Hunter's Blood (1986)

Deliverance, Rituals & now Hunter's Blood.Between the 3 & my favorite still has to be...... Rituals.Hunter's Blood was a good enough movie that's worth watching at least once & something I'd tell somebody to watch if they were thinking about watching it but it wasn't all that great.I watched it for the 1st time yesterday & watching it for the 1st time after reading the movie description, I was excited.I couldn't wait to see it.As it went on, the excitement wore off & it was a movie that was just there.Hunter's Moon is definitely NO Rituals.I'd still tell anybody to go see Hunter's Blood if they got a chance to see it but it's not a movie that I'd be really curious to know what their opinion of it was after they watched it.If they liked it then good but if they didn't that's fine too.Rituals is still a better movie than Deliverance & Hunter's Blood ........Rituals

This is a very straightforward (i.e. unimaginative) but competently made spin on the basic "Deliverance" premise of some privileged middle-class men going into the wilderness for a little camping/hunting adventure, but running afoul of the stereotypically inbred local hicks. The blundering stupidity the protagonists manifest in repeatedly offending the surly/cumb locals is pretty stupid in itself, but oh well: That's what happens in these kinds of movies. This film doesn't push the formula toward the overt horror of something like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "The Hills Have Eyes" (though the locals DO, suspiciously, have their very own meat business), but neither is it as credibly harrowing as something like "Eden Lake" or...well, "Deliverance," of course. Performances are OK, pacing is decent. It's all unmemorable but energetically done. My only quibble is a particularly cheap (and pointless) fadeout that suggests "The terror isn't over yet!" (My only question is: Why was Sam Bottoms billed as "Samuel" here? Did he go through some mid-career phase when he suddenly thought Sam was too childish? I mean, he'd already been acting for 15 years.)

When it comes to seeing an actor's face that you know BUT may not know the name that goes with it...Hunter's Blood delivers. Hunters Sam Bottoms, Ken Swofford, Clu Gulager, Joey Travolta(I knew he was related to John but not his name), and a bunch of yelling, heehawing Arkansas rednecks like Bruce Glover(more on him later) and Bill Drago(The Untochables and Frank Nitti) and several others are just some of those FACES. Hunter's Blood, a movie which currently is only on VHS(old) and laserdisc(old) - with a GREAT cover, tells the story of five city guys going hunting deep in the Arkansas woods where a bunch of semi-civilized poachers live, eat, kill, procreate, etc... It falls into that sub-genre of horror of wilderness horror like Rituals(a great film). This is a good film as well. The direction is taut and suspenseful. The beginning is a bit slow and talky, but we get invested in the characters. I liked the five hunters. None of them were bad men really. There is even a great little talk about hunting and how it brings men closer together. The musical score is just right in keeping that suspense going - particularly as the film winds down to that inevitable climatic end. We get some great scenes like the bar scene with its tension. There is the bloody close-up of a head after having been blown off(not completely) by a shotgun. There is the battle with David and several different backwoods hillbillies. The acting was surprisingly good as was the script. Clu Gulager is at his best as is Ken Swofford. Joey Travolta is annoying - but he was playing an annoying character. God, does he do it well! Then there is Bruce Glover as One Eye....putting on his own Barnum and Bailey circus as all the acts rolled into one! Watching him bob and weave and repeat, "We're gonna get ya!"...over and over and over became quite chilling. Eye candy Kim Delaney is really unnecessarily brought along for the ride, but she does not really detract from the film. Two things other than the general quality of all involved stood out for me. One - If I were from Arkansas or anywhere near it I probably would be offended. These hillbillies are unkempt, sadistic, inbred, and cannibalistic(so it appears) as well as amorous toward members of their own gender(one guy really had the hots for Joey!). It is a stereotype of backwoods rednecks first enunciated by the city guys as they drive there and, rather shabbily I might add, interact with the locals and then later proved to be true(?) Two - I liked the twist at the end and how the movie throughout had, directly or indirectly, paid homage to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(there) or Deliverance or others. Hunter's Blood is a good film that deserves DVD treatment soon.

You thought "Deliverance" was painful ?! It is a walk on the beach compared to "Hunter's Blood" !! I remember seeing it in the theater when it opened in 1987, I went because I had been a big fan of Clu Gulager who played Billy the Kid in the 60's TV Western "The Tall Man"...so people over the age of 50 will recognize him, but the next biggest name in this is Joey Travolta, who, unlike his brother, has zero talent. Their fight against the demented rednecks is very suspenceful, but I have to warn you that there is a very graphic, stomach-turning scene...have fun!