Season of the Hunted (2003) User Reviews

"I'll be a son of a b*tch!" Poorly made low budget horror film.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 6 February 2006]

Season of the Hunted stats with Steve (Timothy Gibbs) convincing his friend Frank (Muse Watson) to accompany him on a deer hunting trip he has arranged by e-mail through a website, Frank agrees & on the morning of 'November 30, 2001' together with three of their friends Al (Lou Martini Jr.), Lenny (Wass M. Stevens) & Charlie (Tony Travis) they head off for the remote backwoods location where they have been told to meet up with the owner who turns out to be a hillbillie named Mitch (Matthew Cowles). Mitch tells them to follow him to their accommodation which turns out to be basic to say the least, there already are other hillbillie hunters ready for some killin'. The next morning & everyone sets out armed with the weaponry of their choice including bow & arrows, hunting knives, chainsaws & shotguns, however it's not long before the hunters become the hunted as the hillbillies turn on their well-to-do city slicker guests...

Co-executive produced, produced & directed by Ron Sperling who also has a small role in the film, there is very little in Season of the Hunted that I could recommend it by. The script by Phil Fiacco starts off really slowly & it takes quite a while for the killing & hunting to kick off, although when it does the pace picks up considerably. As a whole Season of the Hunted is both predictable & pretty straight forward & as such holds no real surprises. Obviously taking it's inspiration from the likes of Deliverance (1972), The most Dangerous Game (1932), Turkey Shoot (1982) & even mixes in a little Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) as these backwoods psychos seem to have cannibalistic tendencies although it's nice to see all the blokes sit back & let a woman do all the cooking... The character's are annoying especially Charlie the comic relief who is anything but funny. The so-called twist ending is weak & throughly unoriginal. Everyone's decision making is suspect, the film has very little story overall & there are even Vietnam flashbacks for good, clichéd measured.

Director Sperling obviously doesn't know how to make a competent film, Season of the Hunted has all the sophistication & visual style of appearing to be shot on a camcorder. The music is totally inappropriate & doesn't suit the on screen 'action' (I use the word action loosely) at all & becomes a constant source of irritation. For some bizarre reason there sometimes is a black circle around the edge of the screen, I really can't think why. The violence are gore is disappointing, none of the killings have any sort of imagination put into them, they are all virtually bloodless, they are basically just people being shot with arrows & they then cough up blood even though there is no physiological reason why they would. There are some intestines on a table & a severed hand but other than that forget it.

The budget for Season of the Hunted must have been small to say the least, it's filmed in some local woods on a digital camcorder which also adds to the cheap look to it. The fake blood looks like red water, blood just isn't that thin is it? The acting is poor, very poor & am I really the only one who thinks Frank looks like a cross between Lance Henriksen & Tom Savini?! Or that Charlie resembles Ron Perlman?! I am also alone in the opinion that Steve is a George Clooney lookalike?!

Season of the Hunted is a poor film from start to finish, actually having said that the end credits are just about the best thing about it as they play various little outtakes & bloopers. I really can't see many people getting that much out of this film, there are so many more much better horror films out there that you really shouldn't be wasting your time & hard earned cash on this. One to avoid.

Arrows fly - People die

[Dr. Gore · 23 February 2005]

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*

"Season of the Hunted" is about a couple of New York guys fighting with a couple of country boys. Five city guys head to the woods and hook up with seven bumpkins for some bow hunting. After two long scenes of the city guys laughing like hyenas at every lame joke, they finally head to the woods for some hunting. The city boys are betrayed as the country guys want them to squeal like a pig. The rest of the movie is a bow and arrow massacre as arrows fly, blood spurts, and guys squeal.

Do you like seeing arrows stick out of a person's body? If you answered yes, rent this movie immediately. If arrow gore doesn't do it for you, skip this one. "Season of the Hunted" is completely predictable. The bad hunters turn on the city guys with lightning speed and proceed to hunt them down. While there was some decent gore effects, there really isn't much excitement or tension in this flick. I knew what was going to happen at every step of the way. After the fourth arrow hit its target, I knew the movie was out of surprises.

