3 Short Paragraphs: The Head Hunter

2018, Jordan Downey (Critters: Bounty Hunter) -- download

During my youth (yeah yeah, last week) I would have watched any swords & sorcery movie. Many of those I have seen, and raved about, have ended up on MST3K. That should tell you the quality. And (luckily?) there were few of these released, even after Conan the Barbarian hit it big. But then The Lord of the Rings blew up, and the number of fantasy movies of incredibly low budget increased exponentially. I refused to see them; I just don't have time for glorified LARPing, especially when nine of ten of them seemed to have been generated by someone who went to the Weta School of Prop Building (not a real place) and everything looks like a low-budget LotR.

At first I thought that was what this was going for, with the orc head on a pike and the spikey armour. But something about it was different, with more than a hint or horror genre attached to a plot about a lone warrior seeking to find the monster that killed his daughter. It felt more Nordic, more mythological based, a modern Grendel meets D&D. And what I got was pleasantly surprising, if a bit short.

So, its that -- a lone warrior, a hunter of monsters, who hears the horn and goes to find & kill his bounty. The director obviously feared for the cheese factor in his limited budget for effects, so he focused on set dressing and mood. The movie just looks incredibly good, from the cinematography to the gritty set dressing. The warrior's armour, his ritual for making healing potions, the interior of his hut -- so much focus and attention to detail. Much of the fighting takes place off camera, and what we get ends up more character study, but its visceral and captivating. Once we actually see him fighting his destined foe, things do get a bit smirk worthy and I definitely did not like the ending, but as an overall endeavour this will be on my unwritten list of movies for D&D fans.