonance of having what the movie's saying, but necessarily what you're seeing. I remind me, we were talking about this between you and I um recently. You had asked me, I forget what movie it was, but you said about you're like, you think this movie is toxic. And I thought told you that I thought it was a clockwork orange. That's what it was. Right. We're talking about exploit we're talking about exploitation cinema. And you're like, is this is this problematic? I'm like, I don't think that movie is problematic. It's showcasing what problematic is, it's showcasing like it's not it's not making a hero out of these people, it's it's showcasing how awful they are, and like that to me is not like what you know what I mean.

Like, and then that's what this movie is to a degree, but they're playing it a little bit too safe where it's like, well, everyone has their you know faults, and yeah, which is true. There are both sides. I mean, you and I would obviously lean more towards the liberal side, but like there are totally assholes on every side, and we get that, but like I think this one's a little bit too safe. I don't know. What do you think? Yeah, uh, I completely agree. Like I said, I think that a lot of the dialogue and the language being used works really well because it's fun. I'm thinking specifically the scene when they're in the gas station, the gas station owners are so funny.

Yeah, yeah. And that's because everything they say are things that I've heard or things that I've said or things that are part of the debate, not only within like the liberal side, but also like the conservative side, like pointing out that liberals think that way. Right. And then there's kind of the reverse of I actually thought it was interesting that a lot of the criticisms this movie was bringing up against the conservative, uh, and I'm saying all conservative versus liberal, just because that's the way the movie poses. Right, right. Extremism. That's what that's going for. Yeah. Yeah. Uh I thought it was interesting that a lot of the faults that it brought up with conservative, the conservative group was uh with internet culture and not necessarily with the workings of their politics or like uh it was strange because there were a lot of critique of liberal culture, and then the conservative side was like they're too aggressive online, but you know, everybody's using guns, and there was a joke about abortion, but it seemed more about liberal people being pro-choice.

It was strange. Yeah, it's it's very it was a lot about cancel culture. It this movie is very, very 2020, and which is cool. Like we all we always use that, but I don't know how well it's gonna age. Like, I I mean, I don't know, maybe maybe it will, but like it's just so right now that I don't know. I don't know how it's gonna look like with people watch this like five years from now, is it really gonna have an effect? I don't know. Well, and I would honestly hope not, because I mean there's been so much lately, not necessarily we were trying to come up with similar kind of political satires with horror, and I was having a hard time.

But I think just right now, the kind of divide of ideology is just so extreme, and that's something that I'm hoping there's been enough in the real world IRL, uh, that's been pointing that out and criticizing it that I'm hoping that it'll start kind of funneling down. Right. And then yeah, this movie will be outdated. Yeah, yeah, that's that's the hope. And maybe maybe that's the point. Maybe it's like, hey, look at how ridiculous we're all being. And I think that's what they're going for for sure. But I don't know, it's kind of like, yeah, that's fine, but what else? You know, I mean what else is new? We've been we we we know how this culture is and it's not gonna change or anytime soon, but I don't know.

It's that's why I just kind of, yeah, I'm kind of in the middle. about this in general. I mean like I really I really really dug the first probably like good like 20 25 minutes like maybe it's more so like Hunger Game set yeah it it was fun it was I mean it's the gore in this is amazing the effects in this are amazing the action it's all it's all there Betty Gilpin which I'm sure we'll get into I I liked her probably a little more than you did but we'll get into that too um but like yeah I mean it's it's really like I think this movie could be so much better if it had like it was it was a little more thicker but beefier in the mid it's so thin in the middle there's there's like really no like I don't know we we go from one like we'll we'll explain like the plot I guess a little bit but like we go from they get dumped into this this whole middle of nowhere and they're they're getting hunted and then these people start get get killed off one by one and then they Betty Gilpin ends up like on a train with another guy and they're they're at somewhere else in another country everyone's lying and it's just like I'm just like what like I just don't like it's kind of so much set up and then it's like then it just ends by the third act with Hillary Swank and I I don't know I didn't really I was like that's it.

