Controversial Netflix horror that was ‘banned’ in the US is now available to stream in the UK
A CONTROVERSIAL Netflix horror that was originally ‘banned’ in the US is now available to stream in the UK.
The film ended up sparking a political row and riling up Donald Trump when it first dropped back in March 2020.
Directed by Craig Zobel, The Hunt caused quite the controversy in the US because of its plot.
A group of liberal elites seek to rid the world of Trump Maga hat-wearing conspiracy theorists by kidnapping a dozen ‘deplorables’, dumping them in a forest and picking them off in increasingly gruesome ways.
But what they don’t account for is Crystal (Glow’s Betty Gilpin) who decides she doesn’t fancy dying and in turn goes on a mad rampage, turning the hunters very much into the hunted.
The synopsis for the film says: “Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are or how they got there.
“In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted, Crystal, turns the tables on her pursuers.”
Co-written by Watchmen’s Damon Lindelof, it features razor-sharp observations on woke culture whilst being a gorefest.
The film managed to attract the attention of President Donald Trump, which director Craig Zobel still struggling to explain ‘how that even feels’.
He said at the time that angering US politicians was ‘not the goal’.
Instead, it was meant to showcase how ‘people rush to assume something’ about someone ‘just based on them being ‘the other team’.
Where Trump got involved though is in the fact that the hostages in The Hunt are dubbed the ‘deplorables’, which is similar to a comment then-Democratic nominee Hilary Clinton made during a speech ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Speaking at a campaign fundraising event in September 2016, Hilary Clinton said: “To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables’.”
The film was originally meant to be released on September 27, 2019 but it was delayed due to two mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas.
The President said at the time: “Liberal Hollywood is Racist at the highest level, and with great Anger and Hate! They like to call themselves ‘Elite’, but they are not Elite.
“In fact, it is often the people that they so strongly oppose that are actually the Elite. The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos.
“They create their own violence, and then try to blame others. They are the true Racists, and are very bad for our Country!”
The Hunt was then released six months later in March 2020.
The cast of the film features American Horror Story actress Emma Roberts, My Name is Earl’s Ethan Suplee, Bad Neighbours actor Ike Barinholtz and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Glenn Howerton.
The Hunt is available to stream on Netflix now.