''Hunter's Blood'' is a 1986 American

action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by Robert C. Hughes in his feature directorial debut. Written by Emmett Alston, it is based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Jere Cunningham. It stars

Sam Bottoms Samuel John Bottoms (October 17, 1955 – December 16, 2008) was an American actor and producer. Early life Bottoms was born in Santa Barbara, California in 1955, the third son of James "Bud" Bottoms (a sculptor and art teacher) and Betty ...

Clu Gulager William Martin Gulager (; November 16, 1928 – August 5, 2022), better known as Clu Gulager, was an American television and film actor and director born in Holdenville, Oklahoma. He first became known for his work in television, appearing in ...

, Mayf Nutter,

Ken Swofford Kenneth Charles Swofford (July 25, 1933 – November 1, 2018) was an American film and television actor. With his burly build and distinctive red hair he was often cast in villain, police officer or 'everyman' roles. Between 1962 and 1995, ...

Joey Travolta Joseph Allen Travolta (born October 14, 1950) is an American actor. He is the older brother of actor John Travolta. Early life Travolta was born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, a nearby suburb of New York City, where he attended Dwight Mo ...

, and

Kim Delaney Kim Delaney (born November 29, 1961) is an American actress known for her starring role as Detective Diane Russell on the ABC drama television series ''NYPD Blue'', for which she won an Emmy Award. Early in her career, she played the role of ...

. It follows a group of city dwellers who go

deer hunting Deer hunting is hunting deer for meat and sport, and, formerly, for producing Buckskin (leather), buckskin hides, an activity which dates back tens of thousands of years. Venison, the name for deer meat, is a nutritious and natural food sourc ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

and meet crazed

poacher Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the hunti ...

s seeing them as

prey Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not ki ...

. The film was given a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the United States on May 29, 1987, by

Concorde Pictures New Concorde (NC) is an American film distribution company founded by Roger Corman. NC got its start in 1983 when Corman formed the production and distribution Concorde-New Horizons (CNH) as one of the first production companies to develop and t ...

. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. For his performance, Gulager was nominated for the

Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor The following is a list of Saturn Award winners and nominees for Best Supporting Actor (in a film). Burgess Meredith, Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis are the only actors that have won the award twice, while only Javier Bardem, Heath Ledger, and ...

Plot

Five men from the city decide to take a little trip to the woods and have some fun and hunting. Things get complicated later on when they encounter a pack of maniacal deer hunters who turn them in to prey.

Cast

Production

''Hunter's Blood'' was produced by Cineventure Inc., a division of the

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

-based Independent Entertainment Corp. (IEC).

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began on March 7, 1986. The film was shot in the woods around

Newhall, Santa Clarita, California Newhall is the southernmost and oldest community in the city of Santa Clarita, California. Prior to the 1987 consolidation of Canyon Country, Saugus, Newhall, and Valencia into the city of Santa Clarita, it was an unincorporated area. It was ...

Release

''Hunter's Blood'' was released in the United Kingdom on September 26, 1986, by Palace Pictures. The film had its American premiere at the 167th Street Theater in

North Miami, Florida North Miami is a suburban city located in northeast Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, about north of Miami. The city lies on Biscayne Bay and hosts the Biscayne Bay Campus of Florida International University. Originally the "Town of A ...

on January 23, 1987. Shortly after,

acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

on May 29, 1987.

Reception

Critical response

Michael Wilmington of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called the film "a low-budget ''

Deliverance ''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American thriller film directed and produced by John Boorman from a screenplay by James Dickey, who adapted it from his own Deliverance (novel), 1970 novel. It follows four businessmen from Atlanta who venture into th ...

''-derived rural thriller, basted with

Southern Comfort Southern Comfort (often abbreviated SoCo) is an American naturally fruit-flavored whiskey liqueur with fruit and spice accents. The brand was created by bartender Martin Wilkes Heron in New Orleans in 1874, using whiskey as the base spirit. Whi ...

." Wilmington stated, "The photography may be a bit muddy, but Robert C. Hughes' direction is coherent and well paced. The script is tight and the dialogue isn't idiotic — except where it's supposed to be. Some of the actors are fine. The movie holds your interest without rewarding it, though it's sometimes an interesting critique of

machismo Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1940s and 1950s and its use more wi ...

, laced with dark humor." Scott Drebit of ''Daily Dead'' described the film as "a backwoods hicksploitation actioner that more than gets by with a cast handpicked by the

B movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

gods and a script wittier than it has to be." Drebit also wrote, "''Hunter's Blood'' very much deserves to sit on a shelf next to ''

Rituals A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

'' and '' Just Before Dawn'' as a stellar backwoods horror; the ending alone has a delicious punchline (pun intended) that every horror fan will love."

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, hunters_blood 1986 films 1986 directorial debut films 1986 action thriller films 1986 horror films 1986 independent films 1980s American films 1980s English-language films 1980s horror thriller films 1980s slasher films American action thriller films American horror thriller films American independent films American slasher films Backwoods slasher films Films about cannibalism Films about hunting Films based on American thriller novels Films set in forests Films set in Arkansas Films shot in Santa Clarita, California Films scored by John D'Andrea English-language horror thriller films English-language independent films English-language action thriller films