Yeah I think it's hard when there are that many characters and there I mean I'm I'm glad there were because they're all just being blown to you know into bits left and right which is something I enjoy. Um but there were so many people and since the first kind of 20 minutes like you were saying was jumping from person to person before we kind of settled on Betty Gilpin and Hillary Swank it was like I was after the killing kind of stopped and it was just like all right like now we're getting into a plot I was kind of like but what is the plot? Like where are we headed? What's the goal? It was just kind of like we were watching people do stuff and I felt like we could have gone straight to the end and it wouldn't have made a difference to the story at all.

Yeah. And uh that was frustrating to me. I mean I'll we'll go with like so the positives at first like the the character the characterization of these people is really funny. I mean if you have any kind of sense of humor on either side what matter which political leaning you have like you're gonna laugh because you you know people like this. Like my some of my favorites were like I thought um Ike Harrenholtz he was you know like like as a as a person like he's totally not what his character is like and it was kind of funny seeing him and that kind of that kind of switch like and like I loved uh Florida man.

That was like I I loved him. He was the guy with the Florida tattoo like he was he was so Florida and like I I I just I don't know like stuff like that was funny. I mean there were it has its moments I guess I don't know it's like there was some kind of funny like the people who were in the gas station they were talking about like oh us white people like we're the worst and we're like yeah you know that's true. You know it's like the people in the gas station were definitely my highlight I thought they were so funny. I thought they were the best yeah and like the climate change like climate change is real.

It's like that that that whole like predatory like yes it's real and we're gonna make you think that way like that there yes there are totally people on that side of politics that are like that for sure. And even like lesser gags like they're they have poisoned all of the food in the gas station and then there's a scene where like the male gas station owner takes a drink of soda and she's like no that's poison and he spits it out and she's like there's so much sugar in it. Yeah like you I thought that this movie at least for the first half because it stops making jokes like halfway through all of a sudden all of the humor was great at the beginning.

That's what I said like I really was into the first like good 20 25 minutes and then it just kind of like I was starting to lose interest in the middle chunk and I just I think that's what kind of it luckily it does come back again in the third act like we'll you know we'll get into that but like yeah it's just kind of like it it chugs along and you're like okay that's it um yeah I mean what do you even understand what was exactly happening like where were they like I I don't even know where well it seems like they were in I believe they settle on Croatia. Croatia but it seems like they were there the whole time but the area they were being hunted on was a huge plot of land on Hillary Swank's uh house decidedly not a manor as she tells us many times um property that she's purchased this house on yeah I mean I'm the same way as you where first 20 minutes great and then the middle I have nothing really to say about it.

There's this whole and it's weird because like stuff happens like there's a whole shootout with a group of the liberals Betty Gilpin killing them and it was just so unsubstantial to me because again they're kind of making jokes but this time they're a little more vague and a little less grounded in something that's recognizable to the audience. Yeah. And then it's weird because characters are just like oh like she's you know you're looking for Hillary Swank. She's in this house on the property just go this way and she's like okay I'll go yeah I mean well let's before we get into her let's get into Betty Gilbin because I know I think I liked her more than you did and I liked appreciated the arc more than you did.

I mean I I wasn't like totally like in love with it or anything but like I I do think that her stoicism was worked in this. Like she's kind of like she's kind of like all of us like we're we we all of us even though we kind of each of us lean more towards one side or the other but like we're we all kind of laugh at people who are like the extremist on either side I mean I know I do on either you know on any side of the coin I mean and I she's kind of just like dude you're all fucking nuts you know and and I and I totally can relate to that um and I think she's badass in this and I I you know I like that but as we go on and she does end up meeting up with Hillary Swank we find out should we get into that now or well I want to say about her character first because we go through most of this movie thinking that she is on this conservative party side.

Right. And I think what was frustrating for me is that to me it wasn't stoicism like you said. Like to me her face was just blank and empty the whole time and we hear that she used to be in the military and that's why she has these skills that um it's verywashed kind of thing. Yeah she's got that survivalist like not just the fighter instinct but she's got the survival instinct she knows what she's doing. But it's just like even like some of the line delivery to me like went beyond dry and was just kind of lifeless. I don't know I like I feel bad criticizing because I don't know much about acting but I just find found her character like so unrelatable because she's supposed to be the middleman she's supposed to be the person everyone can relate to and I just thought she was the opposite.

