Film Review: Hunter’s Moon (2020)

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SYNOPSIS:

A sheriff makes a strange discovery when he gets called to an orchard where three teenage sisters have been attacked by a band 

REVIEW:

After we witness the gruesome death (I presume, as it’s off screen) of a serial killer in his orchard, we meet an average city family who move into said killer’s “old farmhouse”, AKA not a farm house, but a pretty modern looking house, for a “fresh start”.  As soon as they move the boxes in, the parents (Jay Mohr & Amanda Wyss) leave just as quickly for work, leaving their 3 daughters, helmed by the eldest and black sheep of the family, Juliet (Katrina).

When the cats are away, the mice will play, and Juliet wastes no time coercing her younger sisters to drink her dad’s whisky stash.  The fun is soon interrupted by a group of three brothers who want to rob the “rich, city folk”. Chuck in some average twists and turns, and a seriously dodgy looking werewolf costume in the last 15 minutes of the movie and you have Hunter’s Moon, an average movie in every sense of the word.

You will be in one of two boats when watching this film, the boat which sees the main plot twist from a mile away and therefore has to sit through this averagely shot, written, directed, SFXed film, or the boat where you stare incredulously at the behavior of every member of the family and cry to the heavens as to why the acting/writing/story is so bad.

For people in the second boat, it’s an odd experience. The behavior of the family is so odd, you can only think it’s down to a shoddy screenplay. It makes no sense that a normal human being would behave this way. For example, why is Juliet, who is obviously not a teenager, treated as such?

How do the sisters know the dodgy brothers are outside the house? Why are they more than happy invite the brothers in when they know they’re bad news? Why is someone who may have been raped smile and consider it their “first time”? It’s these oddities that make you question the film and your sanity. Once you are gifted the main twist though, it’s an “aha” moment to all these oddities, but the boat has already sailed through the entire film and you’ve been hating the perceived crappiness of it all. Unfortunately, the twist’s pay-off is not as big as what the writer had envisioned and it doesn’t smooth over the annoyance you have festered to this point.

If you’re in the first boat and figure out the main twist within the first 10 minutes (some blatantly obvious things happen), Hunter’s Moon still tries to throw a few more twists into the mix but they don’t improve the story but rather feel forced and further reiterate the average nature of this film.

Hunter’s Moon has some decent bloody actors involved, even though they are past their prime time, but unfortunately a bland screenplay, dialog, effects, camera work and sets let the whole thing down and result in a movie which can be easily skipped even by the most avid lycanthrope fan.

2 out of 5 dodgy werewolf masks