Review: ‘All the Lost Ones,’ starring Jasmine Mathews, Douglas Smith, Vinessa Antoine, Lochlyn Munro, Matthew Finlan, Anthony Grant, Sheila McCarthy and Devon Sawa

May 22, 2025

by Carla Hay

Douglas Smith, Jasmine Mathews and Vinessa Antoine in “All the Lost Ones” (Photo courtesy of Epic Pictures)

“All the Lost Ones”

Directed by Mackenzie Donaldson

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in the United States, the dramatic film “All the Lost Ones” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some black people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A group of left-wing, racially diverse environmentalists fight for survival during an apocalypse in which a right-wing, white-supremacist militia group has taken over the northeast part of the nation.

Culture Audience: “All the Lost Ones” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in apocalyptic movies, no matter how ridiculous the stories are.

Jasmine Mathews in “All the Lost Ones” (Photo courtesy of Epic Pictures)

“All the Lost Ones” is the title of this frustrating movie but could also describe the plot points that lose their way. This apocalyptic drama, which takes place during an environmental crisis, is a mess of contradictions, plot holes and hokey acting. “All the Lost Ones” is certainly not the only movie about people on opposite sides of the political spectrum who battle for survival and control during an apocalypse. The problem with “All the Lost Ones” is that the movie sets up this intriguing concept, but then constantly sidelines and undermines it with nonsensical action scenes, corny dialogue and sloppy film editing.

Directed by Mackenzie Donaldson, “All the Lost Ones” was written by Anthony Grant and Cheryl Meyer. The movie seems to have the intention of being a provocative commentary on what can happen when people are dealing with not only a climate-change apocalypse but also a civil war. However, the reasons for the sociopolitical divides are ultimately superficial gimmicks that come and go in the story. Most of “All the Lost Ones” consists of poorly staged chase scenes and a mopey pregnant woman wondering why people who are close to her keep dying.

“All the Lost Ones” takes place in an unspecified 21st century period of time in an unnamed city in United States. The movie was actually filmed in Canada, in the Ontario cities of North Bay and Mattawa. The crisis depicted in “All the Lost Ones” wants to trigger images and memories of how the COVID-19 pandemic spawned political battles over wearing masks and getting vaccines. But so much of the crisis in “All the Lost Ones” gets lost in the shuffle of distracting subplots and baffling erasures of crucial things that would be at the forefront of people’s minds if they’re trying to survive the apocalypse that’s described in the movie.

The beginning of “All the Lost Ones” shows a news montage reporting that thousands of people have died from contaminated tap water. Protestors (most of whom are left-wing liberals) who want the controversial Clean Water Bill to be passed into law have occupied the U.S. Capitol building. A right-wing militia group called the United Conservancy opposes the bill because the United Conservancy says that the Clean Water Bill violates people’s right to choose what type of water they want to drink.

The death toll rises. A caption on screen reads, “Six months later, the United Conservancy has occupied a large portion of the North Eastern Seaboard. Groups of civilians find themselves in hiding, torn between two sides of a civil war.” “All the Lost Ones” gives no explanation for how a fringe militia group was able to invade and take over the northeast part of the nation without the U.S. military still not putting up a fight. That’s not a huge issue for the movie, which doesn’t have flashbacks, but it’s the first indication that the movie’s flimsy plot brings up questions that are never answered.

“All the Lost Ones” focuses on a specific group of eight environmental protestors, who are part of a now-scattered community of “resistors.” During the United Conservancy takeover, these eight fugitives have been hiding away at a well-kept, two-story lake house. The synopsis of the movie describes this hideaway dwelling as a “cabin.” It’s not a cabin. It’s a contemporary lake house that’s large enough for eight people to live.

If these resistors are living in discomfort and extreme fear, or are trying to lay low by not calling attention to themselves, you wouldn’t know it from the first time they’re seen on screen. They are having a house party, where they’re playing music and dancing, as if they don’t have any worries. It’s a very strange way to start the movie, after viewers are told that there’s a civil war that has led to a rogue military invasion, there’s a pandemic from contaminated water, and the death toll is rising.

