HUNTER’S WEEKEND: An Absurd, Macabre & Darkly Funny Mockumentary

Since before I actually sat down to watch Hunter’s Weekend, I knew that I would be biased to like it. Listed as a black comedy and mockumentary made with a crew of 60% women, including the director and writer, I was hard pressed to find any issues at all with the concept of the film. Now, after seeing it, some minor glitches in the execution may have held it back from greatness, but the initial idea remains strong, and it stands well as an excellent use of a genre that can come off just as gimmicky.

Premise and Characters

Taking place over the titular weekend, the film follows Park Rangers Lyle (Benjamin Guenther) and Victor (Christopher J. Young) as they attempt to make their mark as serial killers – only one ‘hunter’ is breaking the rules and attacking other murderers rather than hapless park guests. This plot wasn’t the easiest to follow (I’ll admit, at the start of the film it took me some time to understand that the leads were dangerous criminals), but once it got going there was ample opportunity for some great comedy, mostly emerging from how wonderfully lame the protagonists are.

Actors Christopher J. Young and Benjamin Guenther as Victor and Lyle respectively are the core of the film, and making these two the main focus was a fantastic decision by everyone involved in the filmmaking. Their dynamic is hilarious, with Lyle as the delusional alpha male and Victor as his desperate to please companion, and though they certainly aren’t sympathetic characters, watching their foolhardy attitude to their own incompetence does make them compelling enough to spend the very short (just over one hour) runtime with.

The Faux Realist Style

With a minuscule budget of $10,000 raised through crowdfunding, writer and director Amy Taylor was smart to shoot Hunter’s Weekend with the aesthetic she chose. As well as covering up the odd technical blip, like strange changes in volume and allowing for a lack of many elaborate props or sets, it also gives a platform for the stellar script to shine.

While perhaps not as well polished as What We Do In The Shadows – named by Taylor as a significant influence on the project – most jokes still land, and not just because of Young and Guenther’s top tier performances. Like other films of the genre, the funniest moments tend toward using awkwardness and anti-jokes, and more often than not the juxtaposition of the character’s monologues with their dull surroundings and complete lack of artificially manufactured presence was what raised a chuckle from me.

Masculinity

As stated by Taylor in an interview regarding the film, the theme of masculinity is the most blatant throughout. Rather than simply focussing on the humour that can be generated by subverting the audience’s expectations of what a serial killer is, the film instead explores male notions of ability and aspirations of greatness in a typically male field – namely, murder.

By comparing the killers to the type of man you might see holding up a fish in a Facebook profile picture, Taylor expertly lampoons the fragility of masculinity, to the point where men who would typically be feared, and maybe even fawned over, are instead treated as desperate and sad, committing atrocious acts purely for the sake of their withering macho bravado.

Though I’m not sure if this context was at all intended by Taylor, watching Hunter’s Weekend in light of all the Ted Bundy material that has emerged lately was fascinating. Rather than lean towards glamourizing or sensationalizing the atrocities committed as the recent Netflix documentary on Bundy was accused of doing, the film makes sexism and serial murder seem as lame as possible, totally demolishing the idea of any kind of intriguing mythology around the killers of the movie. Much like for nazis and The Producers, no one is going to want to idolize, let alone emulate these people.

Conclusion: Hunter’s Weekend

Despite some obvious technical hiccups and the extremely low budget, Hunter’s Weekend is a well-made movie with a fascinating and very current angle on masculinity. As both a solid start for Taylor and an interesting comedy in its own right, this mockumentary is certainly worth checking out – just don’t go in expecting Taika Waititi levels of polish.

What do you think? Does Hunter’s Weekend stack up well against other mockumentaries? Let me know in the comments!

Hunter’s Weekend was screened at the Reels of the Dead Film Festival on November 18, 2018.