What happens when you take concepts from The Purge and The Most Dangerous Game, put them in a blender and hit purée? What would most likely come out is the film Happy Hunting, a low budget thriller from directors Joe Dietsch and Louie Gibson. Sometimes combining concepts of other movies can be a terrible idea, but other times it works out for the best. Happy Hunting falls somewhere smack dab in the middle. It’s neither a great film nor a terrible film. It’s plagued with some poor acting from supporting characters, but the lead played by Martin Dingle Wall manages to carry the film for the most part. If you’re interested in knowing more, read on.
The premise for Happy Hunting sees Mr Dingle Wall playing a drunk who is suffering from withdrawals and has to keep drinking to get rid of the shakes. He hears from a woman in Mexico that he has a child and needs to head down there to get her, as her mother just passed away. Dingle starts heading to Mexico but takes a rest in a town called Bedford Flats. Unfortunately for Dingle, the town is just about to have their annual hunt, which involves rounding up people that are passing through or local drunks and letting them loose into the desert to be hunted down by some crazies. Cue The Purge alarm sound! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNN!
That’s pretty much the entirety of Happy Hunting. It isn’t original, and it suffers from some absolutely terrible CGI, but there is some fun to be had. It can be cruel at times and doesn’t mind killing off whoever it wants. But, that’s pretty much it. It’s the type of film you watch and then immediately forget about, which is why I’m having such a hard time writing this review.
Nevertheless, if you by chance want to own the film on DVD, you have one option, and that is with Umbrella Entertainment. The DVD is your typical DVD release, with no features and no menu options. It comes with 5.1 audio and a transfer that is passable for DVD. The disc is Region Free and NTSC format, so no format issues to worry about with this one.
Happy Hunting is a time waster that offers enough moments to keep you invested, but once the credits roll, you’re probably going to forget all about it. Nonetheless, I still think it’s worth checking out at least once.