B-movie all the way, "Season of the Hunted" might be good for some cheap arrow thrills but not much else. Oh, and there is a quick sex scene at the beginning with a blonde and the main hunter. It's always smart to start off a movie with a sex scene. The blonde seems to know her stuff. And knows it very well.

Hahaha!

[spectre316-1 · 2/10 · 7 July 2005]

Truly hilarious "horror" film.

Here's a short synopsis: a bunch of hunting hick friends go on a hunting trip, but end up being hunted one by one themselves by cannibalistic hunters.

It's all really lame. The flashbacks to Vietnam are especially tasteless; they look like they were filmed in the director's backyard. The acting is often laughable (watch for when one of the hunting friends gets hit by an arrow; his facial expressions and the weird gurgle-sounds he conjures are absolutely hilarious). Half the time, it looks like it was shot through a paper towel tube. It's just awful in nearly every single way.

If you want a laugh, "Season of the Hunted" will provide you the opportunity. I found it in my local rental store, and I encourage you to look out for it.

If Ted Nugent met Deliverance

[223fmj · 2/10 · 8 March 2005]

A buddy and I rented this this evening believing the DVD cover's statement of "Wrong Turn meets Cabin Fever". Boy, were we let down.

*SPOILERS* This is the story of five friends from New York City that book a guided bow hunting trip in upstate New York. The story takes a twist when it's revealed that the "guides" are really cannibalistic rednecks who are only interested in hunting the "most dangerous game".

It doesn't take long before the hunted become the hunters, and... well, you get the idea. Wackiness ensues.

I always try to find positive points in films when asked for a review, so, here goes...

I think that the plot was decent- it sounded interesting and seemed pretty original. I think that, given a bigger budget and a few rewrites of the script, this could have been a decent film.

Also, the acting by some of the supporting stars, although not of Oscar caliber, was pretty decent. Interestingly, it was the interaction between the two male leads that was the least convincing. I'd bet that if they had better material, they'd have done better work though.

If you rent this expecting it to be on par with Citizen Kane or Gone With the Wind, not only will you feel let down, you should also reevaluate your movie-choosing ability.

But, if all you are looking for is simple-minded fare that doesn't require too much thought to match it's senseless violence, then, well, this one barely satisfies.

Overall, it was predictable and poorly executed. Looks like a serious attempt at film by the producers of soft-core porn. 2/10

Amateurish

[captlatner · 2/10 · 12 March 2005]

I rented this movie with the hopes of seeing an interesting and original take on "The Most Dangerous Game". I quickly realized I was going to get neither. Bad acting, bad direction and extremely bad videography. I got the impression that this was made by a group of friends with a video camera. To start with, the quality of the film/video changes from shot to shot. Some scenes look like they were shot on film, then the next seems to be video, the next looks like it was taken from a news helicopter. And I don't know if this was done deliberately or not, but the "good guys" that get killed are not very well developed, to the point of being obnoxious. You don't feel very sorry for them when they are butchered, and in the case of one of them, you almost cheer. I realize they wanted these guys to be realistic, but when the main "hero" turns into a pile of jello when the s**t hits the fan, you know the movie is in trouble. I could go on and on about what is wrong with this film. Just do yourself a favor and skip this one, unless you don't mind pissing away 1 1/2 hours of your life.

Plaese hide the mic

[nychannel · 1/10 · 5 April 2005]

The movie started OK..I thought it was gonna be like Open waters, low budget movies and yet well directed and produced...The acting, special effects were not very up to standard but again I cant criticize so much as I'm not a professional director or movie maker. BUT what i would critise and punish the editors and directors of the movie was the scene where Frank and Steve are talking sitting down on the woods...You can see on the top of the screen the microphone bulb.....THAT"S completely NON professional....If u wanna put a movie on the screens at least learn how to edit it well...THis one goes for the editors...no complain for the acting, script, or camera effects....

have you heard the one.....

