Night of the Hunted Review – An Antagonistic Slow Burn With More Bark Than Bite

“Night of the Hunted” might not cater to everyone’s taste. The original film (Night of the Rat) received mixed reviews from critics because of the non-committed ending. In the 2023 version, the story is set up similarly but with fewer people.

We meet Alice, a woman who finds herself entangled in the relentless grip of an unseen sniper, who forces her to let him guide her through a journey of introspection. Franck Khalfoun’s drama-forward horror movie is a single-location film in a roadside gas station.

Narratively speaking, Night of the Hunter opens with a small amount of backstory for Alice. This amounts to her being known as someone in the middle of fertility treatments with her husband while banging a co-worker. Once the pair arrive at the gas station, Alice’s co-worker John discovers his car has been tampered with. As she walks inside she realizes it’s now a tomb for the counter clerk that works there. And then the shooting starts.

After sustaining a gunshot wound that forces her phone across the floor out of reach, Alice discovers a walkie-talkie and tries to call for help. The assassin commences shortly after with more words than a dictionary full of every on-trend debatable topic. Throughout the film, he climbs up on a soap box billboard and dishes the dirt on Alice and society’s woes. Any escape attempts are swiftly met with a flurry of bullets intended for anything deemed belonging to Alice.

Isolation horror is an excellent subgenre and director Franck Khalfoun has some well-known titles under his belt. Films like the Christmas horror classic “P2” and cult classic horror “Maniac” are movies I enjoyed. This time, however, Night of the Hunted is all bark and no bite, preferring to overtly hammer deep and reflective conversations about pain, grief, and hidden agendas in a similar fashion to someone at a rally with a megaphone who doesn’t know what causes they are fighting for. All of them, it seems.

Night of the Hunted Explained

On the upside, Night of the Hunter does have some redeeming qualities. This sniper spent some time planning his exploits. The killer (Stasa Stanic) and his motivations stem from his own experience with a cheating wife.

Despite a list of gripes as long as your arm about Alice personally as well as society in general, Stasa sees her as the ultimate prize of everything that has gone wrong in his life and the widespread corruption of society. I liked the attention to detail in the two lead characters, even if the details stretch a normal standard of plausibility.

Towards the end of Night of the Hunter, the discovery of a box belonging to a man called Henry points to the sniper’s identity. Included in the list of reasons Alice should die, the killer peppers at her is that a false accusation caused him to lose his job. Henry likely worked in the gas station and had a sick nephew. So all signs point to the sniper being Henry.

This scenario then snowballed into the death of Henry’s nephew. Not directly, but that her big pharma company sells the drugs that should have cured him. Add this to Alice treating her husband in a similar way to how his wife treated Stasa and she became his ultimate patsy.

Night of the Hunted 2023 Full Movie Trailer

For more ways to watch the movie online or download it check your favorite where to watch website or app. One of my favorites is Reelgood.com, especially if you’re located in the USA.

Starring Monaia Abdelrahim, Abbe Andersen and J. John Bieler. Written by Rubén Ávila Calvo, Glen Freyer and Franck Khalfoun.

Directed by: Franck Khalfoun

Additional writing by Franck Khalfoun, Rubén Ávila Calvo, and Glen Freyer. David R.L. penned the origin story.

This new “Night of the Hunted” is a remake of “Night of the Rat,” a 2015 Spanish horror movie about a work carpool that ends in disaster. The title is provided as a screener for review purposes.

Is Night of the Hunted 2023 a remake?

“You have a masters degree in ruining people’s lives.”

Quote from the 2023 remake Night of the Hunted

Night of the Hunted is rated

2.5 Never-ending cheesy-voiced monologues out of 5