The 7th Hunt (2009)

The 7th Hunt (2009)
Directed by: Jon Cohen
Written by: Jon Cohen
Starring: Imogen Bailey, Jason Stojanovski, Matthew Charleston

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOfqG1esnjg[/youtube]

A group of sociopaths kidnap five unknown victims for the Hunt, a game in which each sociopath murders their chosen victim in their own individual way. Should any of the victims survive, they have a choice to join the murderers in the next game or die a painful death.

The film follows the sadistic killers on their 7th Hunt and this time their victims all know one another. A goth named Callie, her athletic deaf sister Ariel, her nerd friend Chris, popular bimbo Sarah and misogynistic jock Ricky are each knocked unconscious as they are unwittingly plucked from their normality and awaken in an abandoned military training school. The sociopaths each have their issues and ways of dispatching their pray and we, like the head honcho, The Mastermind, watch the ongoing violence towards the innocent teens.

The 7th Hunt is clearly inspired by films like Hostel and Saw and for a low budget effort this Australian film is rather good with gritty violence and vicious torture scenes aplenty. The performances in the film slide from adequate to amateur with a couple of the cast being regulars of the famous Australian soap operas, Neighbours and Home and Away. The film has some pretty cool twists within and makes good use of it’s environment, especially with it’s rooms and dingy basement which hark back to those in Eli Roth’s Hostel where victims were tormented in a similar manner. I found myself squinting at some of the torture scenes, namely those involving Malcolm Frawley’s psychotic madman, Joanthan Price lookalike ‘The Knife’. The scenes are quite intense at times and the film does not lack in the gore department.

Both the killers and the victims have their own characterics, albeit sterotypical in places. A couple of the victims are so despicable as humans that you end up rooting for the killers, in a twisted way. The majority of the cast perform to their requirements whilst an odd couple fail to convince with their main screen time given a late introduction. The sadists delight with their weapons of choice, be it fists, rifle, knife and even a plastic bag! Lots of different torture methods are presented within the film and executed well considering the small budget of the movie. The entire story is well presented and is brought to a satisfying conclusion that will please any horror fan.

A gruesome, low budget grisly tale well suited for teen slasher fans.

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