These are the eight people in this group of resistors:

  • Nia (played by Jasmine Mathews), the moody chief protagonist who is conflicted about being a fugitive in hiding, finds out during the story that she is pregnant.
  • Ethan (played by Douglas Smith), Nia’s sensitive boyfriend, is more certain than Nia that he wants to settle down and get married.
  • Penny (played by Vinessa Antoine), Nia’s practical-minded older sister, is a medical doctor who used to work as a radiologist before the apocalypse happened.
  • Mikael Allen (played by Steven Ogg) wants to be the “alpha male” of the group to make leadership decisions.
  • Raymond Allen (played by “All the Lost Ones” co-writer Grant), nicknamed Ray, is Mikael’s easygoing cousin.
  • Nancy Allen (played by Kim Roberts) is Raymond’s nurturing mother and Mikael’s aunt.
  • Dawn (played by Sheila McCarthy) has a calm personality and is good at planning.
  • Jacob (played by Matthew Finlan) is Dawn’s outgoing 18-year-old son.

“All the Lost Ones” has such underdeveloped characters, the movie never reveals what anyone in this group (except for Nia) did for a living before the apocalypse. This background information wouldn’t have to be told in flashbacks. It could just be briefly mentioned and would go a long way in explaining who in this group has any particular skills or job experience that could be helpful to their survival.

During the house party, everyone seems to be having a great time. Mikael even gives a drinking toast to say that the party is to celebrate their “six-month anniversary.” But viewers might be wondering, “What’s there to celebrate about going into hiding from an extremist militia group?”

Not everyone at the party remains in a festive mood. Nia goes into the bathroom to vomit. And when a woman of child-bearing age vomits in a movie, it’s usually because she’s intoxicated or pregnant. Nia is not intoxicated. Penny notices that Nia isn’t feeling well, but Nia denies that she’s having any health issues.

During this party, observant viewers will notice that all of the partygoers are drinking out of open plastic cups. Each cup is taped with a piece of paper that has the name of the person who’s holding the cup. What is the purpose of having their plastic cups labeled? Don’t expect the movie to answer that question.

This environmental crisis is about contaminated tap water, not keeping track of who is using what cup, as if they’re afraid of being drugged. Labeling the cups with individual names is also a pointless tactic because an open plastic cup isn’t exactly secure if it’s set down somewhere and could easily be contaminated if someone wanted to contaminate what’s in the cup. It’s yet another example of the movie’s disconnect from logic.

And this is where the logic continues to fall off the rails: For unexplained reasons, during this party, Nia decides now would be a good time to strip down to her underwear and swim in the lake. If you’re in the middle of a pandemic where people are dying from contaminated tap water, the last thing you should want to do is jump in water that is the source of tap water, such as lakes, rivers or reservoirs.

But time and time again, there are scenes in “All the Lost Ones” where people jump in unfiltered and unsanitary bodies of water, with no mention or concern about the water contamination crisis. And keep in mind, these are the same “resistors” who believe that the Clean Water Bill should’ve been passed into law. You’d never know it from the hypocritical and counterproductive ways in which they are acting.

Nia’s impromptu swim is interrupted by the horror of seeing a dead young man in the lake. The movie doesn’t give a clear look at the man, but he looks like he has a bullet hole in the middle of his head. Nia is understandably frightened as she rushes out of the lake. Other people at the party see the floating corpse too.

“Did you see his eyes?” an alarmed Nia asks Penny. It turns out that this dead man’s eyes have been removed. Don’t expect an explanation for that either. The dead man is never seen or mentioned again. This is the movie’s clumsy way of showing that in this apocalyptic world, you could get murdered by gun violence and could end up a corpse floating in a lake without anyone caring to find out who you are because they’re too busy celebrating that they’ve spent six months successfully hiding from the extremist militia group that has taken over the region.

All of this means that it’s only a matter of time before “All the Lost Ones” devolves into a series of chase scenes with shootouts. The resistors are armed with mostly rifles and shotguns, but there is no mention of how they are able to refill the supply of ammunition that they use. There are some almost-laughable scenes where some of the resistors waste their ammunition on lousy-aim gun shots.

Before the shootouts and chase scenes happen, “All the Lost Ones” has some awkward and poorly written scenes that show a few of the romantic entanglements in this group of resistors. During the party, there’s a weirdly toned scene of Jacob and Penny flirting with each other and being touchy-feely, as if they’re sexually attracted to each other. Penny is old enough to be the mother of barely legal Jacob, so this scene looks out-of-place and a little creepy.