[kirk_bones · 1/10 · 19 November 2007]

have you heard the one about a gang of hillbilly cannibals that lure a group of high flying executives,via the internet, into the woods to hunt wild game with bows but plan to hunt the executives and add them to the menu. Sounds good doesn't it- wrong. With better direction and a half decent budget this could have been a classic horror film instead of the hodge podge that we are offered. The direction is haphazard at best,the camera shots are unsteady and you sometimes feel that the camera is in the hands of a toddler.In the fight near the end of the movie it looked like the director had lost his camera and had to use his home camcorder The Vietnam flashbacks were uncalled for and just made a poor movie even worse. Another problem i had with this movie was that the "good"guys weren't any more endearing than the bad guys and about half way thru i lost any interest in who killed who. In conclusion i have seen some pretty good late horror movies on the horror movie channel

but alas this wasn't one of them,and can only be put the file of ,Why did i bother

It was good enough to scare me into a no sleep night

[meagi22 · 7/10 · 29 October 2005]

OK, My husband rented this movie and I just finished watching it.It does start out slow. These 5 men are going on a bow-hunting deer trip, with these hillbilly's that look like they starred in "Deliverance". The hillbilly's are human hunters and take these men out to hunt them. They are not killed all by bows. Some of the ways these poor people are killed are horrifying. It is a low budget movie and has no special effects, but thats what scares me the most, its so realistic. I got caught up in it, my heart was pounding so hard! I'm not really into scary movies, I can handle SCREAM, HALLOWEEN, those type movies but this one..EEKKK. I think its worth watching if you want to get scared to death, but keep in mind I'm just a girlie-girl thats easily scared anyway :) Oh and my husband is a bow-hunter and he slipped out of the room , went and got his bow, snuck up on me with it and like to gave me a heart attack! Well thats it, I'm gonna go in here and fuss at my hubby for trying to give me a heart attack and try to rest!

silly awesomeness!

[alangoodenough · 8/10 · 22 August 2007]

this film will not challenge you in any way at all. But what it will do is keep you entertained for a few hours.

The budget is non existent, other than a few one liners the dialogue is stiff and unnatural.

The acting is awful for the most part and there are some flashback scenes that are just cringe worthy. The film just feels like low budget 70s horror and works very well because of it.

The sound track consists of one song that sounds like bad second generation grunge but fits in well with the movie.

If you like low budget horror then check this out!

Man was design to eat his own kind

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 9 December 2010]

***SPOILERS*** Combination of "the Most Dangerous Game" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" the movie "Season of the Hunted" is about murder and depravity in the wilds of upstate New York,the Lake George region,involving a bunch cannibalistic mountain men who feel that man is not only the most dangerous game in the forest but also the most eatable as well.

Answering an add on the internet for a good time in the country New York City fireman Steve and his good buddy former US Army Special Forces vet Frank together with a couple of their friends Al Lenny & Charlie to drive up to Lake George for some hunting fishing and sightseeing. Unknown to them those who are inviting them up there are not interested in their money or even company but only in having them for dinner! That's after hunting them down like wild game in the woods!

It's only Frank who gets what's going on but by then three of his friends, Al Lenny and Charlie, have been murdered and gutted by the bloodthirsty, for human blood, mountain men. With only Steve to help him Frank using his knowledge that he gained in the US Army picks off he mountain men, with bow and arrow, one by one beating them at their own game of hunting down human beings! As for Steve it takes a while for him to realize what he's facing which in the end, by refusing to believe what he sees, almost costs him his life!

***SPOILERS*** Like in most horror films the end of the movie, when all the mountain men are put to their final resting place, is just the beginning for another round of bloodshed with both Frank & and badly wounded Steve trapped in a cabin in the woods by a deranged psycho whom they thought at first was trying to help them. As it turns out the psychotic maniac is really a friend of the other psychos, the man eating mountain men, that they just took care of. It's then that you as well as Frank & Steve realize that there's more crazed and bloodthirsty lunatic up there in them woods then you've ever imagined possible!