Okay yeah I mean she's I I I would say though if she were were not in this don't you think it would be even worse? I mean I think it like I I don't know like who else would they even put in this that would kind of ground this story because the story's so it's just so whatever and like everyone's so unlikable in it that you're like I don't even know who like I know you didn't really care for her either but like at least she's kind of an anchor where everyone else just kind of like they're just it's so it's so satirical and empty that you don't give a shit about anyone else in this movie.

Yeah I mean if she wasn't in it I mean and again this isn't really I I think when it comes down to it maybe it's not a problem with Betty Gilpin but maybe it's just a problem with this character kind of conduit person because honestly I think I would have enjoyed more that's just this huge ensemble and at the end they've just all killed each other by the end. Don't you think that would have even driven the point home a little bit better? Yeah yeah you know what yeah you're you're kind of right about that yeah it's like everyone's doggy dog. Yeah that would interesting yeah it's I think Betty Gilpin's whole existence in this movie throws the whole metaphor off for me.

Yeah. So yeah I mean as you were getting at earlier the big twist of the movie is that Hillary Swank has chosen the wrong crystal because her name is Crystal she's chosen the wrong crystal and Betty Gilpin was actually just an innocent person who never you know had a political thought in her life and has been pulled into this whole chaos um and she's actually smart she's read Animal Farm which honestly if you've gone to high school who hasn't so that sounded like some shade girl I guess not to shame anyone who didn't go to high school but I'm just like Animal Farm that's not like the height of art. No I mean it's pretty basic B yeah I think that them giving uh a write off to anyone in this movie kind of defeats the purpose because the whole purpose is supposed to be everyone's ridiculous it shouldn't be sides it should be just more about understanding and instead it's like this movie now is like there are crazy people but there are also people who are neutral and we should look to them you know yeah yeah that's what I mean it it plays it very safe where I feel like other more recent satire genre flicks um Assassination Nation from 2018 I would even we we've talked about even get out has some I mean get out's more on the dramatic serious side but there's some very a lot of satire in that as well um but I think get out is like pretty ruthless with its message like it is not letting anyone off the hook.

That's what I think I think it's it it it's very pointed and it's like here you go but without bashing without kind of bashing your head over with it like it's not that way but this is kind of just like well it doesn't to me this feels like and I I apologize but I'm not a Jason Blum fan so it's kind of like oh we want to play it safe and not piss anyone off too much. And like as we saw a few weeks back of this recording the controversy with Jason Blum um he had responded to someone on Twitter who was complaining about the most recent Black Christmas that came out last December and this person was basically kind of just trolling and being and being like oh I don't want anything you know I don't I don't he was bitching about like how very uh gender studies the movie was and how it's very it was very feministic to the point where it was kind of annoying and which you know I I get that I definitely do but the guy was being a troll and Jason Blum who those the producer of these movies was just like yeah I hear you well you should watch the hunt because that that'll that'll kind of be more you know more your bag and it's like well like who were like I you're trying to play it safe but it just doesn't really work that great I don't know I I think it's kind of just like he's trying to please both sides because he doesn't want to lose money.

He doesn't want to lose like an audience and I don't I I to me I I don't really care for that. So even that response I think you and I texted about it's like is he trolling this troll because this movie is more outwardly political or is he actually just like a dish bag? Sure. You heard it here didn't hear it from us. But yeah no that could be the case as well yeah who knows but yeah I just I I'm kind of leaning towards that he was serious because this movie is as satirical as this and it is funny. I I definitely think it's funny but like it doesn't really have a point except for like look how ridiculous everyone is and it's like well yeah yeah I we know that already like it's just not really it's kind of just so in the middle that it's doesn't always I don't know it's not very effective I think in that in that way.

Yeah uh but speaking of humor let's switch back to a positive and talk a little bit about the gore. Yeah speaking of humor yeah well that's what I loved about this is how silly all of the gore is too not only is it like well done and like actualized really beautifully but like it's so funny. Yo the no that those those head explosions like I was like that I mean the even from the beginning when she pulls that guy's eyeball out with her high heel like I loved that. I love that I loved when Emma Roberts was just like I forget what she says but she says something very quickly and then she's just boom she's gone she says something like oh that almost hit me or something like that.

