#hunt poll

[bracketsoffear]

Watership Down (1978) "All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you… But first, they must catch you."

A 1978 British animated drama film directed by Martin Rosen, adapted from the 1972 novel of the same name by Richard Adams. The film is notorious as one of the darkest, most graphic pieces of children's fiction ever animated.

In rabbit mythology, the world was created by the god Frith. All animals were similar, living harmoniously as grass-eaters. The rabbits multiplied though, and their appetite led to a food shortage. Frith ordered the rabbit prince, El-Ahrairah, to control his people, but was scoffed at. In retaliation, the angered Frith gave special gifts to every animal, making some into predators to hunt the rabbits, humbling El-Ahrairah which caused him to play it safe and try to head underground. Satisfied that El-Ahrairah had learned his lesson, Frith gave rabbits the gifts of speed and cunning.

In the present, in a warren near Sandleford, a young rabbit seer named Fiver has an apocalyptic vision when he and his older brother Hazel come across a signboard; it says a residential development is coming but they cannot read it. The two beg the chief rabbit to order an evacuation; the chief dismisses them, and orders Captain Holly, the head of the warren's Owsla "police force", to attempt to stop those trying to leave. Hazel and Fiver manage to escape with six other rabbits named Bigwig, Blackberry, Pipkin, Dandelion, Silver, and Violet. What follows is a dangerous journey, and no one is safe from being killed.

Hey kids, want to take a peek at of how horrible it would be to live as a small prey animal, having to survive a life in which every single living thing above you in the food chain can and will chase you down to kill you? No? Well, that's too damn bad!

The Chase (1997) (WARNING: As with "The Sound of Suffering", this is another PSA that uses gruesome real life pictures of animal cruelty, as well as some flashing. Viewer discretion is advised.)

(Pollrunner's note: As with "The Sound of Suffering, I've put the video under the cut)

A very jarring cinema PIF from the International Fund for Animal Welfare and League Against Cruel Sports, made in 1997-8 from the United Kingdom. Rated 18. Directed by Antony Easton.

It is shot from the first-person perspective of a fox being chased. It makes its way through the countryside, almost getting hit by a car while dashing across a road. We never see the hunters or their dogs, but their distorted sounds can be heard in the background. Eventually, the exhausted fox tries to hide, only to be dragged into the open by its unseen pursuers, leading to a terrifying cacophony of barks and whimpers as the camera shakes violently, followed by an eerie silence, the clear implication being that the fox was viciously torn apart by the hunting dogs. The PIF ends with a short rapid-fire montage of very gruesome photos taken from hunts as a bunch of what's either gunshots or flesh-crunching noises are heard, followed by a loud scare chord over a shot of the fox's mangled carcass. The PIF finally fades with the text: "FOR PITY'S SAKE, BAN FOX HUNTING NOW."

The slideshow with real pictures of fox hunting at the end is bad enough, but what really makes me submit this to the Hunt tourney is how we are given a first-person perspective of what being chased down by a hunter must be like. Horrible.

Hunt Films Round 2 Bout 7

Watership Down (1978)

The Chase (1997)

Voting ended onApr 7

[bracketsoffear]

Eye: The Truman Show (1998) The Truman Show is a 1998 sci-fi comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir, written by Andrew Niccol, and starring Jim Carrey, and is widely considered one of the best movies of all three's careers.

Truman Burbank (Carrey), a well-liked small-town insurance salesman, lives a seemingly idyllic life, but is discontented. He still pines for a girl he fell in love with in college but who disappeared abruptly, and he is dealing with a strong wanderlust even though everything in his life seems to dissuade him from travel. Strange things have also been happening in his town: what looks like a spotlight marked with the name of a star falls out of the air right in front of him, his car radio picks up a broadcast which appears to be tracking his movements, and everything from his beautiful house, to his beautiful wife (Laura Linney), to even his loyal best friend (Noah Emmerich) seems somewhat… artificial.