Why is Penny acting like she wants teenage Jacob to be her next boyfriend? Don’t expect the movie to answer that question either. There is no personal background or context for the main characters’ personal relationships, although the movie eventually shows who and where Jacob’s father is.

Meanwhile, “All the Lost Ones” has some dull scenes of Nia being pouty with Ethan because she openly expresses doubts about her decision to join Ethan in hiding. Nia tells anyone who listens that she feels guilty and helpless for hiding out when she believes she has an obligation to be fighting in the civil war that’s currently raging. Based on Nia’s inept fighting skills and bad decisions in protecting people around her, she’s better off staying in hiding.

To be clear: “All the Lost Ones” isn’t a real war movie that has massive bombings, air combat or extensive military operations. “All the Lost Ones” is a movie that looks like it’s about a bunch of progressive liberals fighting to survive in a wooded lake area while they are being hunted by a rampaging, ragtag group of white supremacist militia people. In case it isn’t clear that United Conservancy members are white supremacist racists, there’s a Nazi flag proudly displayed in one of the member’s homes.

The United Conservancy members who hunt down the resistors are led by a snarling redneck type named Conrad (played by Devon Sawa), who looks like he stepped out of a doomsday prepper recruitment video. Also part of the United Conservancy are “angry dad” Hank (played Lochlyn Munro) and his teenage son Wyatt (played by Alexander Elliot), who has better aim in his gun shooting than almost all of the adults. And lest you think that United Conservancy only has male fighters, there’s a teenage girl named Ripley (played by Stefani Kimber), who’s part of the group, although she is literally a token female.

During this pandemic where thousands of people are dying from contaminated tap water, “All the Lost Ones” doesn’t show anyone actually dying from contaminated tap water. A clever movie with this subject matter would have shown how bottled and filtered water has become a precious resource that is highly sought-after and exploited for profits. But you get none of that in “All the Lost Ones,” which spends the entire movie acting like contaminated water isn’t a life-or-death danger, even though the contaminated water was the catalyst for this apocalyptic pandemic and this civil war.

Before the violent mayhem starts, there’s a scene where Nia, Dawn and Raymond walk to an abandoned part of the city to look for food and supplies. They go inside a general store, where Nia finds a pregnancy kit. Nia takes a pregnancy test to confirm what she suspected: She’s pregnant.

Nia later tells Ethan, who seems more thrilled about the pregnancy than Nia is because Nia seems to want to be some kind of heroic social justice warrior fighting for The Cause, and motherhood might derail those plans. By the way, Mathews and Smith aren’t very believable as a couple in love. And so, the movie fails at the one romance featured in the story.

There are some rats scurrying around this abandoned store. Raymond hands a mouse trap to Nia and tells her to set the trap because they need rats for their group’s next meal. Wait a minute: These are the same people who just a day or two before were partying like they didn’t have any big worries. And now they’re supposed to be so starved for food, they have to resort to eating rats. The contradictions in this movie start to become very annoying.

The acting performances in “All the Lost Ones” become grating and are made worse by some of the insipid dialogue. There’s a scene where Nia and Penny are in the lake (there they go again, being in possibly contaminated water), as they’re trying to hide from United Conservancy gunmen. Penny has been wounded by a gunshot and questions Nia for putting her pregnancy in jeopardy by trying to hold Penny afloat in the lake. Nia quips, “My body, my choice.” Apparently, we’re supposed to believe that when you’re about to be hunted by raging militia extremists, it helps to quote slogans that you see at pro-choice rallies.

Possibly the only thing that “All the Lost Ones” gets right is composer Trevor Yuile’s music score, which is very effective at creating tension in the scenes that need it. Some of the movie’s cinematography is good, but not consistently so. Ulimately, with a weak and contradictory story, mediocre-to-bad acting, and terrible action scenes, “All the Lost Ones” is an apocalyptic movie that sinks faster than a rock in the movie’s lake.

Epic Pictures released “All the Lost Ones” in select U.S. cinemas on April 18, 2025. The movie was released on digital and VOD on April 22, 2025.

