Let me begin by saying that I’m not an easy scare. I may have a queasy stomach but I can easily switch into special FX appreciation mode. As far as that sinking into your seat, clutching the blanket, looking behind you reaction that I think we all chase…it’s not a frequent visitor of mine. That’s why I had to ask myself about 30 minutes into the 2020 film, “Hunted”, why I was so utterly disturbed. Let’s back up.
The film centers around a french woman named Evie (Lucie Debay), who is out of the country for business. Apparently her life isn’t going so well, and we watch her leave her phone in her hotel room, sick of ignoring the calls from her boyfriend, and head to sit by herself at a bar. I note the shitty survival instincts already. At the bar, she’s hit on in mere seconds by a man, and after continuous, obvious disinterest, is basically called a stuck up bitch. How un relatable to women everywhere who find themselves having to apologize for existing in this world for themselves and having the audacity to not be interested in every man who wants her. (Am I triggering the male ego yet?) She is “saved” by another man who she begins talking to. Oftentimes in these movies, you see a man come to the rescue, just to end up also being a predator. Maybe I’m just jaded, but I wonder if he actually wants to help her, or just wants to step in and try his own luck. Turns out I’m jaded AND right. This guy turns out to be the most vile person in the world. Unfortunately, she doesn’t find out until she is already in his car, ready to hook up with him. His friend hops into the driver’s seat and they kidnap her. She manages to escape temporarily, but when she finds herself cornered by them at a gas station in a desolate part of town, the isolation and vulnerability of the leading lady can induce a sense of panic in the viewer.
It’s around here where I started wondering why I was so physically responsive and anxious. I watch slashers with a grin on my face all the time. I’m the psycho who snacks her way through kill scenes, laughing and cheering it on. Why am I not enjoying this? I think because for women, this isn’t a made up monster movie, or a hypothetical “masked killer is chasing you” scenario. It’s a real life danger we are taught to be prepared for from the time we are little girls. We live in a world where the threat of rape and violence by men is always looming in our minds as very real possibility. There’s always a thought that something could easily go wrong, and we have to think three steps ahead at all times. We’re bombarded with advice:
Don’t jog alone. Don’t leave the bar alone. Don’t tell anyone where you live. Don’t wear that skirt. Meet him in a public place. Carry pepper spray. Here’s how to get out of ZIPTIES in case you ever need to.
Jesus Christ, do you get it yet? We aren’t stuck up, we’re exhausted. Just so that you can ask us out in our DMs 15 times, never take a polite “no” for an answer and then tell us we’re “ugly anyway.”
In a year where Taylor Swift topped the charts not once, but twice, with albums that included songs like “Mad Woman” that dripped of female rage; a soundtrack to a point in time fueled by the energy of being completely over this shit, and breaking glass ceilings, floors and walls with our heels, we are on the verge of a possibly crumbling patriarchy. It’s films like “Hunted” that fuel that movement even more, but the only dramatization is the fantasy of sweet, sweet revenge. Most real life stories don’t get such a pay off. I don’t know a woman in my life who hasn’t dealt with some sort of stalking, assault, harassment or abuse, (the entire point of #metoo) and stories of women being murdered for ending a relationship or turning down a man’s advances has become mundane and nonplussed.
But nevertheless, she persisted… I should have gotten the hint at I Spit on Your Grave that I don’t enjoy watching these movies, yet here I am again, strapped in and ready to be anxious for 90 minutes. The film makes it obvious to cheer on our female lead, as they set out to let us know this man is a reprehensible human. His every choice proves just that, including a scene with a candy bar that just shows how wasteful and thoughtless he is in every part of life. We get it, he’s the big bad wolf in this scenario. The film tries to draw from the Little Red Riding Hood story, (Yes I got the red hoodie symbolism, but was more bothered by the fact that she was wearing something so bright while trying not to be found in the woods) though it’s a lot less Grimm’s fairytale and a lot more womans’ connection to nature and her true power which the patriarch has worked to stifle.
I also noted that almost every man in this movie other than our alpha douche was a complete dope. Was it a commentary on how the worst are usually the loudest and become representative of an entire group? Or the way that toxic masculinity sees anything other than total disrespectful dominance of women as “whipped” or “beta boys”, when to the rest of us, not standing up to the toxicity around them is what makes them weak. Which brings me back to “Hunted”. No one in the movie stands up to this man, even when his wrath is turned on them, and I think that’s definitely noteworthy in today’s climate. To those who stand up against this behavior and don’t need constant reassurance of their manhood, we see you. Afterall, don’t hate women for pointing fingers, hate the men who are representing you. And for those who think that us pointing out toxic masculinity means that men can’t be men, maybe you need to reevaluate what it means to you to be a man. Ask yourself why exactly you feel threatened. And if you now find yourself annoyed that a horror review is scolding you in feminism, I urge you to read more work from the woman’s perspective. I couldn’t have a different reaction to the film’s subject matter if I tried. What exactly did you think the writer had intended in telling this story?
Overall, if you want to live through an hour of anger for a small pay off, go for it. It’s honestly well made, and the special effects are superb, but more interesting films like 2017’s Revenge and 20201’s Promising Young Woman just make this “not another revenge movie”.
Til’ Next Time,
Madame of Horror
Madame of Horror 
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