A medieval warrior's gruesome collection of severed heads is missing only one - the monster that killed his daughter years ago.
There is a lot that I absolutely love about this film. The acting was impeccable, the cinematography was exquisite, the costuming and set designs had an impressive level of detail. The only aspect that really lets the film down is the lacklustre action. This does mostly come down to budgetary constraints, but it is the one aspect that would turn off a lot of potential fans.
The Head Hunter is a masterpiece when you consider that is was made on a budget of $30,000. The quality of our actors battle gear looks like it would cost more than $30,000 on its own. That's right, I said battle gear. Did I fail to mention that this is a dark fantasy film? This is set in a world of castles and monster hunters; monsters of the fantastical kind.
There is so much in this film that is minimised. There are only two actors in this film, Christopher Rygh and Cora Kaufman, who are referred to only as Father and Daughter respectively. Names are not given, mainly because there is very little in the way of a dialogue at all, with likely less than 50 words spoken in the entirety of the films 72-minute runtime. Our lead Christopher Rygh is a Michael Shannon lookalike from what little face can be seen behind the beard, and he puts so much effort into this performance.
Without dialogue to explain things, The Head Hunter is a very visual experience, and he communicates in this way really well. He also physically fits the role and is muscular in a working man way, rather than a gym physique. The majority of the film takes place in his little hermit shack and the design of the set is minimal but looks very authentic for the world design. The leather and metal armour that our lead wears is impressive to look at and makes Rygh look even more physically dominating.
The world itself is gorgeous and well-grounded. It could very be an alt-universe during medieval times, and there are some mesmerising scanning environmental shots. With a slightly faded colour grading, a very gritty blue-grey-brown colour palette and an evocative musical score, The Head Hunter feels like Skyrim brought to the big screen.
Of course, not everything is so brilliant. Despite this being a story of a man hunting down monsters, we never get to see it. Much like in Olivia Wilde's A Vigilante, because of budgetary constraints, the focus is spent on the build-up to and the consequences of each battle, rather than showing the fight itself. We here the horn, and watch Rygh gear up and ride off-screen, and then he returns to tend to his wounds and mount the head of his bounty. It's a great way to sidestep the issue of not being able to afford enough effects or training towards fight choreography, but it also means the film loses a lot of energy and struggles in the pacing.
Apart from a fight in the final act (which looks incredibly cheap and cheesy), there is no action on the screen. This is a slow, meandering character study that looks at the effects of loss on this father. As far as the heads of the monsters introduced and the war wounds that our protagonist has inflicted upon him, they are top-notch and look amazing. It's simply that climactic battle that doesn't live up to the hype.
This was clearly a labour of love for director Jordan Downey and cinematographer Kevin Stewart to be able to achieve this extent of a high-quality production on such a low budget. I would love to see what they would be capable of with more money.