And I was like dying like it's like shit like that was really I I love that about it. Yeah this movie this movie's ruthless violence if you're looking for a good old fashioned like just fucking gore violence fest this movie will totally satisfy that and I I definitely like that about it. Didn't like when Mr Mr Orwell the piggy died that was kind of sad. Oh that was so sad. I thought of all people the pig would live right I mean guys he and he made it so far too with his little his little t-shirt and he's running around and he'd show up and I think at the beginning had a little hat on too he was styled so well and then and then he just sent me out alive and it killed me.

Yeah and I thought it was nice because you know when I asked you kind of well not I didn't kind of ask you when I asked you earlier if you thought this was a horror movie like at the beginning I thought it was interesting because the humor and the themes and the gore were all kind of separate. But I think that the one kind of claim it has to maybe being part of horror genre is that by the end when Hillary Swank and Betty Gilpin are fighting the humor and the gore and the violence have all become one and I think that that's when you can kind of start getting more into horror stuff is when you can kind of weave everything into violence and gore and suspense which again light on the suspense but at least there were some cringe crawly moments towards the end.

For sure yeah I would actually I you could tell that Betty Gilpin and Hillary Swank had a good time that the last final sequence it was really really it was really well choreographed it was really well shot that was like like we were talking about that middle chunk is kind of pretty subpar but then it kind of brings you back into in the last section and it's it was fun. It was really fun I mean Hillary Swank was I love seeing her as like a roofless bitch. I I love seeing her in this role um they I really found it funny when they were like they'd be in the middle of like a hardcore fighting like roofless battle and then they would just stop and be like wait hold on a second breath because they're like middle aged women like wait we need a second like that was like it was and that how much they talked about like Hillary Swank's been training and Betty Gilpin's been in the army and so it's like oh they're badasses and then like it looked like it hurt so much by the end and they'd gone to that glass window and she's about to throw Hillary Swank to the door and she goes no more glass and just opens the door like some that was clever.

Like that there were like I said there this movie has its moments it really does. Like it's uh I just wish there was a little bit more I guess but um yeah and I think that the runtime was great like this was a quick movie. It was like but it's just bizarre that for such a quick movie it was so not succinct. Like it was like a little bit all over the place. And even like so the movie begins with Hillary Swink in on this text thread with her buds about the manor and the hunt and then it kind of after we've gone through all this stuff with Betty Gilpin getting to Hillary Swink's house it like completely halts and is like flashback how did Hillary Swink get here it was a misunderstanding she was never hunting people and now she's just so pissed that everyone thought she was hunting people that she's gonna do it.

Yeah we forgot to get into that yeah that's the whole thing like I guess there was a commentary on like internet culture and how like Reddit culture and I think Reddit is brought up isn't it I think at one point yeah I think somebody makes a joke about how they don't know anything about the internet and they mention Reddit. Yeah yeah it's like I but like that's also a little far fetched but then again it's it's a it's a satire so it's cool but it's like yeah she she's bitching that like she never had intention intended this in the first place and this was all like a kind of an internet rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and then it ends up happening anyway and it's like well okay like I don't like I don't know why like I don't know what what led her to that I it's I don't know I kind of I I could have missed something but yeah and it was strange to me because it almost felt like they were trying to do with Hillary Swank what they did with Betty Gilpin where it was like she was never this bad of a person until she was driven to it.

Yeah. And so again it was yeah like we were talking about earlier like let's take the risk like if she's gonna be a bad person make her a bad person. Yeah. And I mentioned this to you over text and I have still you didn't have an answer I still have no answer but they kind of worked up to this like reveal that it's Hillary Swank when to me it like I just have no idea why it would be that why they wouldn't be showing her face for the entire movie until the end besides that maybe they just wanted to save money and they had like a body double or something but I thought that was bizarre.