Review: ‘Heart Eyes’ (2025), starring Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Gigi Zumbado, Michaela Watkins, Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster

January 31, 2025

by Carla Hay

Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding in “Heart Eyes” (Photo by Christopher Moss/Screen Gems)

“Heart Eyes” (2025)

Directed by Josh Ruben

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in Seattle, the horror comedy film “Heart Eyes” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A masked serial murderer, known as the Heart Eyes Killer, targets romantic couples to be murdered on Valentine’s Day.

Culture Audience: “Heart Eyes” will appeal mainly to people who like watching movies that are equal parts horror and comedy and can tolerate seeing a lot of bloody violence on screen.

Jordana Brewster, Devon Sawa and Mason Gooding in “Heart Eyes” (Photo by Christopher Moss/Screen Gems)

Very gory and intentionally campy, “Heart Eyes” is filled with the types of pop culture references and absurd horror comedy expected from the filmmakers of the 2020s “Scream” movies. The showdown scene is long-winded, but the film’s pace is mostly snappy. “Heart Eyes” is occasionally too smug for its own good because the movie is not as clever as it thinks it is. However, “Heart Eyes” is watchable for anyone looking for a better-than-average horror comedy that pokes fun at slasher movies and romantic comedies.

Directed by Josh Ruben, “Heart Eyes” was written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy. “Heart Eyes” comes from several filmmakers who have made careers out of horror films. As a director, Ruben’s previous movie was the 2021 horror comedy “Werewolves Within.” Landon and Kennedy previously collaborated on the 2020 horror comedy “Freaky.” Landon wrote 2010’s “Paranormal Activity 2,” 2011’s “Paranormal Activity 3,” 2012’s “Paranormal Activity 4” and 2014’s “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones,” as well as directed the latter film. Landon also wrote and directed 2017’s “Happy Death Day” and 2019’s “Happy Death Day 2 U.”

“Heart Eyes” producers Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath co-lead the Divide/Conquer production company, which has produced “Freaky,” 2023’s “M3GAN,” 2025’s “M3GAN 2.0” and 2023’s “Totally Killer.” “Heart Eyes” executive producer Gary Barber is the chairman/CEO of Spyglass Media Group, the production company behind the 2020s “Scream” movies.” Obviously, the filmmakers of “Heart Eyes” had a lot of inspiration for what’s in this movie.

“Heart Eyes” takes place in Seattle but the movie was actually filmed in New Zealand. The movie’s story happens during a wild 24-hour period on Valentine’s Day. The opening scene of “Heart Eyes” shows a man named Patrick proposing marriage to his girlfriend Adeline (played by Lauren O’Hara), outdoors at a winery. Patrick has arranged for a wedding photographer named Nico (played by Latham Gaines) to videorecord this proposal from a distance.

Someone else is watching from a distance: The Heart Eyes Killer (also known as HEK), a serial murderer who targets romantic couples on Valentine’s Day. Anyone who gets in the way could also become a murder victim. The Heart Eyes Killer wears all black, including a full black mask with hearts for eyes. The mask’s eyes can light up.

Needless to say, there’s a bloodbath at the winery, including one of the victims who gets crushed in a wine vat machine. The Seattle Police Department is now on alert that the Heart Eyes Killer is probably in the city. A TV news report mentions that the Heart Eyes Killer first struck two years ago, by murdering three couples in Boston. The killer’s next Valentine’s Day murder spree was a year later, when the killer massacred four couples in Philadelphia.

Two detectives from the Seattle Police Department arrive at the winery murder scene to investigate: Jeanine Shaw (played by Jordana Brewster) and Detective Zeke Hobbs (played by Devon Sawa) are cop partners who don’t really like each other. Hobbs is a sexist jerk who belittles bachelorette Jeanine because she looks for love on dating apps. “You need a real man,” Hobbs tells Shaw. The movie pokes fun of this Hobbs and Shaw duo because their names are the same as the “Fast & Furious” franchise characters Hobbs and Shaw, who had their own namesake 2019 spinoff movie.

