12 Best Human Hunting Movies You’ve Got To Watch

There is nothing quite like the thrill of the hunt! Such is the premise of the human-hunting sub-genre that sets man upon man in a cat and mouse style game of risk. Whilst Hunting is a time-honored tradition that has been practiced since the dawn of civilization, it has often been the subject of many books and films where the hunt is turned on it’s head and the hunt turns on the hunter. We have picked for you a tasty selection of films that witness the rumination of mankind, as we turn on ourselves in the eyes of sport and entertainment.

Here are 12 Best Human Hunting Movies You’ve Got To Watch, for all the blood-thirsty hunters out there!

 

The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

Hitting theaters in the years before films were enforced by the Motion Picture Production Code censorship, The Most Dangerous Game (1932) is a Pre-code horror that first introduced the idea of man on man hunting. In fact, many of the films on this list have inherited a little DNA from The Most Dangerous Game, and it’s sometimes hard not to see the similar veins of story pumpkin through the heart of many Human Hunting films.

Coming from the glorious days of early cinema, the film stars Joel McCrea and Fay Wray as two shipwrecked survivors caught in the grasps of a crazed hunter and his remote tropical island. Given a hunting knife and some provisions, the couple are given 24 hours before  Count Zaroff (Leslie Banks) comes hunting for them.

With a luscious backdrop, an amazing screen play from James Ashmore Creelman (the man who brought us King Kong) and a stellar cast, The Most Dangerous Game brings you a horror film filled with beautiful people , in beautiful locals, doing horrible things to one another. It’s no wonder that Rotten Tomatoes has give this one a 100% fresh rating. Tasty stuff!

 

Ready Or Not (2019)

Almost everyone agrees that in-laws are the worst. In the 2019 intrepid horror comedy Ready Or Not, this universally agreed decree is the very foundation of the films story line. Starring Samara Weaving as Grace, a young woman about to marry into the uber-wealthy Le Domas family, who have made their money from games of various sorts.

On the eve of the wedding Grace is forced into a game of Hide and Seek, with the crazed family hunting her down inside an old gothic mansion. This life-or-death hunting is explained away as some sort of ceremony with a pact with the devil, but it’s never really the story that keeps this tight 90 minute thrill ride going, it’s the slapstick styled comedy and cathartic sense of justice that comes from poverty-stricken Grace getting the upper hand on her wealthy hunters. This rich vs the poor theme is a social commentary that is rife within the hunting sub-genre, but Ready Or Not never really dives too heavily into this and, instead, allows the films wild and outlandish set pieces to drive home the films point.

 

Predator (1987)

Predator is the quintessential human hunting movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as the cigar-chomping leader of a special forces team being stalked by a powerful alien creature. Being dropped into the jungle on a rescue mission Dutch (Schwarzenegger) and his muscle-bound squad comes face to face with an alien hunter who makes trophies out of men’s spinal columns.

Filled with guerrilla warfare traps and tricks, blazing gun battles and a heart racing soundtrack by Alan Silvestri, this hunting movie is fun furious and filled with lines so quotable, you’re probably thinking of a few right now. If it bleeds… we can kill it!

 

Race With The Devil (1975)

Being a mixture of Rosemary’s Baby and Duel,  Race with the Devil is a classic rat and mouse styled film. Two couples, with leads played by Peter Fonda and Warren Oates, suddenly find themselves hunted by a Satanic cult. After stumbling upon a grisly ritualistic campfire sacrifice, whilst traveling through the reclusive backroads of the Texas wilderness, the couples find themselves on the run from a very sizable group of  Satanists.

The couples are soon discover that the spread of the Satanist may stretch further then they think, as the tight 89 quickly turns into a tense highway chase film. With a staller cast and epic premise, Race With The Devil is much watch horror for genre fans.

 

The Running Man (1987)

Very roughly based on the short story by Stephen King, the Arnold Schwarzenegger starring sci-fi thriller The Running Man is set in a dystopian future where the most popular TV show sets “hunters” against its contestants.

Whilst most human hunting films happen in private, away from the eyes of the public,  The Running Man places the hunt front and center on international TV. Schwarzenegger plays Ben Richards, a police helicopter pilot who is framed for a massacre during a food riot. Richards is strong-armed into appearing on The Running Man and into a deadly game where there are no winners. With the bid bad hunters suited up with various gimmicks, such as flame throwers and chainsaws, the film follows a David and Goliath styled plot, just replacing the weak David with a 230lbs Schwarzenegger.

Being a Schwarzenegger film, it filled with all the things you love about his flicks during the 80’s & 90s. With huge action set pieces, copious amounts of violence and plenty of dry one liners, The Running Man is possible one of the most fun and entertaining films on this list.

 

Blade Runner (1982)

Whilst Blade Runner is essentially a movie about morality , it also has unusually rich levels of drama, interlaced with intense sci-fi neo noir storytelling, glorious dripped in neon backdrops and sprinkled with action set pieces. But at its very heart, it’s a movie about hunting. Now, we’ll not get into the deeper thematics of the film here, whether Harrison Ford’s Deckard is human or not makes no difference. If a machine can think independently, feels, and even love, then isn’t it just as alive as you or me? If a machine fears death, then being hunted down and killed, for no other reason than their existence is still just as shocking as any other film on this list.

