‘You do not scorn a mother’ – Director Elizabeth Blake-Thomas talks Hunt Club

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn't exist.

Three women are lured to an island with the chance to win $100,000 in a hunt – but there's a catch. They are, in fact, the hunted as they find themselves pursued by a group of men who revel in chasing humans for sport.

What might seem vaguely possible in the wild world of 2023 is, in fact, Hunt Club, a gritty juggernaut of a revenge horror that comes to digital platforms from August 14. Here, director Elizabeth-Black Thomas speaks to FILMHOUNDS about what inspired the politically-charged film and how her experience as a mother fuels the fear throughout.

Your latest film Hunt Club comes to digital this month. What has the reaction to the film been like so far?

It's all been very positive. It's one of those interesting things where you have a huge group of people wanting to watch it to start with, and then it goes quiet again. Then it releases somewhere else, and it picks up. I had a lovely friend of mine in the UK trying to watch it the other day, and I said, ‘Don't worry, it's coming'. I know there's going to be a load of people very excited to see it. You have these moments when you get surges which can depend on whether you have an actor that suddenly becomes popular. In my last feature, Karma's A Bitch, I've got Matt Rife in a scene who is a comedian that's taking off, so suddenly, now everyone wants to see Matt Rife movies. So it can depend on what people have been in and what they've done

The film follows a woman who is invited to join a hunt and accepts the invitation but soon realises that the island is filled with scared young women who are hunted by the men, something that's particularly effective with the women's issues in the news in 2023. Why did you follow this narrative and how did you develop it?

Really, there's no choice. Especially with a female-driven lead and female director, the guys kind of had to just sit down and shut up. We had to make sure that they understood what story we were telling here. And the edit was very crucial to that, whereby we removed quite a few gratuitous elements that we didn't want in the story. This is not where we wanted the story to head. It's very good for a female voice to be able to say ‘Just sit down and be quiet.'

I think it's one of those things, especially in the world of Hollywood, where as women we experience the niceties, the politeness, the getting to know you, the compliments, and then things can turn, and things can turn actually without you knowing it. That's the important thing. Obviously, again, no spoilers, but there are alternative reasons for why she's on the island. But as far as listening to them being nice and being taken in by it, you can see how easy it is. And especially when these predators find a way of getting you. Maybe that is because they hear you need money, so that's why this works. It's a competition, but it's all there. In my film Unseen, which is available online and about child trafficking, it's very much about social media. And so if you look at all of these different ways that you can be entrapped and you just don't know it's going to happen. That's the scariest thing.

You mention removing gratuitous scenes from the film, is it something you find difficult as a female director to toe that fine line in horror between gratuitous violence exploiting women, or empowering women?

I'll be honest, it's very difficult because you want to make sure you give your audience – a horror audience – something interesting to watch. But it was very much a case of as long as there was revenge for the women. As long as they got their revenge and were able to take back control.

I also found it particularly effective that the main character, Cassandra, is a mother desperately seeking her daughter. Playing on that fear as a parent and the lengths you'll go to for survival.

Well, yeah, what lengths does a mother go to find their child? We've seen it we've seen it with Taken where he goes off and searches for his daughter and the fathers tend to do it for the mother. I think of the mothers – you don't upset a mother. If anybody upsets my daughter, does something to harm her, or makes her feel less than, believe me, they know about it. Whether it's through my silence, or whether it's through something else. You do not scorn a mother.

Has your daughter seen the film?

Yes, she has. She's an actress herself, and she was the one that kind of put together the premiere that we had. I work with her a lot. In Karma's A Bitch she wrote, produced, and starred in it. She is a very confident young woman. So again, when portraying the way how easy it is for people to be taken in, it's something I'm very aware of with my daughter being in the industry.

Mena Suvari stars as the lead Cassandra in the film, I wondered how she got involved with the project and what she was like to work with?

She's a friend and she's phenomenal. Every time she reads something where I've spoken about her it's me just saying she's amazing, but she's such a sweetheart. She's a mother, a good person, hardworking, and committed to her craft. You bring people into the project because they just like the story, or maybe it's because it works with their timing. There are all sorts of reasons. But as a person, she is phenomenal. And as an actress, she's dedicated.

Mickey Rourke, Casper Van Dien, and Will Peltz are similarly fantastic in their roles. What they were like to work with and how they tapped into their characters?

Casper is an angel. For him, it was hard having to take away his head of being a father and a wife. He's very responsible, there were moments where he said on set ‘No, I don't want to do that', ‘I don't feel comfortable with this', or ‘Let's look at it this way'. He is someone that I have huge respect for. He is such a kind-hearted human, and when you're working on a film you want to work with people who help nurture the story.

The film is so different from your previous works. Did you draw any inspiration from them?

Every film leads to something else so it teaches me something. And this one in particular was ready to prep me for the next one. Before this, I worked on The League of Legend Keepers: Shadows which definitely led me to understand suspense. Unseen gave me the background knowledge of the mother that's available online for everybody to watch her feelings. So every single film definitely teaches something that you then bring to your next one.

I read that you worked with stunt coordinators for the first time in this film. What that was like?

It's such fun choreographing stunts. It's like choreographing a dance, which I really enjoy. What I tend to do is give [the scene] over to the stunt people. You've decided what you want to do, and you know how you want it to look, but they are the experts. And as a director, it's very important to step back when the experts are taking over as long as you get your shots. As long as I know I've got all the pieces, I can make it work in the edit.

When people watch Hunt Club, what is one thing you want them to take away from the viewing experience?

I think I'm gonna keep it simple. I'm gonna keep it to the sense of even when your children are at university and older, they can still be taken. On the internet I don't feel we really take it seriously with posting our locations, what we're doing, where we're staying, and the hashtags. From the minute you get your phone, or even if you've got family members who are with you, and they have phones, and they're taking photos, It's so easy for predators to find you and show an interest in you.

Hunt Club will be released on digital platforms on August 14.