In reality, since before his birth, Truman has been the unsuspecting star of a globally successful reality show called The Truman Show, in which every minute of every day of his life is filmed and broadcast live, overseen by the show's fanatical and obsessive creator/producer/director Christof (Ed Harris). While Truman has no idea about the level of deception everyone goes through to keep him in the dark, that changes soon enough.

When he bumps into a mysterious hobo who looks almost identical to his dead father after a couple strange events, Truman begins to suffer a paranoid breakdown and sets out to fully investigate his environment. However, everyone around him tries in desperation to stop him from discovering the truth… or worse, a way out.

Apart from bathroom breaks, showering, or even masturbation, think about any private moment you've had where you were alone that still would've been pretty humiliating if you were discovered (i.e. acting out daydreams). Now imagine doing that unknowingly having almost the entire world as an audience. Since Truman's life was broadcast 24/7 without commercial interruption (even while he's sleeping), there are only a handful of moments throughout his day where he has genuine privacy. Evil as he is, Christof is at least courteous enough to not film Truman in truly inappropriate situations, but it's still creepy to think about.

Hunt: Watership Down (1978) "All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you… But first, they must catch you."

A 1978 British animated drama film directed by Martin Rosen, adapted from the 1972 novel of the same name by Richard Adams. The film is notorious as one of the darkest, most graphic pieces of children's fiction ever animated.

In rabbit mythology, the world was created by the god Frith. All animals were similar, living harmoniously as grass-eaters. The rabbits multiplied though, and their appetite led to a food shortage. Frith ordered the rabbit prince, El-Ahrairah, to control his people, but was scoffed at. In retaliation, the angered Frith gave special gifts to every animal, making some into predators to hunt the rabbits, humbling El-Ahrairah which caused him to play it safe and try to head underground. Satisfied that El-Ahrairah had learned his lesson, Frith gave rabbits the gifts of speed and cunning.

In the present, in a warren near Sandleford, a young rabbit seer named Fiver has an apocalyptic vision when he and his older brother Hazel come across a signboard; it says a residential development is coming but they cannot read it. The two beg the chief rabbit to order an evacuation; the chief dismisses them, and orders Captain Holly, the head of the warren's Owsla "police force", to attempt to stop those trying to leave. Hazel and Fiver manage to escape with six other rabbits named Bigwig, Blackberry, Pipkin, Dandelion, Silver, and Violet. What follows is a dangerous journey, and no one is safe from being killed.

Hey kids, want to take a peek at of how horrible it would be to live as a small prey animal, having to survive a life in which every single living thing above you in the food chain can and will chase you down to kill you? No? Well, that's too damn bad!

Film Tournament Winners Round 1 Bout 4

Eye: The Truman Show (1998)

Hunt: Watership Down (1978)

Voting ended onMay 25

[bracketsoffear]

Jumanji (1995) All right, hear me out on this one: The titular board game would 100% be a Hunt artifact. When you play it, you are put right back into the food chain. Bats, mosquitoes, lions, giant spiders, giant carnivorous plants, even a very trigger-happy human hunter: If it comes out from the game, it can and will chase you down to kill you. It can also suck you in and trap you into the selvatic world from where all these creatures are coming from, potentially forever, and it cares not if the person playing it happens to be a child. It slowly robs you of your humanity if you try to cheat, as seen with one of the kids getting turned into a monkey (which might fall into Flesh, but it still deserved a mention). And the only way to truly escape is to continue playing the game until you can finish it. There's also this suprisingly chilling speech from Robin Williams' character: "You think monkeys, mosquitoes, and lions are bad? That's just the beginning. I've seen things you've only seen in your nightmares. Things you can't even imagine. Things you can't even see. There are things that hunt you in the night. Then something screams. Then you hear them eat, and you hope to God that you're not dessert. "Afraid?" You don't even know what afraid is."

