“Hunter’s Moon” (2020)
Director:
Stars:
Thomas Jane, Jay Mohr, Sean Patrick Flanery
By: Lance Reedinger
The Twilight saga brought us an influx of vampire films and from 2002’s
Resident Evil thru the Walking Dead, our Horror Nation has been blood soaked
and saturated with zombies. Fans of the fur are pondering, when will we see
more werewolf films? Director Michael Caissie and an all-star cast including
Thomas Jane (Deep Blue Sea), Jay Mohr (Go), Sean Patrick Flanery (Boondock
Saints), and Amanda Wyss(A Nightmare on Elm Street) attempt to revive the
classic monster with an original plot in this year’s “Hunter’s Moon”. Released
thru horror juggernauts Lionsgate, “Hunter’s Moon”, now available on DVD,
Digital, and On Demand, takes the old-world monster tale and throws it
in the pot with a home invasion plot.
The Delaney family purchases a luxurious home on a sprawling orchard farm
at a premium price. You guessed it, the property was home to a serial killer
who meet his demise under suspicious circumstances. Before settling in, the
family runs into the town’s cast of characters, which includes a trio of bad
boy brothers. When mom and dad must leave on night one at the house for
a business trip, their three young daughters are left alone, innocent prey for
the town’s predators or predator. A dull cat and mouse game begin as the
sextuplet explore each other and the property. The young girls go from
nervous host to full on captives before the sheriff shows up. At the hour mark
the audience has now been fully introduced and let in on most of the several
plot twist as the characters start to disappear in and around the house. Going
from thriller, to horror, to a whodunit, the film’s conclusion gets mangled
in a hairy finale.
Terrific performances from the talented cast mask the problems with this
film. “Hunter’s Moon” never knows what it is, attempting to transform from a
tense thriller to a horror story, like a werewolf with schizophrenia. Keeping
the audience guessing thru the film is a big sell from the production team,
but even an elementary horror fan will pick up the big reveal far too early
into the plot. Missing the adequate drama of a good home invasion film such
as “The Strangers”, and not enough teeth to bite like a good werewolf
film should such as “Dog Soldiers”, the audience will look at the end credits
with an unsatisfied stare. Creating a great werewolf is fundamental to any
lycanthrope legacy such as the feline look in “Underworld” or the creative
bunny style in the much better independent “Late Phases”, but
the production team puts out a creature that looks like a last minute
stop for a Halloween costume. Credit to the team behind “Hunter’s
Moon” for attempting to put out a new take and intricate story to an
old tale. A quicker paced, more focused plot would have had everyone
snarling for a sequel, but the fangs on this film are filed too low to
have us clawing for one.
Scream Score 6.5 💀 /10