Meanwhile, marketing executive Ally McCabe (played by Olivia Holt) is in a slump in her work life and in her personal life. She’s heartbroken by a recent breakup with her ex-boyfriend Collin (played by Ben Black), who has already moved on to a new girlfriend. Ally works for a company named Crystal Cane Jewelry, led by founder Crystal Cane (played by Michaela Watkins), who is a demanding and prickly boss. Ally has a marketing proposal (tragic romantic deaths) that’s such a huge flop with Crystal, Ally is certain that she will get fired.

On the way to work, Ally and her sassy best friend/co-worker Monica (played by Gigi Zumbado) stop at a coffee shop, where Ally has a “meet cute” moment with a handsome stranger named Jay Simmonds (played by Mason Gooding), who orders the exact same type of coffee as Ally. Jay and Ally have an instant attraction to each other, but Ally tries to hide her attraction and is embarrassed when she and Jay accidentally bump their heads together. Monica (who brags to Ally about dating a sugar daddy) thinks that Ally should jump back into the dating pool, but Ally doesn’t feel ready yet.

At a Crystal Cane Jewelry staff meeting in a conference room, Ally is humiliated when Crystal (who has a heavy Southern accent) rips into Ally for Ally’s admittedly depressing marketing campaign idea. Crystal announces that she’s hired a freelance consultant to help come up with a better marketing campaign. The nickname for this marketing guru is Consumer Cupid. And in walks Jay Simmonds.

Ally is mortified and feels more than a little threatened because she thinks that Jay could replace her on the job. Jay privately assures her that he’s only been hired on a temporary basis. In fact, he says that he has take plane trip the next day to go to his best friend’s wedding. After some back-and-forth conversation, Jay convinces a reluctant Ally to have dinner with him that evening. Ally insists that the dinner won’t be a date but will be a business meeting.

The dinner starts off awkwardly because Jay is late. Jay tries to flirt with Ally, but she tells him she’s not interested. Jay quickly figures out that Ally’s rejected marketing campaign idea was cynical and depressing because she’s recently been heartbroken. Ally doesn’t deny it and says she thinks romance is “a farce.”

Outside the restaurant, when Ally and Jay are leaving, they see Collin with his new girlfriend Sienna (played by Karishma Grebneff), who are about to enter the restaurant. They stop and have a conversation with each other. Ally gets jealous that Collin and Sienna seem to be in love and very happy together, so Ally spontaneously pretends that Jay is her new boyfriend. Ally gives Jay a long romantic kiss to “prove” they’re in a relationship.

Unbeknownst to Ally and Jay at the time, the Heart Eyes Killer sees Ally and Jay kissing and decides that Ally and Jay will be the next murder victims. The rest of the movie shows Ally and Jay trying to escape, as the killer goes on a rampage. The movie eventually reveals who’s responsible for the murders.

“Heart Eyes” has a very “Scream” movie tendency of people doing a lot of talking and explaining in the showdown scene instead of actually doing what would happen in real life: killing an opponent as quickly as possible. The movie has a lot of fun skewering romantic comedies and rom-com clichés, such as a race to the airport to confess true feelings before a loved one gets on a plane. This satirical tone makes “Heart Eyes” more enjoyable to watch than a horror comedy that plays it too safe with its jokes.

“Heart Eyes” has some comedy that gets somewhat repetitive (Ally is very squeamish when she sees blood), but the action scenes deliver the right amount of adrenaline that should satisfy horror fans. This is the type of movie where the characters crack jokes while being chased by the killer. It’s obvious that the filmmakers want the Heart Eyes Killer to be as iconic as the Ghostface Killer from the “Scream” movies.

Holt and Gooding are an engaging duo who are more convincing in the terror scenes than in the romantic scenes. Many of the other characters are comedic stereotypes or not in the movie long enough to make a lasting impression. “Heart Eyes” is not for overly squeamish viewers, but it delivers the expected gruesome scares along with some well-earned laughs.

Screen Gems will release “Heart Eyes” in U.S. cinemas on February 7, 2025.

Review: ‘Consumed’ (2024), starring Courtney Halverson, Mark Famiglietti and Devon Sawa

August 20, 2024

by Carla Hay

Courtney Halverson and Devon Sawa in “Consumed” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

“Consumed” (2024)

Directed by Mitchell Altieri

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the horror film “Consumed” features an all-white group of people who experience terror in a remote wooded area.