Predator (1987) Predator is an American science fiction action horror anthology media franchise primarily centered on encounters between humans and a fictional species of extraterrestrial trophy hunters known as the Predators. Produced and distributed by 20th Century Studios, the series was initially conceived by screenwriters Jim and John Thomas. The series began with the film Predator (1987), directed by John McTiernan, and was followed by several sequels and prequels—Predator 2 (1990), Predators (2010), The Predator (2018), Prey (2022), Predator: Killer of Killers (2025), and Predator: Badlands (2025)—as well as a range of expanded universe media, like comic books, novels, and video games, including Predator: Concrete Jungle (2005) and Predator: Hunting Grounds (2020).

The Yautja, the titular Predators, are a race of aliens known for their advanced technology and habit of hunting aggressive individuals of other species. They believe in a fair fight above all else and will not target the weak or unarmed with their weaponry. If a Yautja finds particularly interesting prey, it will spend its time observing them before taking their skulls as its trophy. If the prey is able to fight back with minimal weaponry, it will dispose its weapons other than its wrist blade and removes its mask, challenging its prey to hand-to-hand combat. A prey target who successfully slays one of them earns enormous respect from the rest of their kin, and is often even given a trophy weapon as a reward. And if there isn't any worthy human or sentient prey around to hunt, they will often remedy this by going after whatever passes for apex predators in wherever they've landed on.

Hunt Films Semifinals Bout 1

Jumanji (1995)

Predator (1987)

Voting ended onApr 9

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anti-propaganda for Ginger Snaps: the presence of werewolves does not a hunt make! Just as fire doesn't define the Desolation, werewolves do not define the Hunt. Ginger Snaps' werewolves have much more to do with the body horror of being irreversibly transformed into something foreign and dangerous, that has a desperate need to infect others. it's fleshy! It's fleshy far more than it relates to the thrill of the chase or the fear of being prey.

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Jaws (1975) Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley.

When a giant great white shark starts attacking swimmers near the quaint New England resort community of Amity Island, town mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) tries to keep things quiet rather than risk scaring tourists away at the height of the busy summer season. But the local police chief, Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), looks to address the threat, with the eventual support of two other men: oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and professional local shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw).

As the level of terror in the tourist-economy town of Amity – and in the audience – gradually grows to a fever pitch, the shark continues with its attacks, leading Brody, Hooper and Quint to spend the last third of the film completely isolated at sea, hunting the monstrous creature.

Jaws had such a profound impact on the public that beach attendance dropped sharply the summer it was released – it has been said that it filled the cinemas and emptied the beaches. Most infamously, it had a significant negative impact on the public perception of sharks, to the point it got blamed for allegedly contributing to a surge in shark hunting, and consequently a drop in shark populations. It would also serve as a key inspiration for many later giant animal rampage movies and the "Jump Scare" horror trope.

I think the movie deserves a spot in the list for the "Jaws effect" myth alone: The film triggered the audience's primal fear of becoming prey so much, it made them demonize an entire animal species. Peter Benchley expressed regret for writing the original book and became an advocate for marine conservation, helping start Shark Week as a way of back peddling and trying to show that there is more to sharks than what most people think.

It Follows (2015) It Follows is a 2015 supernatural horror film written and directed by David Robert Mitchell. It debuted at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival in May before receiving both limited and wide releases the following March.

The film follows Jay Height (Maika Monroe), a 19-year-old student living in the suburbs of Detroit. After a sexual encounter, she becomes stalked by a nameless entity. The film then becomes an exercise in existential dread: no matter how far Jay runs, she must face the mounting dread of its slow but relentless approach, and the fact that she will never be totally safe, even if she passes it on… It Follows is notable for the audiovisual influence it takes (to retraux levels) from horror films of the '70s and '80s, with Mitchell specifically citing George Romero and John Carpenter as inspirations. He got the idea for the film from a recurring dream that he had as a child about being followed, later incorporating the idea of sexual transmission.

Whole "it gets transferred by sex" thing aside, the movie is actually very Hunt-coded: This entity, which can look like virtually any person (and changes on the fly), will follow you at a walking pace. The entity, "It", can only walk, but it always knows where you are and is coming for you, at all times. If the entity reaches you, it will brutally murder you and will revert back to following the person who had passed it to you. Those cursed are doomed to either die a violent death or to be living in constant dread of the entity's eventual arrival. And even if you pass it on, it's always out there, working its way back to you. It is following you, is completely fixated on you, and is intent on killing you.