They so they don't show her face in the beginning I could have sworn they did but they don't no on the airplane they just show the back of her head. Interesting she talks so like maybe they had her go into a recording studio and record a couple lines but maybe they only had her for a certain amount of time shooting purposes I I don't know but that's the only reason I could think of because watching the movie I was like is this supposed to be a reveal like if it like was a character we knew before and it was a reveal that it was that character like I get it. But was the movie like I don't think the movie's meta enough to be like we know that you're a fan of Hillary Swank so we're gonna make this a Hillary Swank reveal.

Yeah yeah it was bizarre yeah I know I know she's I think that's it's her she's in the scene when her and all the all her liberal friends who are in on this they're in someone's apartment and she's like working out with the weights and stuff that is her right yeah for sure that is Hillary Swank yeah but I think that but that must have been after the reveal they're they're going to flashback I guess right that was but yeah yeah I don't I don't know why they did that I don't I mean Hillary Swank rules but it's not like she's a freaking Meryl Shreep or anything where you're like oh shit Meryl Shreep in this not like a horror icon or anything either like I mean I'd be more like oh shit like Barbara Cramp's in this that's the big reveal like that would be more exciting to me than that but yeah or like Elvira turns around and she's just like hello that would be cool but yeah no I mean she but she is great in it though so regardless yeah yeah yeah it was strange.

And then so they kind of so she kills her and then it's weird because the movie ends with this kind of book in thing with the the jets and she gets on and then all of a sudden it's like a class commentary where the guy at the beginning on the flight was such a dick to the flight attendant and now uh Betty Gilpin's like let's all have caviar because we're all equals yeah champagne yeah it was strange like there were just some interesting like like ideas just kind of being thrown at the wall there. Can we discuss that though for a second? Okay how did Betty Gilpin who did her hair who did her makeup all she had scars all the bitch had blood hanging on her face but yet her hair was all fixed and her makeup was done I'm like girl who on the She puts on a dress and all of a sudden it's like a woman transformed like I was like what she's got the dog I mean she's just like rolling all out like it's no big thing.

I and I'm like really do we something um yeah she's the rabbit she won I I'm curious was this movie this movie was not cut right this is the original version they were going to release back in last summer I would assume so because that would defeat the whole purpose of the whole marketing like watch the most controversial movie ever made or whatever they were saying. Which again I I this is what I was about to say earlier that I forgot this movie was definitely not warranted for all the controversy. I mean it's it's it is not offensive I mean I mean if you're very if you're very sensitive and can't take a joke I guess but like there's there's nothing about it that's gonna make you like oh my god like it's just kind of it's I don't really know I think the whole point is like it's so neutral that you don't even know who it's for it's for everyone I guess to enjoy I which is which is cool I guess but it's it's a little bit like is it though is it though um but yeah it's just kind of like okay and then it ends and she's just she's on the the jet and she's just kind of like I forget what what's the last line something like very like it was really good or it's very good something and then it just ends or that's it.

Like I I don't know. I was kind of hoping for a little bit more at the end but yeah or even like with ready or not with whatever spoiler whatever Samara Weaving says where she's like fuck rich people or something like that. Yeah that was way more satisfying to me. See that's this movie is definitely we're talking about ready or not for satire yeah this movie is definitely in this recent um we're we're getting a lot of like one percent genre stuff lately less I mean with Parasite Ready or not there's a ton of stuff coming out us but this is a little bit more um I don't know I I don't know how to say it it's like it's a little bit more forgiving of the 1% I I would say because all the movies you just listed are so uncomfortable and this one doesn't try and like capitalize on any of that discomfort.

Yeah I think that's what that's what my issue was yeah like I like I loved ready or not last year and I thought that was I mean it was fun and thrilling and just like I it was so satisfying by the end when smart reading is just like fuck these people and she walks out and that's it. This was kind of like okay like I'm fine with it but I don't I don't know I wasn't as invested I guess yeah and even you mentioned that uh ready or not but like Parasite yeah you know that's to that was to me even more of like a conundrum because yeah like if you're watching that movie like if you have the ability to pay for a movie ticket and go see it like you have to some extent to reckon with that you're part of the issue, even if you're not living in that incredible house and so rich.

