The ‘Hunt’ Only Works If Deplorables Are Disarmed

The Hunt, which The Hollywood Reporter called a “satire,” is an R-rated product of Jason Blum's Blumhouse films with a plot line in which elites stalk "deplorables."

To give you a little flavor of the movie, one character asks early in the dialogue, "Did anyone see what our ratfucker-in-chief just did?" Another responds: "At least The Hunt's coming up. Nothing better than going out to the Manor and slaughtering a dozen deplorables."

The violent, R-rated film then follows a dozen MAGA types who wake up in a clearing and realize they are being stalked for sport by elite liberals.

According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Kim Masters and Tatiana Siegel, The Hunt stars Betty Gilpin from GLOW and Hilary Swank, representing opposite sides of the political divide. It features guns blazing along with other ultra-violent killings as the elites pick off their prey. The script from Damon Lindelof and Nick Cuse reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter revolves around, what Masters and Siegal call third-rail political themes. (Original title: Red State Vs. Blue State.)

Mss. Masters and Siegal report the script for The Hunt features the red-state characters wearing trucker hats and cowboy shirts, with one bragging about owning seven guns because it's his constitutional right. The blue-state characters — some equally adept with firearms — explain that they picked their targets because they expressed anti-choice positions or used the N-word on Twitter. "War is war," says one character after shoving a stiletto heel through the eye of a denim-clad hillbilly.

In the wake of the El Paso and Dayton mass murders, Universal has announced that it is cancelling release of the project, saying “We stand by our filmmakers and will continue to distribute films in partnership with bold and visionary creators, like those associated with this satirical social thriller, but we understand that now is not the right time to release this film.” The statement did leave the door open to a future release, reports Alissa Wilkinson of VOX.

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