Nerdly » ‘Hunting Daze’ Review

17th Jan2025

‘Hunting Daze’ Review

by Jim Morazzini

Stars: Nahéma Ricci, Mattis Savard-Verhoeven, Frédéric Millaire-Zouvi, Alexandre Landry, Maxime Genois, Bruno Marcil, Marc Beaupré | Written and Directed by Annick Blanc

Hunting Daze (Jour de Chasse), the first feature from writer/director Annick Blanc (The Colour of Your Lips, Beyond the Dark), begins on a desolate road somewhere in rural Quebec, the kind where the quiet feels eerie rather than peaceful. That’s where we meet Nina (Nahéma Ricci; Under Spanish Skies, Montréal Girls) and her two companions, fellow strippers stranded by the side of the road because their not-so-bright manager, Mike (Mattis Savard-Verhoeven; The Dishwasher, That Kind of Summer), forgot to fill up his car’s gas tank.

Nina eventually manages to get Kevin (Frédéric Millaire-Zouvi; Most Wanted, The Dishwasher), one of the guys from the bachelor party they’d performed for the night before, to come to their rescue with gas. But things go sideways quickly. A heated argument between Nina and Mike escalates into violence, and Nina winds up returning with Kevin to the hunting lodge. The deal? She can stay the night and get a ride back to civilization later, if she can pass their “initiation test.”

This becomes the first of several times Blanc plays with the viewer’s expectations. A stripper being “initiated” by a bunch of guys in a hunting lodge seems to imply something sexual. Perhaps sending the film off in the direction of I Spit On Your Grave or Revenge in the process. As it turns out, the initiation requires Nina to shoot a target while holding a spoon with an egg in it between her teeth. It’s bizarre, seemingly harmless, and certainly not what the viewer was expecting.

She passes, and suddenly she’s part of the so-called Wolf Pack, Kevin and his hunting buddies, the groom to be LP (Alexandre Landry; Love in the Time of Civil War, True North), Claude (Maxime Genois; Surprising Detective: The Girl with the Stone Eyes, Black Beast), Bernard (Bruno Marcil; Underground, STAT), Philippe (Marc Beaupré; Bon Cop Bad Cop 2, The Noise of Engines), and Mack, Philippe’s loyal dog.

For a while, the tone lightens up as Nina finds herself seemingly welcomed by the group, who treat her more like a little sister than potential prey. But there’s an undercurrent of tension, a sense that this unexpected camaraderie can’t last.

Nina wakes from a nightmare of being tied to a tree and threatened by a flaming gun, something that would seem to be a warning of what’s to come. As does the scene where they field dress the deer she shoots, and leave it tied between trees, a variation on her dream and another clue that the peace is fragile at best. And sure enough, the arrival of Doudos (Noubi Ndiaye), an African drug dealer, sets off a chain of events that lights the fuse on Hunting Daze’s slow-burning plot and pushes the story towards something more overtly adventure darker and more dangerous.

While Hunting Daze isn’t a supernatural film, it flirts with the idea. Prophetic dreams and eerie symbols, like the white wolf that appears to Nina in the woods, add layers of mystery and play a large part in setting the story’s tone. More than once I wondered if the whole thing was a hallucination, fuelled by the booze and drugs the group consumes in abundance. Even the film’s title, Hunting Daze, along with Vincent Gonneville’s (Shepherds, Who Do I Belong To) cinematography would seem to support.

The film also teases the possibility of something bigger, like ritualistic or cult activity. This idea is subtly planted through the initiation scenes and the strange, almost ceremonial vibe of certain moments. Unfortunately, this thread doesn’t fully develop, leaving you wanting more. It’s a bit of a letdown, as the film doesn’t quite capitalize on the potential for a deeper exploration of these themes.

Instead, Hunting Daze focuses on a more grounded but equally compelling narrative: a low-key thriller driven by themes of personal responsibility, entitlement, and toxic masculinity. Rather than relying on big scares or shocking twists, the film thrives on an ever-present sense of unease. You know something bad is coming, you can feel it, but you’re never quite sure when or how it will happen. This tension keeps you hooked, and when the inevitable disaster strikes, it feels both shocking and inevitable.

The cast does a great job of bringing these dynamics to life. Nahéma Ricci shines as Nina, a strong, resourceful protagonist who’s constantly navigating a minefield of active and potential threats. She doesn’t just react to her environment; she’s actively working to outmanoeuvre it, staying one step ahead whenever she can. On the flip side, Bruno Marcil is particularly memorable as Bernard, the most overtly menacing member of the group. His performance adds an extra layer of danger to the film, reminding you that the threat is never far away.

Overall, Hunting Daze is an interesting film that entertains while leaving a few ideas for the viewer to ponder if they are so inclined. It’s not a perfect film, some plot threads feel underdeveloped, and the pace might be too slow for viewers expecting the more traditional, Most Dangerous Game type thriller it first appears to be. But it’s undeniably effective at creating an atmosphere of tension and mystery and while it does have its problems, it’s a solid debut for Annick Blanc and worth a watch.