Culture Clash: During a camping trip in this remote wooded area, a married couple and a mysterious stranger become the targets of an evil spirit that possesses people who get lost in the woods.

Culture Audience: “Consumed” will appeal mainly to people who will watch any horror movie, not matter how terrible it is.

Mark Famiglietti in “Consumed” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

“Consumed” is not only the title of this inept and tedious horror movie, but it also describes how “Consumed” soullessly eats up viewers’ time and patience when watching this dreck. It’s nothing but repetitive scenes of poorly staged terror in a wooded area. This isn’t even the type of feature-length movie that would have been better as a short film because the basic plot of “Consumed” is just a mishmash of clichés and superficial characters with very little substance.

Directed by Mitchell Altieri and written by David Calbert, “Consumed” takes place in an unnamed U.S. city. (“Consumed” was actually filmed in New Jersey.) Married couple Beth McCormick (played by Courtney Halverson) and her husband Jay (played by Mark Famiglietti) are on a camping trip in a remote wooded area. The only thing you will learn about this couple during the entire movie is that Beth is recovering from cancer, and this trip is supposed to be the couple’s celebration that Beth’s cancer is in remission.

The opening scene of “Consumed” shows a frightened Beth running through a wooded area, with the cinematography for the scene drenched in red light, so you know that it’s supposed to be some type of nightmare. As she runs through the woods, she sees a leaf-covered body on a slab in the middle of the area where she’s at. All of a sudden, a hand reaches out and grabs Beth, who is bald in this red-light scene. The movie then abruptly cuts to the next scene, which shows Beth and Jay hiking in the woods.

During their hiking and camping, Beth and Jay hear strange and alarming noises, such as gunshots and a screeching sound that sounds like a giant bird. Most people would leave or at try to find out if they’re in immediate danger. Because this is a stupid horror movie, Beth and Jay don’t do that and therefore become sitting ducks for the terror that’s about to hit them.

After a hike, Jay and Beth come back to their camp and find the entire campsite trashed and covered in mysterious slime. Jay and Beth still don’t do anything. It isn’t until they hear these screeching sounds again and see black smoke coming out from behind a tree that they get scared and run.

It should come as no surprise that someone falls and gets injured. It’s Jay, who then gets even more bad luck when his left leg gets caught in a bear trap. And because this is a mindless horror movie, these people have gone camping in a remote area and didn’t think of a way to contact help in case of an emergency. There are no cell phones at all in this dreadful movie.

Somehow, Beth and an injured Jay find an underground bunker that has a trap door as an entrance. Inside the bunker, they see a mysterious and disheveled stranger dressed in skinned animal fur, as if he’s the poster child for Survivalists R Us. The stranger says his name is Quinn (played by Devon Sawa), who babbles about Wendigo, an evil spirit who possesses people who are lost in the woods.

Jay goes in and out of consciousness and can’t really move without assistance because of his injured leg. Somehow, Quinn coerces Beth to try to hunt down the menacing creature that seems to be after them. Quinn snarls to Beth: “I can’t let you leave the bunker until I kill that thing.” The rest of “Consumed” is about this hunt.

“Consumed” plods along with weak jump scares, idiotic dialogue, unimpressive acting, and mediocre visual effects—all of it extremely boring and incoherent. People watching this movie will be thinking the entire time, “Why should we care about these characters? There’s no real information about them.”

Toward the end of “Consumed,” it’s revealed that Quinn has a personal connection to what’s going on, but this revelation is too little, too late. The movie throws in more red-light scenes of bald Beth running around in a terrified manner. Why? Don’t expect an explanation for that either, except it seems to be the movie’s tacky way of showing that Beth has a fear of her cancer coming back. “Consumed” is just a cesspool of uninspired and lackluster scenes that add up to a complete waste of time.

Brainstorm Media released “Consumed” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on August 16, 2024.

Review: ‘Hunter Hunter,’ starring Camille Sullivan, Devon Sawa, Summer H. Howell and Nick Stahl

January 24, 2021

by Carla Hay

Camille Sullivan in “Hunter Hunter” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films/IFC Midnight)

“Hunter Hunter”

Directed by Shawn Linden

Culture Representation: Taking place in unnamed rural area of Canada, the horror flick “Hunter Hunter” features a predominantly white cast of characters (and one indigenous person) representing the middle-class and working-class.

