The Head Hunter

Slow paced quasi-artistic revenge films are becoming quite common, but Downey deserves credit for making a visually pleasing work on 30k, even if its drab colors and grey sky aesthetic is rather cliched. He has a reasonably strong grasp of atmosphere, and Rygh is a suitably imposing figure. Regrettably, it gets bogged down in repetition because its minimal narrative contains little development, and no real themes are explored, so the end result is just a dark mood piece, nothing more.

Made twenty years later, with a budget less than a quarter of "The Blair Witch Project," this movie's biggest and only strength comes from showing just how far you can get with some ingenuity and a dream. Yes, the effects are good, in fact, they're awesome considering a 30k budget, but that praise is just about as hollow as the plot. Hopefully, this just becomes the movie that gets Downey some attention, like Carpenter's "Dark Star."

Very enjoyable. Nice practical effects. One gory shot had me wincing. Sound design excellent, music pretty passable. Thin plot wise, balanced by a short run time. Guessed the ending within twenty minutes, testament to its visual storytelling. A little bit of 'my first day with Daddy's camcorder' at times but otherwise loved the stark imagery. Reminiscent of 70's BBC folk fair. Even if it's a little scant for a movie, you can pretend you're playing Skyrim.

The story and world are intriguing but the whole thing just left me wanting.

Terrible in every way.

I did not think I would enjoy this movie as much as I did. Not only is the movie almost completely devoid of spoken words but it's well executed without a doubt.

As an audiobook, this really hit home

Pretty amazing what can be done with such a small budget. A largely wordless narrative with small bits of horror that are placed well.

B+

Even when it ceases to be droningly repetitive and starts trying to be tense, it still feels like nothing's happening. If your medieval monster shtick amounts to occasional 1-second shots of a viking swatting at or strangling an obvious prop, believe me, no amount of orchestral music will gloss over your low production values. Give Sam Raimi the same budget and he'll make a masterpiece. But the guy who made this is no writer and no director.

If you can accept the fact that it's limited due to its budget--meaning you will really only see the monster heads for the most part instead of him actually fighting--then this is actually quite a solid flick. It's moody with gorgeous cinematography that brilliantly details the forest. Rygh puts in respectable work with minimal dialogue, having to rely more on physical acting. The ending was a nice little bit of icing, and holy shit the armor looks cool. A slow burn, but mostly rewarding.