Night Hunter

Stars: Henry Cavill, Alexandra Daddario, Ben Kingsley, Eliana Jones, Stanley Tucci, Brendan Fletcher, Minka Kelly, Sara Thompson, Nathan Fillion

Director: David Raymond

A dark, difficult-to-follow police thriller that has late-night DVD written all over it. Although you have a general idea of what's going on, the film lacks a coherent, linear narrative.

Its director is not anxious to explain things in any straightforward way, leading to best-guess fragments, as cop Cavill tracks down a psycho, Simon (Fletcher), who has imprisoned and killed countless girls.

Fiery vigilante Kingsley, who castrates men found consorting with prostitutes, proves Cavill's unexpected ally when Kingsley's own daughter Lara (Jones) is kidnapped. Fortunately she is wearing tracker earrings, which enable the police to trace the fiend to his lair and capture him.

The cops try to elicit a motive from their seemingly retarded prisoner, although one would query the wisdom of lead interrogator Rachel (Daddario) in taking off his handcuffs, which almost inevitably results in her nearly being throttled a few moments later.

And then the unfortunate Lara gets herself kidnapped again, setting up a climax in which it becomes clear that Simon was not operating alone.

Packed with improbabilities, the film is chock-full of undistinguished acting, even from Tucci, phoning it in as the police chief; but it'll still satisfy the midnight-movie crowd.

David Quinlan

Canada/USA 2018. UK Distributor: Signature. Technicolor.
99 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 3.

Review date: 10 Sep 2019