Culture Clash: A husband, wife and their 12-year-old daughter, who live together in a remote area, have to deal with a suspected killer wolf and encounter some surprises.

Culture Audience: “Hunter Hunter” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in “slow burn” horror films that have unexpected twists.

Devon Sawa and Summer H. Howell in “Hunter Hunter” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films/IFC Midnight)

The horror flick “Hunter Hunter” has a relatively small cast, but the movie is big on gradually building suspense, which culminates in a shocking and very gruesome ending. This is not a movie for people who get easily squeamish at the sight of blood. But if you can tolerate blood-drenched scenes in a movie, then “Hunter Hunter” might make you curious enough to see what’s going to happen in the movie’s much-talked-about ending.

Written and directed by Shawn Linden, “Hunter Hunter” starts off as more of a psychological thriller before it turns into a gorefest. And it takes a long time (the first third of the movie) before any real action takes place. It’s a “slow burn” movie that might trick viewers into thinking that it’s going to be a predictable horror flick. It’s not a typical horror film, but the ending of the movie has such an abrupt switch in tone that it’s a climax that will no doubt confuse or anger some viewers.

“Hunter Hunter” takes place in an unnamed remote, wooded area of Canada, where a family of three people live in a modest wood house and get most of their food from hunting or growing food on their land. (The movie was actually filmed in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Alberta.) Joseph “Joe” Mersault (played by Devon Sawa) and his wife Anne (played by Camille Sullivan) live as quiet recluses with their homeschooled 12-year-old daughter Renee (played by Summer H. Howell), who is a very inquisitive and perceptive child. The family has also has a male dog named Tova.

Although the Mersaults live in a very primitive way (they don’t have electricity or phone service), they aren’t completely cut off from the world. They have a truck, which is the main way that they can make money for their fur trappings or get any needed help. Joe and Anne mostly have contact with the nearest general store, where they drive to get supplies and sell fur or other animal products.

This farming season hasn’t been a good one for the family. The harsh winter weather has yielded a smaller number of crops than usual. And money is tight. When Anne goes to the general store, she doesn’t have enough cash to buy what she needs. She offers to do a trade deal with the store’s manager, but it’s still not enough to get all the items that she wants.

To make matters worse, there are signs that there’s a wolf on the loose that’s been eating the rabbits, racoons and other animals that the family depends on for meat. While out hunting, Joe and Renee find a racoon’s paw in a trap, with the paw showing signs that the rest of the body was chewed off.

When Anne is at the general store, she notices a real-estate flyer on the bulletin board. The flyer is advertising a house for sale in the suburban city of Kearney. Anne takes the flyer. Astute viewers will also notice that the bulletin board also has a missing-person flyer for a brunette woman in her 30s named Lynne Petit.

While the family is having dinner, the topic of the nuisance wolf comes up. Anne and Joe suspect it’s the same elusive wolf that they’ve been trying to catch for a while. (The movie never goes into details of how Anne and Joe have been trying to get the wolf.)

Joe says of the wolf: “Something’s bringing it back. Either it’s food or it’s a female. If I could figure out what it’s attracted to, I could bait it.” Anne says, “It’s attracted to us. I already know. We’re a steady food supply.”

Whatever is attracting the wolf, Joe makes it clear that he wants to be the only one to handle trapping the wolf. He insists that it’s too dangerous for Anne and Renee. However, Renee persistently begs to tag along with her father, until he eventually relents later in the story. Joe teaches Renee how to look for signs of wolves and bears, how to lay animal traps, and how to skin animals. He also instructs Renee that if she ever encounters a wild animal that can kill humans, she should not run but instead she should calmly walk away.

Anne shows Joe the real-estate flyer for the house in Kearney and mentions that it might be a good idea to buy the home. Joe thinks it’s a crazy idea, since they can barely afford to feed themselves. Anne is insistent that they at least think about moving to a more modern home in a more populated area.

Sensing that they’re going to have an argument about this topic, Joe asks Renee to temporarily leave the table so he can Anne can have the rest of their conversation in private. It’s a tense discussion that Joe really doesn’t want to have. But in order to avoid a major argument, he tells Renee that he’ll at least think about moving, and they can discuss it later.