Like just like being able to go to the movies and see it, like you're already a step above the characters in that movie. And so Everyone's having to grapple with some sort of like shit that that movie's throwing at them. Sure. Yeah. No, for sure. Then this movie doesn't do any of that. No. It just kind of like, eh, everyone sucks in this movie, and you know, meh. Yeah. And like we said, it's not even that it's neutral. I think it's just that it's forgiving. Yeah. I think that's a kind of a better word for it. Just kind of Kill everyone. Yeah. Yeah. It's which again, like you said, had we gone into like a big big bloodbath that was more on both sides, it may have been more fun.

I don't know. Yeah, I thought this was going to be like Hunger Games horror style, which there is a movie that I watched on Shudder earlier this year that I think is like a Shudder original that was like that. Oh, The Furies. The Furies. Okay. I was gonna say that. Yeah. I didn't see that. That's that I didn't see it, but that's the one with um all the women that it's like a slasher's coming after them or something, right? It's like uh yeah, it's like they're all it's exactly they're all stranded, they've been kidnapped and stranded on this kind of deserted area, and there are these men that are hunting them down and killing them in like a party.

Yeah. So how would you compare this to that? Oh, it was much more ruthless. Um, I think the hard line that we've been getting at this whole time that's different with that movie is that there's definitely a sympathetic side that it's a lot easier for them to pull off because there's someone you clearly want to be victorious. I think just because it's easier doesn't mean it's an excuse and that you know they could have worked a little harder to make a bit more of a either victory or like devastation in this movie. And we seem to be on the min well, I mean not the minority. I mean, I I I'm more favorable of it than you are, I think, but like a lot of people really loved Betty Gilpin in this.

So, I mean, or that, or maybe they just loved her, but not so much as her character itself, but just like her performance because she really is great in it. But um, yeah, I mean, it's I don't know, maybe I I just find yeah. I wasn't I wasn't quite as charmed as I was with other because I I love me a good satire. I love me a good horror satire, and this one's like it's fine, you know. Yeah, it's not really memorable. Last thing I want to hit on is that this is uh kind of the first of a wave of movies that had theatrical releases but have gone straight to demand because of delays and cancellations because of the coronavirus pandemic.

And I've read a lot of doomsday articles about how this is the death of the theatrical experience and how now that they're giving us theatrical movies at home, we'll never go to a theater again. Uh what is your read on this situation? Any thoughts? You know, I I'm I'm a theater lover myself. I love going to the theater. I will never stop as long as it's as long as they're there, I will go. I was actually planning on going to see this prior to to cancellation and then everything started closing up. Um yeah, I mean, I on one hand, like I don't think the theater will ever completely die. And I hope it doesn't. But at the same time, if people more people are seeing these movies, if more people are just staying at home, which is as right now as you should be, you should be staying at home, social distancing, and just minding your own business.

But like if you're seeing it, that's great. Um, they're still getting the revenue from that, which is awesome. But yeah, I hope we don't go to total elimination of theaters. I mean, I uh we'll see what happens in the next, I guess, eight weeks or so when all this stuff starts to simmer down. Um, but we were kind of already heading to that in the to begin with. We're just kind of this is like a tester, I think, for the next wave of cinema. So um I agree. I also love going to the movie theater a lot, and I was going to go see this in theaters as well. Um I heard a an opinion. It might have been in a the Fingoria article that they posted on Fingoria Plus that I think maybe if they keep releasing theatrical movies VOD immediately, that'll get annoying people out of the theater.

And I'm here for that. That that's a good point, because I um I definitely uh am not a fan of uh your uh your shouters, your your textures, your we we you and I have talked about this many times. I that pisses me off to know it. Um Yeah. I think um I think it'll be sad if small independent theaters have to close because of a loss of revenue, but there's no way in my brain that this would uh you know close all theaters. My only other thought is I was listening to last week's episode of Little Gold Men, and they raised the idea that because coronavirus has halted production of new movies, that maybe this will have a long-lasting effect on theaters because they just won't have big prestige movies to put out anymore for a year or so after this.

And that's that kills me because that's what like I for me, I would rather put my money towards like going to see like Portrait of a Lady on fire, or you know, if St. Blood ever comes out on on in theaters, you know, even though I've seen it already, put it towards that. I'd rather put my money towards those kinds of movies than like something like, you know, your Avengers or like you know, shit that those they don't need they don't need my money, but these movies do. And uh yeah, that's a real bummer if that's the case. Um I know for me, like I live in the suburbs, but I live close to Philadelphia, and I would be, I mean, we already had one of our Ritz theaters closed down recently, and it was it it sucks.

I mean, it's those they they play the most special kinds of movies, and they they need our business, they need our money. So please keep going once they when they when they open up again, please keep going to the movie theater. Yeah. So everyone, you heard it here. Go to the theaters once Corona is finished, and for now, pay to watch The Hunt and The Invisible Man and Emma and support those movies too. Yeah, yeah. Um, all right, so let's wrap this up. What would you say from The Hunt is your most memorable murder? Ooh, the most memorable murder. Um you know, I I don't know if the character had a name, but it was the point in which they were at the bunker with the liberals, and it was like towards like the back half of the movie, and Betty Gilpin comes in and someone's head, someone's whole body explodes.

I thought I think it was at that point, right? It's like his head, either head or body explodes completely before the pig comes down the stairs. Yeah, it's like a big chunk of it blows off of it. Yeah, I mean, and it happened a few times, but that one sticks out to me, so I'm gonna go with that. Yeah, I'm gonna go with the um oh, let me find the actor's name, who's actually another big name actor that I missed on our list here. But um, I'm gonna say this incorrectly, but Usman Alley, who is the guy that they meet on the train, he has the grenade put into his pants, and then his entire body just like like showers out.

It was beautiful. It's funny because he's like trying to get it out and he couldn't get out in time, and I'm like, oh no, oh no. I know. And it was like a body firework. It was it was not like funny, funny, but like in terms of a satire, it wasn't funny. Yeah, it was funny. Yeah, it was pretty good. And oh, we forgot to mention too, the actress, I don't remember her name, but in the beginning when she falls into the hole and she gets trapped and her whole body comes ripped off, and there's all guts and gore and yeah, that was interesting. That kind of rules, right? That kind of that kind of slapped.

Yeah. Uh on a scary scale, one to five, how would you rate the hunt? Uh probably in terms of like actually scary, I like a one. I mean, it's not scary, it's gory and it's awesome in that way, but it's not scary. Yeah, I'm on the exact same page as you. I'm gonna give it a one. Yeah. Uh, and finally, would you give the hunt a smash or a slash? Oh, I've been dreading this question. You know, um, I'm so down the middle with it. Like if you ask me like a number like out of 10, I'd say five. Like, I'm so straight down the middle. I'm gonna give it a very, very unenthusiastic smash because I think there's enough there for genre fans to like, and I think that there's there's a little something, something there, but it's just not anything that I would feel like I want to watch again.

So a very mild smash. I agree with you on all points, but I'm gonna give it the high end of a slash. Okay. All right, and then Julianne, just for record's sake, what is your favorite scary movie? Rosemary's baby, baby. Aw. Yeah. All right. Well, what's yours? What's yours? Oh, mine. Scream for. Of course. Yeah, that's mine too. But Rosemary's movies first. All right. Well, I have no idea what's coming up on this podcast because of coronavirus and social distancing and Caroline and Ian and I going through some moves and things. Just stay tuned. Follow us on social media, and you'll find out what's coming up next. We might do some cool uh some shutter stuff.

We might do, might do some cool throwbacks that we haven't talked about before. Let's do that. Let's uh into it, into it. We're we're on it, guys. So don't worry. Yeah, we'll keep it going as long as we can. Yeah. Uh, Julianne, how can people find you on the internet if they want to see more of your work? Twitter, Instagram at the Jewel Marie, the J-U-L Marie. Feel free to follow. All right. And you can find me on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and the slasher app at Parker Delray. And you can find the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at Scarymovie Pod, our website scary moviepod.com, and you can send us feedback or thoughts or requests at ScarymoviePod at gmail dot com.

All right, bye, Julianne. It was a pleasure. Bye.