“Tell me. Are you bored, Alice?”
The billboard says it all: GODISNOWHERE. Let that soak in. What you read (and how you interpret it) is essentially where you will come out from Night of the Hunted, produced by Alexandre Aja (High Tension, Piranha 3D, Crawl) as one psychopath with a sniper plays judge and jury to a woman he has trapped in a remote gas station. This is a nail-biting, bullet-ricocheting thriller in which her fight for survival becomes a 94-minute free for all with a bloody message for the masses.
The dark events begin with the discovery of blood at a convenience store and it ends with a whole lot of screaming. This is why remote gas stations on a dark night are always a bad idea. Night of the Hunted, now playing on Shudder, is an atmospheric gem as the bullets - once started - never end in their threatening trajectory as one unsuspecting woman finds herself the prey of a sociopathic sniper on a night to end all nights.
And that billboard - hanging over the bloody events just like the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg billboard in The Great Gatsby - could give two shits about what happens to her. But we will . . . even if not everything is clear when the shooting starts.
Directed by Franck Khalfoun (P2, Maniac), Night of the Hunted is an edge-of-your-seat thriller as Alice (Camille Rowe, No Limit), a pharma company social media rep, is returning from a business convention with her co-worker John (Jeremy Scippio), after they’ve shared a hotel room, when they stop at a remote gas station. She seems to be hiding the affair from her boyfriend, but let’s not focus on that . . . for now.
She doesn’t know the shooter. Or does she? The secret vendetta he’s harboring makes us suspect there is more to this bloodbath than the filmmakers are willing to share with us. And we’re not wrong. Something is amiss here. But while she’s busy dodging bullets and taking care of her wounds, she’s also got to figure out who wants her dead and why . . .
. . . and the truth is claustrophobic-inducing as the blood we see pouring from her left shoulder becomes our own wound with which we carry throughout this nightmarish thriller. Night of the Hunted is a tension-causing postcard of just how awful modern America has become. It is also a reminder of just how spot-on films like Assault on Precinct 13 were.
Random acts of violence? I don’t think so. Welcome to the Night of the Hunted. You are on your own . . . as you always were.
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 95 mins
Director: Franck Khalfoun
Writer: Rubén Ávila Calvo; Glen Freyer; Franck Khalfoun
Cast: Monaia Abdelrahim; Abbe Andersen; J. John Bieler
Genre: Thriller | Horror
Tagline: Everyone is a Target.
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: Shudder
Official Site:
Release Date: October 20, 2023 Digital
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: When an unsuspecting woman stops at a remote gas station in the dead of night, she’s made the plaything of a sociopathic sniper with a secret vendetta. To survive she must not only dodge his bullets and fight for her life, but also figure out who wants her dead and why...