Blade runner see’s bioengineered humanoids being hunted down by retired Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Ford), across a dark neon lit dystopian city. It’s cinema at its finest and also one of the most thought provoking films of our time.

 

Turkey Shoot (1982)

Turkey Shoot is a 1982 Australian dystopian action film that takes a politically charged spin on the The Most Dangerous Game premise. Society ‘deviants’, political prisoners from a sadistic regime, are sent to reeducation facility Camp 47 where they are inhumanely brutalized and tortured by the guards. When three members of the social elite show up in camp, the camp commander provide entertainment in the form of a human hunt.

Don’t let the name of the film fool you, Turkey Shoot is a dark and brutal film with a tone very much unlike any other film on this list.  Set against creeks, fields and jungles, this epic cat and mouse chase is filled to the brim with tension and gore.   

 

Hard Target (1993)

Being the American debut of the Hong Kong cult director John Woo, Hard Target is a mixture of vintage Chinese action style and the martial-arts spectacular that only Jean-Claude Van Damme can deliver. This powerful one-two blow makes Hard Target an updated and action packed version of The Most Dangerous Game, just with more kicks to the face and massive explosions.

Hard Target is a much less subtle affair, with machine guns and grenade launcher and over the top action and explosions at every turn. This is a film where pumping bullets into cars result in massive fire ball detonations and the bad guys couldn’t hit a target (or even a Hard Target) if they were a foot in front of them.  

Van Damme stars as Chance Boudreaux, a homeless ex-marine, who gets hired as a guide and bodyguard by Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler). In the search for Binder’s missing father, Boudreaux finds himself the target for a group who get paid to provide homeless ex-soldiers for rich business to hunt. With a bunch of heavily armed mercenaries hunting him, Boudreaux is out-gunned but he certainly is not out-smarter, as the homeless warrior is a master of martial arts.  Only in Hard Target can you witness Van Damme punching a rattle snake unconscious and dropping hand grenades down bad guys trousers. So, it’s worth watching just for that!

 

 

The Hunt (2020)

The Hunt is a 2020 horror thriller which follows twelve strangers who wake to find themselves being hunted by a group of wealthy liberals. This trashy b-movie desperately tries to be some sort of broad political satire, but it’s ridiculous plot is more frustrating than it is eye opening. However, if you don’t concentrate too much on the wishy-washy  story and just enjoy it’s spills and thrills, you’ll find The Hunt to be a very enjoyable flick.

The films twists and turns, with rouses and traps set to capture and kill the poor conservatives trapped in this deadly game of cat and mouse. But where there film really excels is in it’s casting of Betty Gilpin as a bad ass Crystal May Creasey who turns the hunters into the hunted. This amazing performance from Gilpin is filled with little quirks that are subtly played out, such as a moment when she slowly turns herself around in a car and brings her feet up to boot someone out of a car. Crystal is wickedly awesome and about the only thing that saves The Hunt from being a half-backed.

 

The Hunger Games (2012)

The Hunger Games is a dystopian action film based on the books by Suzanne Collins, which observes the results of the 74th Hunger Games, an annual game where a boy and girl from each of the 12 districts is forced into a last man standing event.

Being a mixture of Battle Royale, The Running Man and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, the film follows under-dog Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) who is entered into the games to fight for her life. Faced off against 23 other competitors, Katniss must use her skills and the environment to survive.

Whilst the books and films are a violent parable of adolescence and heightening teenage melodrama, aimed at a teenage audience, the building sense of dread is palatable thanks to the clever writing and world building.

 

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Most of the Mad Max films contain some form of human hunting highway chase sequence, usually the conclusion to the films building story. Fury Road takes things a little further, turning the entire film into one big long action chase sequence that never gives up the tension.

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, the world has become a dessert like wasteland following a societal collapse from warfare over resources. A survivor named Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) is captured and taken to Immortan Joe’s Citadel by his army of War Boys. Following a brave escape attempt by Immortan’s “wives”, Max finds himself involved in breathtaking escape from the clutches of Joe and his massive mobile army, as they are chased across the desert wasteland.

 This high-speed car chase film is as high impact as they come, filled with colorful characters and so many set pieces your eyes will probably bleed.

 

Battle Royale (2000)

Battle Royale is 2000 Japanese action-thriller film based on the 1999 novel by Koushun Takami.

In the dystopian then-future of 2002, Japan faces an enormous economic crisis and the rebellion of the country’s youth. To tackle this problem, the government sign a new law that sees a random school class forced into a last-man standing contest on a remote island.  Each contestant is handed a backpack of supplies, weapons and a map, and are also forced with a electronic collar that will explode if they are in the wrong zone or if there is more than one survivor left at the end of three days. Set out onto the island, the rules are clear, kill your friends, survive.

Battle Royale spends a huge chunks of time introducing all the characters and their adolescence issues. The fact that the film is a fight to the death and that we know they’ll all have to die, before we reach the end of the film, only adds to the palpable sense of dread.

It’s graphic, violent and filled with drama at every term. Battle Royale is the ultimate Human Hunting film that will forever leaves it’s bloody imprint on your mind.

“Hey Horror Fans – I don’t mind being chased once in awhile, especially if it’s by bunch of angry villagers with pitch forks and burning torches. However, I guess the folks on this list would have preferred not to be haunted down by crazed hunters and psychotic devil worshippers. Did we miss anything of our list? Let us know in the comments below.

Keep Rotten”

 

“Morti” The Mortician