Studio: Signature Entertainment
Director: James Nunn
Writer: James Nunn
Producer: Ben Jacques
Stars: Madison Davenport, Tracey Bonner, Michel Curiel, Jim Meskimen, Samantha Coughlan, Olivia Bernstone, River Codack, Joaquim de Almeida
Review Score:
Summary:
A tour group stranded in a Louisiana swamp must fight to survive being stalked and attacked by a deadly hippopotamus.
Review:
Yes, the title is “Hungry.” And yes, the plot involves a deadly hippopotamus attacking a tour group stranded in a swamp. But no, despite a couple of assumptive claims to the contrary, “Hungry” is not a horror film based on the classic Hungry Hungry Hippos board game, although the movie’s makers are no doubt delighted about the extra attention earned from people mistakenly making that association.
As recently as my review of “Deep Water” (review here), I bemoaned for the umpteenth time that shark thrillers have become so redundant and routine, it’s essential for future films to come up with something novel if they’re to have any hope of making a splash among so much ho-hum chum in the subgenre’s flooding waters. Apparently, it’s novel enough to simply swap the shark with a hippo, because “Hungry” plays out pretty much the same way as most “animals amok” flicks, just with a killer creature not usually seen stalking stranded survivors.
More typically, “Hungry” starts by assembling a modestly eclectic little crew of core characters. No indistinct or identical personalities here. Everyone taking a bayou boat tour to gawk at gators happens to fit a loose, individual archetype.
The initial battery consists of Sistine and her BFF Hannah. Their New Orleans vacation hits a bump when Sistine gets fired over the phone, leading to a later meltdown over how things rarely work out for her despite the monumental effort she puts into inevitable failures. As the energetic extrovert to Sistine’s Plainer Jane persona, Hannah sees a solution in tequila shots, which in turn make a gator tour sound more enticing when handsome boat captain Rodrigo offers the duo a discount.
In spite of their holiday hangover, Sistine and Hannah follow through on the river excursion the next morning. They’re joined by sweet single mother Sally, Sally’s cheerful father Tim, and Sally’s teen son Mikey, whose angsty pout melts into a smile as soon as he sees two attractive young women board the small boat. There’s also brusque businesswoman Dionne, who constantly clutches a cellphone and curiously chose to wear designer high heels to a swamp. Last in the bunch is grim and gruff Walker, a Portuguese hunter who fills the requisite “grizzled vet” role.
With introductions over, Rodrigo takes the tourists out onto the water. In a matter of minutes, their boat gets overturned after venturing off course into a dangerous area where a gargantuan gator lies savagely slaughtered with its head torn off. It may not take long for “Hungry” to drop its roster into hostile territory, but it will take a while before anyone gets a good glimpse of the hippopotamus who kickstarts the commotion, because it stays out of sight as a mostly invisible threat for the film’s first hour.
Since it’s stingy about animal action until the big finale, “Hungry” spends the meantime on expected bits like folks repeatedly thrashing around in the water, taking tearful looks at family photos while facing certain death, and the usual assortment of fake-outs, narrow escapes, and fetch quests to retrieve items like emergency kits and GPS locators scattered in the chaos. People die horrible deaths too, although the movie remains either respectfully unwilling or financially unable to ever get particularly graphic or gruesome about any of it.
“Hungry” can be summed up using cynicisms to calibrate expectations, but then paying a countering compliment to express how the film often exceeds those expectations even though it follows a predictable formula. For instance, characters come with minimal definitions, yet there’s enough basic background for them to not be completely cardboard nobodies. Of course, material like this is never going to win awards either, nor does the script even need to try going any harder than it does, but the actors put enough sincerity into their performances for everyone to at least have a spark of emotional attachment.
Boiling it down further, “Hungry” is surprisingly well-crafted for an under-the-radar indie made by and starring unfamiliar names. The low budget is evident, in particular with how the hippo largely stays hidden until its CGI features are strategically disguised in nighttime scenes, but nothing looks cheap or phoned in. The camera moves quite a bit, and frequent cuts between several setups inject energy through editing, even when suspense seems slow to develop. In other words, there’s a fair amount of competent work and committed polish seeping through the seams.
Boiling it down all the way, “Hungry” is a “what you see is what you get” movie. It’s not a knock-your-socks-off nailbiter anyone will want to own so they can watch it again and again. As an average thriller that checks most of the boxes for low-calorie entertainment, however? You should already know what you’re in for with a film like this, so although it’s not the Hasbro horror movie some seem to think, “Hungry” gets in, get out, and gets its job done. More fun and more frightening animal attack alternatives exist, but there may not be any other available options for hippo horror anyway.
Review Score: 65
Although it’s not the Hasbro horror movie some seem to think, “Hungry” gets in, get out, and gets its job done.