10 Other Movies With Human Hunting to Watch After The Hunt

The release of the horror film The Hunt was met with significant controversy, which is unsurprising considering the unsettling nature of the film’s subject matter: humans hunting other humans. However, this theme is, in fact, a fairly common one in the world of popular culture.

And is it any wonder? There’s something fundamentally disturbing about the idea of pursuing another human being, rendering them into nothing more than an animal. It threatens everything we believe to be true about the relationships that exist between people. Here are ten films that you can watch if you enjoy The Hunt.

10  The Hunger Games (2012)

This blockbuster film, based on the Suzanne Collins novel of the same name, takes place in a future United States where young people are recruited and set to hunting each other in a televised series of games. This franchise managed to solidify Jennifer Lawrence’s status as a leading lady in action films.

The film, like the novels upon which it is based, is very disturbing, not only for the fact that it includes human hunting, but also because the future world that it paints is so eerily plausible and near to our own.

9  The Furies (2019)

This film adds a new layer to the already-established formula of humans hunting other humans. In The Furies, women are hunted by mutated creatures while men watch.

At first glance, this might make the film seem like just another misogynist fantasy, but there’s actually a more subtle message here of female empowerment, in which women manage to fight back against a system that is seemingly rigged against them and that has disempowered them. This film is not for the faint of heart, however, and it is quite gory, bloody, and disturbing.

8  Battle Royale (2000)

This 2000 Japanese film is a little bit like what would happen if you crossed Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games. It focuses on a group of students who are imprisoned and forced to fight one another by the government.

Due to both its subject matter and its disturbing images, the film was hugely controversial and several countries refused to screen it altogether. It actually took over a decade for the film to find a release in the United States, where it came out on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2012.

7  Punishment Park (1971)

The 1970s were definitely a dark time, both in terms of what was happening politically and in what was happening in film. This film, a cross between documentary and horror, focuses on a group of soldiers who hunt those who are deemed to be a threat to the state.

It’s precisely the documentary ethos of Punishment Park that makes it such a chilling film. Given the unsettled times in which we are currently living, the film seems to become ever more pertinent and true-to-life. This film is definitely not for the faint of heart.

6  The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

This film is where it all began. Based on the short story of the same name, the film follows a man who finds himself the prisoner of a big game hunter who wants to substitute him for the animals that he usually hunts.

The film was produced in what is known as the pre-Code era (referring to the Hays Code, a set of constraints on filmmaking in the US from the 30s to the 50s), in which films were able to explore issues that were often edgy and controversial. The adaptation also makes several changes to the short story, most notably by including several characters that weren’t in the story (one of them played by Fay Wray herself).

5 The Hitcher (1986)

The late Rutger Hauer is definitely the most significant thing about this film, in which he plays a hitchhiker who decides to play a truly torturous and horrible game with his victims. The film is chilling precisely because Hauer is such a phenomenal talent, bringing both intensity and charisma to this chilling role.

Though critics praised Hauer’s performance, their response to the rest of the film was rather lackluster, and it underperformed at the box office, failing to make back its budget (costing almost $5 million and making just over $7 million).

4 The 10th Victim (1965)

This Italian film is something of a precursor to The Hunger Games. Like the later film, it focuses on two assassins who are part of a group of people who are trained to hunt one another as part of a televised hunt.

It was based on the short story by Robert Sheckley, though it made a number of changes in adapting it to the screen. Though it’s obviously a science fiction story with some elements of horror, the film also includes a romance, in which two of the assassins fall in love with one another.

3 Surviving the Game (1994)

It doesn’t get much more 1990s action thriller film than Surviving the Game, which stars Rutger Hauer (always a good choice for this kind of film), Ice-T (before he became famous for being on Law & Order: SVU) and, just in case things weren’t already crazy enough, Gary Busey.

It is in essence an adaptation of “The Most Dangerous Game,” though in this case there are several hunters who are tracking down a homeless man named Jack Mason. It’s a thrilling film, though it failed to make a profit at the box office.

2 The Belko Experiment (2016)

This film is about a group of employees of a mysterious organization named Belko who, one day, are ordered to kill one another or face even worse consequences. The film explores the ways in which all of us have a dark part of us that can emerge when we feel that our own lives are threatened, as well as how even the best of us will do terrible things in the right circumstances.

The film received somewhat lackluster reviews, though it managed to turn a profit, earning over $11 million on a $5 million budget.

1 Fortress (1985)

This film, an Australian production, focuses on a schoolteacher who, along with her students, is taken captive by a group wielding guns. They eventually escape, and they have to fight for survival, which includes having the children hunt down their assailant (which substantially increases the creepy factor of the film).

It is based on the novel of the same name, which in turn was inspired by true events. It’s a very suspenseful film, keeping you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. It was originally released on HBO.

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