Good morning, House of Madness residents:
Have you ever feared being stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing or no one to depend on except for your own devices? Say your car were to break down in the middle of a secluded highway, would you panic, or would you simply take in the quietness and serenity of your surroundings? If you woke up in a strange place with nobody else around, would it send you into a nervous frenzy, or are you truly that comfortable in your own skin? Well, even the bravest of us would struggle if we had a night like Alice (Camille Rowe) was about to have.
Alice is on her way home to see her fiancé while travelling with John (Jeremy Scippio), who is assumed to simply be her driver, but has been giving her plenty of other kinds of 'rides' as well. As the two stop at a remote gas station in the middle of the night, John begins to pump gas while Alice heads inside to pay and gather up some snacks. It doesn't take long for Alice to realize something is amiss, as the store seems vacant with no signs of employees anywhere. As Alice makes her way back outside, she's suddenly shot in the shoulder from seemingly nowhere, and is now fighting for her life against an unknown sniper. John comes running in to help, but is quickly head shotted and licking shoeprints off of the linoleum before he can even get through the front doors. Alice tries to collect the cell phone she dropped in all the commotion, but it's sniped off of the floor quicker than John's brains can dry, and now she's really hooped.
Turns out there's a walkie-talkie over by the cash register which is set to communicate with Alice's little sniper pal, and the two engage in niceties while Alice tries to devise a plan. As more people come to the gas station, it becomes apparent that the sniper is a right extremist with a personal vendetta against the entire planet, so trying to reason with him is out of te question as he picks off the customers one by one. Alice's only hope is to have someone call for help, or make it until daylight when the carnage will be impossible to miss without the cover of the moonlit sky. Time is ticking, and so is the sniper......
"Night of the Hunted" is a simple story that's been told before several times, yet manages to stay interesting through its years-old premise. Could the story have been better? Sure. Could the acting have been more consistent? Absolutely. Would I want to watch it again? Probably not, but I was definitely entertained for 95 minutes, which is all you can really ask for in a film that takes place in one location with a handful of characters. Next time you hit the road, make sure to gas up during the day, because you just never know who might have you in their sights.........
Madness Meter: 5.6/10
NB