P.S The movie "Season of the Hunted" was voted best film of 2003 by the Long Island International Film Expo.

Ultra low budget flick with a few surprises!

[Captain_Couth · 7/10 · 30 April 2005]

Season of the Hunted (2003) is a combination of Most Dangerous Game mixed with Hunter's Blood and several other films of their ilk. I was expecting a really bad movie, for the most part I was correct but then it started to get interesting. A group of inner city buddies go upstate to hunt with bows. The friends decide to stay at a local inn populated by an assortment of inbred hillbillies (One of them looks like a dirty cossack!). After a good nights sleep and a midniter, the good fellows are ready for the hunt. Too bad they didn't read the fine print on the itinerary! Who's the hunted and who's the prey?

The plot is old hat, man hunting man is the second oldest storyline (next to boy meets girl). What could have been a total disaster turns out to be entertaining. Although it's shot on digital video and the writing and acting is uneven, the flick is watchable. If you can stand the first twenty minutes then you'll be in for a nice treat. Recommended for a slow night.

P.S.

I didn't know mountain women have fake breast!

An enjoyable backwoods variant on "The Most Dangerous Game"

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 26 June 2008]

Rugged Vietnam veteran mechanic Frank (an intense and excellent performance by Muse Watson), his amiable firefighter buddy Steve (a likable turn by Timothy Gibbs), wiseguy Al (Lou Martini, Jr.), eager young Lenny (Wass Stevens), and smartaleck Charlie (an amusingly sharp-tongued Tony Travis) run afoul of a vicious family of crazed cannibal hillbillies while embarking on a hunting expedition in the deep woods. Director Ron Sperling relates the absorbing story at a steady pace, maintains a suitably tough and gritty no-nonsense tone throughout, and punctuates the grisly story with startling moments of extremely raw and gruesome in-your-face violence. Phillip "Chick" Faicco's script may be trite, but it still possesses the right wicked ingredients to make for a pleasingly harsh and hard-edged Grade B fright flick. The game no-name cast all deliver acceptable performances. The main characters are well-drawn and engaging. The rednecks are a colorful bunch of sick hick degenerates: Matthew Cowles as grizzled patriarch Mitch, Raynor Scheine as the drawling, laid-back Roy, Patrick Cooley as hulking, boastful chromedome brute Jed, Peter Linari as creepy mute Ben, Lorin Donadio as sexy spitfire Bobbi-Jo, Jefferson Slinkard as the scraggly Wilbur, and Duke Valenti as leering behemoth Jimbo. Ben Dolphin's effectively grainy cinematography and the funky, syncopated score by Ed Terry and Ron Sperling both do the trick. Better still, there's a handy helping of ghastly gore and a decent smattering of gratuitous female nudity and soft-core sex. While this picture starts out really slow and talky, it kicks into thrilling gear once the hunt is underway and overall rates as a welcome and refreshing departure from the usual teens in jeopardy fare. A cool little low-budget horror outing.

It is one of those movies where the idea should be appreciated than the budget.

[jordondave-28085 · 6/10 · 22 June 2023]

(2003) Season Of The Hunted THRILLER/ HORROR

Low budget and straight to rental rendition of 1930 "The Most Dangerous Game" and "Deliverance" about five friends coming together as game hunters to hunt some deer, only to find out later that the hunters they were supposed to be hunting with had other intentions, which is to hunt their invitees instead, for the purpose of cannibalism caught on by ex-Vietnam vet, Frank (Muse Watson). The pass is basically for the 'idea' and for some of it's amusing dialogue than it is for the poor acting, the dismissive action scenes and the crappy musical score. It even looked like fake cranberry juice was used for some of the blood scenes. It is one of those movies where the idea should be appreciated than the budget.