The Hunt is a Blumhouse production, which means horror. Horror isn’t my main thing, so this was my first look at a Blumhouse movie. The stars Betty Gilpin and Hilary Swank drew me in. It was gory and gross, but also hilarious.

The Hunt looks at the fascist idea that, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” from George Orwell’s famous novel “Animal Farm.” It’s what happens when one side of a political divide thinks it is superior to the other and therefore killing off those lesser folks is a public service.

To put this movie in context, it was released in 2020. We thought we were through with Tr*mp and his horror show was over. Well, it wasn’t. Now the left and right are even further divided. What was meant to be a satire now feels eerily real.

I did appreciate the satire and found the film ridiculously funny in spite of the fact that the Tr*mp show is more horrifying than ever.

The film begins with a group of people waking up with gags in their mouths. They are in a large field surrounded by woods. A bunker is off in the distance. They open a big box and out trots a pig (named Orwell, we later learn). Inside the box is a nice selection of guns and knives. As soon as they are armed, hidden people start shooting at them. Yep, someone is hunting humans.

Quite a few people are killed right away. A few escape, Crystal (Betty Gilpin) among them. This is a big cast of both the hunters and the hunted. Ike Barinholtz, Wayne Duvall, Emma Roberts, Amy Madigan, Reed Birney, Glenn Howerton, and Justin Hartley are just a few of them.

Crystal is a war veteran (rah rah, thanks for your service) and the only one smart enough to survive the various lies, booby traps, fake news, and distractions rained down upon the hunted.

Crystal learns that Athena (Hilary Swank) is the one behind all this slaughter. We don’t actually see Athena until the third act, although we hear her voice as she gives orders to her hunters.

Crystal eventually finds Athena. Their meeting involves an extended fight scene that lasts through all sorts of injuries. All that getting thrown around in GLOW serves Betty Gilpin well here. But Hilary Swank does her share of the fighting skillfully too. The choreography for the fight scene allowed them to destroy an entire posh kitchen, but saved a grilled cheese sandwich for the victory dinner.

The Hunt went through a lot of movie blood. There were many, many gross murders. There were many scenes in which one side sought to justify their killing of the folks on the other side who disagreed with them. If there was a hero anywhere it was the veteran soldier who cleared the field of all the pigs who thought they were better than the other pigs.

I don’t think this is the moral the movie makers meant for the film, but I take it to be If you want to be the King Pig over all the other animals, you’re going to have some resistance.

The film is streaming on Peacock or for rent on Prime Video.