Hounded

Hounded (2022) is a UK addition to the horror genre that I recently watched on Prime. The storyline follows a group of robbers who decide to break into the wrong family's home in the English countryside. The family captures them and sets them loose on their countryside land to be hunted, fox hunting style. Can any of the robbers survive the hunt?

This movie is directed by Tommy Boulding, in his directorial debut, and stars Malachi Pullar-Latchman (Shark Bait), Samantha Bond (Die Another Day), James Lance (Bronson), Hannah Traylen (Boiling Point) and Katrina Syran (The Lady from the Sea).

This movie was actually set up pretty well with entertaining characters, intense circumstances and an authentic premise. The acting is actually pretty good and the brother relationship felt realistic. There's a rock wall scene to start the movie that was entertaining as is the use of a bear trap. I also appreciated the solid use of dogs. However, this is one of those movies where everything felt like it needed to be taken a step further. The kills were okay, but could have been more gory. The characters could have been more aggressive, which would have created more intensity. And the ending was solid, but not as dramatic as intended. The best part of the movie was the outfits, settings and outcomes of the villains.

Overall, this is another addition to the horror genre that's almost good, but needed to press the envelope a little further. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

An attempted robbery of a grand family home goes wrong for four young thieves.

Firstly, it's nice to watch a film that has a ninety minute running time, they seem to be a rarity these days, the problem.....the last ninety minutes.

I liked the storyline of the movie, and I liked that it featured Samantha Bond and James Lance (even if I haven't fully recovered from his atrocious accent in The Canterville Ghost.) Both are a somewhat flat here unfortunately.

It's a story of revenge I guess, but it's just impossible to have sympathy with any of the characters, a set of thieves, or a set of vigilante aristocrats in riding gear. None of the characters feel real, they are caricatures and stereotypes.

It felt pretty cheaply made, I guess that it clearly didn't have much of a budget, but it's such an unimaginative production.

I don't think it's worthy of a 1 or 2 star rating, nor can I see anything to warrant it getting anything towards the higher end of the scale either, it's just too flawed.

4/10.

Just a bit of harmless ridiculousness. This film fails in so many ways. Biggest problem is you don't care about any characters, you actually root for the aristocracy (the funniest thing in this piece) who are trying to bring back a bit of order in this blighted society of ours. Really enjoyed watching the bungling "burglars" get what they deserved. In better hands this might have been a bit more of a thriller but I just found it predictable a bit boring and completely unbelievable. One of your mates gets ripped to pieces by a pack of hounds and you get over it in seconds. The hunted show no trauma after seemingly experiencing the worst of horrors.

I don't know why, can't explain the reasons, but I would have supposed that movie was directed by Ben Wheatley, some kind of social horror British film, rather offbeat, with a strange but daring topic. Yes, Ben Wheatley, at least at his early career. I recognize here the British touch, so subtle, surprising, quite different from the Hollywood standards. Yes, very interesting B Uk film. It uses the home invasion scheme, very popular since one decade now, even more, with the delightful social touch, I repeat, very suntle, using for instance characters from the suburbs, instead of hardcore criminals. They use characters in which many audiences, those to whom this film is mostly destined, can recognize themselves. Of course any moviegoer will recognize here the MOST DANGEROUS GAME inspiration. Rich against poor people, with a very unusual ending, that's the main positive point of this film. And as in any horror movie, you can admire and appreciate a "cosy" countryside landscape, British, the THE AVENGERS series from the sixties charm. France could do such a film, with the same topic. French countryside.... In the fifties, Roy Boulting made RUN FOR THE SUN, more or less the same topic; now Tommy Boulding makes also more or less the same topic too. It could have been set, and it has already been, in a desert area, in New Mexico state surrounding, with a small town, a rotten sheriff, a cattle baron fond of hunting....

Four pals are quite adept at ripping off wealthy country houses whilst their owners are off at a posh soirée or the opera or something, so are more than ready to break into the stately "Redwick Hall" and help themselves. Thing is, though, it's all a trap. After a bit of tasering they wake up in a field to meet the lady of the manor clad in finest hunting pink (Samantha Bond) who has had just about enough of the lambs trying to rule the lions, so she sets them free and tells them to get lost. Except, well before they get very far they hear some barking... Lots of barking... Yep, this isn't a fox hunt. These are banned, don't you know. This is an hunt for more of the lesser spotted two legged beastie and they'd better get a-running. So far, yes it sounds terrible and I am afraid that is doesn't get any better as they try to escape from their perilous predicament in one piece. I thought at first it was going to be a comedy. Bond's tongue is most definitely in her cheek and the presence of James Faulkner and Nick Moran encouraged me to think that there must a be joke coming along soon. Nope, the joke was on me, as this amateur bobbins took away ninety minutes of my life and left my wondering why on earth anyone thought this would work. Malachi Pullar-Latchman and Hannah Traylen take centre stage for the burglar's alliance but they make very little impact as the story takes just about every opportunity it can to underwhelm. If there's a cleverly disguised message here about the entitled classes or those who just take what they cannot afford themselves, then it was wasted on me as this just lurched, ridiculously, from silly to sillier. Skip it, I'd say.