The Head Hunter — The Head Hunter

The Head Hunter focus on a medieval warrior who kills and collects the heads from various beasts and monsters. One day the creature, who killed his young daughter many years ago returns- so he goes out for revenge. The above, brief synopsis may have you expecting creature effects-heavy, bloody, and brutal fantasy action horror- instead what we have is a very low key, sparse and atmospheric film. Yes, there are moments of gore/ gruel, but these are fleeting, largely reserved to the end of the picture. Instead, we focusing is on the vast rugged landscape, snowbound forests, distant castle & keeps- with the Head Hunter making his way through the seemingly people-less world, where his only dialogue is spoken at his daughter’s grave.  Here on 101 Films is the first UK Blu-Ray release of this very distinct and atmospheric take on grim fantasy horror form, with the disc taking into two commentary tracks & a making-of.

The Head Hunter was made in 2018, it’s an American production, filmed in the wildness of Portugal, Norway and mammoth Lakes in the US. The film is the third feature-length film from Ohio based Jordan Downey- who has been involved with one way or another with horror scene since the early 2000s, be it as producer, writer, editor or actor. He’s most known for the demented killer turkey slashers Thankskilling & Thankskilling 3( there never ways a number 2). So The Head Hunter is a million miles away from the crazed comedy horror of the Thankskilling films, with the focus being very much vast-yet-foreboding landscapes, grim tone, and the warrior's survival.

You’d imagine with a fantasy set horror film, they’d be a selection of characters for the warrior to interact with- but this is largely a one-man show, with fleeting glances of other figures & a few flashbacks to his daughter. The films lead character is simply called Father (Norwegian actor Christopher Rygh) a long-haired & long-bearded man, who is largely glum & heavy-browed.  We never see the interactions with the monsters & creatures he stalks, fights and decapitates- instead just seeing the aftermath, with the headhunter staking the heads to his workshop wall, and his battered & ripped body recovering- via various potions he created. He’s informed of each new monster he needs to kill, by a distant figure firing an arrow wrapped with the monster’s detail- and then he’s off into the vast and rugged landscape to hunt. We see him battling through snow, wind and whipping cold.  With the film seeing him go between his travels to kill- be it dank, dark graves, cobweb weaved crypts, or towering and tanged forest. his hut and workshop, or the grave of his daughter.

For a feature film, The Head Hunter runs at a fairly short seventy-two minutes. The pace/mood is largely slow, glum, and grim. But we do get to see moments of humanity when he visits his daughters grave. In its last quarter, both treat/ tension come into play, with more tangible horror tropes, but I’d say what we have here very much sits in the post-horror genre. Downey is good enough as the troubled warrior, though as you can imagine he doesn’t get much script to play with. The real star here is of course the landscape and the atmosphere, which gradually shifts from grim to foreboding, before becoming more horrifying with a rather subtle chilling lead-out.

I first became aware of The Head Hunter a year or two back, when it got fleeting trailers in the cinema- and from the trailers, it looked very promising, but unfortunately like a lot of films it seemingly disappears after the whole Covid thing hit. Now finally seeing the film, I’ve come away feeling rather mixed towards it. On the positive side first- I of course enjoy the tone and atmosphere of the whole thing, with Downey and his team managing to create a glum medieval world well. When the more focused horror elements come in, these are done in an original & creative way, and lastly, I do enjoy the decidedly creepy/ fairly surprising ending. On the negative side- the pace & flow of the film feels drag/ became a tad repetitive around the mid-way point. The lack of dialogue/ interaction doesn't give one the needed empathy with the hunter, and lastly, some of the head effects look a little cheap. In finishing, I certainly admire/ respect what The Head Hunter is trying to do, but for me, it wasn’t wholly successful.

On the extras front, we get two commentary tracks- the first is with director-writer Jordan Downey, and producers/ writer Kevin Stewart and producer Ricky Fosheim, this focuses on how they made the film, locations, shot set-ups etc. The second track is with Jordan Downey and Kevin Stewart- here they focusing in on why they made the film, and all that’s connected with that. It’s nice to have two separate focused tracks like this, and each is worth a play- as they are certainly a lot of interesting tidbits of information. The other extra is a two-minute making of.

There is no doubt that The Head Hunter is an original and distinctive take on fantasy horror- and I certainly enjoy elements of the first half of the film, and when it kicks squarely into the more focused horror side of things it offers up some memorable intense & creepy moments. For me, it just felt all a bit too second-half weighted, with not enough empathy/ character built-up initially. Though that said I think I’ll certainly return to the film down the line, and if you look for some thing one-off in the fighting fantasy side of things, then I’d say give it a go and pick up this 101 Film release of the film.