In another scene in the movie, it’s revealed that Joe and Anne use to have a modern life somewhere else, and it was entirely Joe’s idea to move in a remote area, where they could live off of the land. Anne is really starting to regret that decision. She also thinks that Renee should be raised in an environment where Renee can be around other children.

Anne says to Joe: “It feels like the world has left us behind. There isn’t another generation left.” Joe replies, “There is if we make one. Nothing pushes us out of our life. Not even you.” Anne says the only reason why she chose the life they’re living now is because she chose Joe.

This marital friction is later put on the backburner when strange things start happening. While looking to trap the wolf in the woods, Joe makes a horrifying discovery, which won’t be described in this review, but it’s something that most people would immediately report to police. Oddly, Joe does not tell anyone what he found. When he goes home, he pretends that everything is normal.

And then, the family dog Tova goes missing. Renee is very upset and fears that the wolf might have killed the dog. Anne suspects the same thing, which is why she won’t let Renee accompany her when looking for the Tova in the woods. When Anne goes to look for the dog, she makes a discovery that she also keeps a secret.

Later, Joe goes in the woods again to look for the wolf. And he doesn’t come back when he was expected. After waiting several hours and there’s still no sign of Joe, Anne goes out in the woods to look for him. She can’t find him.

A worried Anne then goes to the nearest place of authority to get help: the Municipal Conservation Department, which mostly responds to complaints about wild animals on people’s property and takes care of cleaning up any roadkill. The two employees on duty are named Barthes (played by Gabriel Daniels) and Lucy (played by Lauren Cochrane), who are both in their 30s.

Barthes and Lucy have a wisecracking banter with each other. They like to sarcastically tease each other with mild insults. But underneath the joking, it’s clear that these co-workers respect each other in a platonic way. When Anne shows up to report that Joe has been missing, she’s disappointed and frustrated when Barthes tells her that there’s nothing that this department can do because the Marsaults live on federal land, which is out of the department’s jurisdiction.

This is where there’s a noticeable plot hole in “Hunter Hunter,” because most worried spouses would then find out which authorities would handle this missing-person case and file the missing-person report there. But Anne doesn’t do that. She just goes home and continues to look for Joe in the woods. She might have been reluctant to go to other authorities because Barthes questioned if the Marsault family had a right to live on federal land, and Anne had a defensive reaction to that line of questioning.

One night, Anne hears some noises coming from the woods. She thinks it might be Joe calling for help, so she takes a risk and goes outside to find out who or what is causing these noises. Instead of finding Joe, she finds an unknown man with an injured leg. He’s barely conscious.

Anne doesn’t hesitate to help this stranger. She brings him into her house and treats the bleeding gash on his leg while he’s passed out. When he regains consciousness, it’s revealed that his name is Lou (played by Nick Stahl), and he says he’s a photographer who foolishly got lost in the woods. It seems as if his legs got tangled in some thorny bushes. When Anne asks Lou if he saw anyone fitting her husband’s description, he says no.

Anne tells Lou that she can drive him to the nearest hospital because he needs professional medical care. Anne mentions that she has limited medical supplies and she doesn’t want his wound to get infected. However, Lou is very reluctant to go to the hospital. Renee wonders why Anne is going to all this trouble to help a stranger, and Anne tells her that it’s what good people are supposed to do. But will this act of kindness be a mistake?

“Hunter Hunter” keeps people guessing on whether or not there’s a supernatural element to the story. Viewers won’t get a clear answer until the last third of the film, where most of the horror takes place. Linden’s twist-filled writing and direction make “Hunter Hunter” a true mystery where the clues aren’t obvious, but they make sense in hindsight to viewers who are really paying attention.

The cast members all do good jobs with their performances, but Sullivan is the clear standout. It’s not just because she has the most screen time, but it’s mainly because her Anne character goes through a metamorphosis from being a dutiful wife to taking charge of the household once her husband goes missing. Because of something extreme that happens at the end of the movie, some viewers will have trouble reconciling it with the rest of the story. However, it’s clear that “Hunter Hunter” doesn’t want to offer easy answers on issues relating to morality or death.

IFC Films/IFC Midnight released “Hunter Hunter” in select U.S. cinemas and on digital and VOD on December 18, 2020.

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