Hunt Films Round 1 Bout 1

Jaws (1975)

It Follows (2015)

Voting ended onApr 6

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Hunt Music Redemption Tournament Round 1

Pumped Up Kicks vs. Furr

A Confession vs. Hunt You Down

Tear You Apart vs. The Wolf

One Way Or Another vs. Ready Or Not

Run Boy Run vs. Run With the Wolves

Animals vs. We'rewolf

The Hunted vs. The Animal

God's Gonna Cut You Down vs. Pitbull Terrier

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An American Werewolf in London (1981) An American Werewolf in London is a 1981 Universal comedy/horror film written and directed by John Landis. Starring David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, Jenny Agutter, and John Woodvine, the film featured special effects by master make-up artist Rick Baker.

On the night of a full moon, two American backpackers named David Kessler and Jack Goodman make a stop at a pub by the name of The Slaughtered Lamb on their trip through the UK. Forgetting the locals' advice to stay out of the moors, the two are soon attacked by a mysterious animal that kills Jack and wounds David before the locals gun it down. Before passing out, David noticed that the beast seemed to have been replaced with the body of a naked man. Waking up three weeks later in a London hospital, David is visited by Jack's spirit who reveals that the beast who attacked them was a werewolf. He then tells his friend that he is now cursed to become a werewolf himself and warns him to take his life so that the previous wolf's victims can finally find peace in the afterlife… and because the night of the next full moon is only one week away.

The Terminator (1984) "It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop… ever, until you are dead!"

An absolutely seminal sci-fi action-horror about a cyborg assassin pursuing a young woman and her time-travelling protector through 1980s Los Angeles. The Terminator itself is one of the most Hunt-coded characters in film, and is so firmly rooted in pop culture that most people probably think of it when you say "unstoppable killing machine". Throughout the film, the Terminator pursues Sarah Connor with unnaturally single-minded persistence, destroying any obstacles or people in its way, and disregarding the harm done to its own body, only stopping once to repair itself just enough to continue its mission. In the infamous climax of the movie, it is shot, burnt, crushed, and reduced to a metal endoskeleton and still continues its pursuit until it finally physically cannot.

The rest of the movie has Hunt moments to spare - Kyle Reese talks about the last pockets of humanity hiding in fear from robotic Hunter-Killers in the apocalyptic 2020s, where humans are subjugated by omnicidal AI. Even Reese himself is a hunter of sorts - a soldier hellbent on stopping the Terminator from killing Sarah, even at the cost of his own life.

Hunt Films Round 2 Bout 8

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

The Terminator (1984)

Voting ended onApr 7

[bracketsoffear]

The Terminator (1984) "It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop… ever, until you are dead!"

An absolutely seminal sci-fi action-horror about a cyborg assassin pursuing a young woman and her time-travelling protector through 1980s Los Angeles. The Terminator itself is one of the most Hunt-coded characters in film, and is so firmly rooted in pop culture that most people probably think of it when you say "unstoppable killing machine". Throughout the film, the Terminator pursues Sarah Connor with unnaturally single-minded persistence, destroying any obstacles or people in its way, and disregarding the harm done to its own body, only stopping once to repair itself just enough to continue its mission. In the infamous climax of the movie, it is shot, burnt, crushed, and reduced to a metal endoskeleton and still continues its pursuit until it finally physically cannot.

The rest of the movie has Hunt moments to spare - Kyle Reese talks about the last pockets of humanity hiding in fear from robotic Hunter-Killers in the apocalyptic 2020s, where humans are subjugated by omnicidal AI. Even Reese himself is a hunter of sorts - a soldier hellbent on stopping the Terminator from killing Sarah, even at the cost of his own life.

A Quiet Place (2018) The paranoia of being heard and found, of you and your family being hunted by monsters that only want to kill and destroy you.

Hunt Films Round 1 Bout 16

The Terminator (1984)

A Quiet Place (2018)

Voting ended onApr 6