Night Hunt – review

Director: Ricardo Islas

Release date: 2022

Contains spoilers

I can’t help it, I have a soft spot for the films of Ricardo Islas, they are low budget and contain some questionable performances but they have heart and a love for the genre the director clearly adores. Previously I have looked at Night Fangs and the Sacrifice and the scores are probably overly generous but I just plain enjoyed them.

This new one is clearly a love letter to older vampire films/series – especially the Night Stalker, in fact Kolchak is name-checked in dialogue. The plot is perhaps simpler than some of his films and the vampire, Crowley (Ricardo Islas), seems to have an unerring ability to hunt down the victim of choice (which we can put down to the supernatural and accept).

model sacrifice

The film starts – after scenes of a town in Uruguay – in a Chicago photography studio and two models pose for the photographer. After the session one of the two has to leave quickly. As the other goes to leave she is grabbed and awakes tied up as the photographer lights candles and then retrieves a box containing ashes. Her throat is slit and her blood mingles with the ashes… In the morning a cleaner comes in, sees the model and falls back in shock and a slight case of overacting, landing on a seat and the photographer’s arm falls over her.

fate of the photographer

Pilar (Monica Ochoa) is jogging when her partner, Shelley (Adilene Martínez) pulls up in a van – they are going to be late for work. Pilar refutes this but she hasn’t put her watch forward. They get there and the studio manager has given their radio slot to someone else for the day and they are told to cover a double homicide. Late for the press conference they contact Tracey (Lillian Lamour) in the coroner’s office and get the lowdown. One strange aspect is that the dead photographer, whose throat had been torn out, had flesh under his nails… long dead flesh…

fangs

That night Sandra (Tiffany J. Curtis) leaves Yoga but seems a tad nervous as she goes to her car. The door open light is showing and then she is being carjacked, left on the floor of the parking as it drives away. The car only gets a few yards before stopping and it starts rocking. Suddenly someone is blown out of the sun roof, the body landing next to her as the second carjacker, after firing his gun, tries to get out of the car but is pulled. She sees a grey-haired man looking from around her car as people come out of the building attracted to her screams and the gunfire. The next day – hearing about the state of the carjacker’s throats, Pilar and Shelley start connecting the crimes…

Shelley and Pilar horrified

So, we have intrepid and determined reporters and a victim, Sandra, who Crowley seems to want to eat (we never find out why – he clearly doesn’t like loose ends though). The conclusion around him being a vampire is confirmed when they are connected to someone from Uruguay who met and (through pure luck) defeated him through sunlight. She threw the ashes in the river (I assume in a container) but someone found them and sold them to the photographer. Crowley himself was a devil worshiper from centuries past.

showing on camera

The lore is fairly standard – he burns in sunlight, is susceptible to a stake through the heart (though it seems to immobilise more than kill) and is warded by crosses. He does show up on video and is clearly very strong. As I mentioned earlier he is dogged in his pursuit of a victim (coming back at Sandra again and again until he gets to her) and seems to know where she is and just shows up. He is described as pure evil.

wielding the cross

The acting is hit and miss through the film, but the two leads seemed to be having fun and carried the story along well. The plot itself is as simple as laid out above, with the dialogue touching on issues such as social justice and the role of a reporter as an influencer. Like the other Islas films I found this very watchable – but I do like what he does and thus the score comes with a health warning that I am partial to his particular vision and this is, like all his films, done on a budget. 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK