 Thanks for checking out this movie review. This is for the 2018 release the headhunter when this video is coming out It's currently streaming on shutter and I believe it is it a shutter Exclusive at this point. So if you don't have shutter and you want to see this film check it out I would recommend it definitely the other thing is with this with this video There will be no spoilers whatsoever on it So anyone can watch it whether you've seen it already or you have not if you've already seen it There will be a little extra that you'll kind of get that I'm alluding to with some things But like I said anyone can watch us. So big. Thank you to shutter for providing me with a screen or copy of this to watch it ahead of time I enjoyed it. So Let's talk a little bit about it. The director is Jordan Downey He was also one of the writers for this in conjunction with a guy named Kevin Stewart Now those two guys have worked on two films that are more known prior called Thankskilling and Thankskilling 3 Now I haven't seen either of those films. I've heard about them They're kind of like a fun like terrible fun movie from what I've heard So it's interesting knowing that about it and then seeing the headhunter because you can tell that this is way more Serious from a filmmaker perspective the way that this film was approached was very much like we're gonna try and make something That looks and is executed very very well, and I think for the most part that works now the main actor for this is Christopher Rye Reek, I don't know how to say it our YGH Don't know but he did quite a nice job in this. I felt like his role was relatively demanding there was a lot on him in this because it's mainly just focused on him for the most part and there's a lot of Non-dialogue in it like I guess they're there shouldn't say that I should say there's a lack of Speaking in this for the most part you get it here and there but for the most part it's a pretty silent film So it's actually harder for actors a lot of the time because they have to do the acting with their movements with their facial expressions Things like that. So it is a bit harder So Christopher Rieger Rye, I don't know how you say it did a nice job Now I was astounded to find this little bit of information out about the about the film It was done on a $30,000 budget. Let me say that again $30,000 budget that is insanely low even for horror films to be honest and you do Know that that it's a very low budget film, but I didn't think it would be that low budget I I thought that their budget would be somewhere in the six figures So knowing that it's 30,000 is more insane to me because it looks really good for that amount of money I felt like they got really creative and they really tried super super hard to pull this movie off The best they could with at the amount of money they had I feel like they squeezed every cent out of that budget to be honest So that is insanely impressive in my opinion They got real creative in telling the story because it's a very interesting story It's it's something that you don't see a lot with horror It's this kind of medieval take now the only other kind of horror medieval film I can really think of at this point was black plague I think that's what it was called and that was a pretty good one. That was that I enjoyed I think it was a way higher budget than this though Based off the way that it looked and the breadth of it, but Yeah, so I always appreciate when people are doing something that's kind of out of the norm I will take more medieval horror films, please. I will definitely do that So the beginning of this is actually pretty vague It doesn't give you a whole lot to start But it definitely kind of puts a little hook in you to kind of be like what is going on What is going on currently and what is going to go on? Where are we going with this? Where's the journey leading? So I find that quite interesting. I was pretty hooked in pretty early There's a series of close-ups during the intro credits where you can't really tell what what a lot of the stuff is And I think for that reason I was just kind of like What's really the point of showing all these things super close up because I don't know what it is But they were showing all the credits. So I mean what else are you really gonna do at that point? So I was kind of like on that portion of it very small thing to gripe about but you know It was just one of those things The film looks appropriately rustic and dirty it has kind of it's shot with those very kind of muted colors Which makes it very appropriate because it was medieval times. I mean, that's the setting of it I mean things were super dirty people weren't really taking baths or washing their hands or washing mushroom anything to be honest There was dirt and grime everywhere and this film accurately accurately shows that so I liked it For some reason I'm a fan of quick close-ups of people doing things and this actually has a lot of it Especially in the beginning of it. It's kind of like There's portions of like a day-to-day or like this guy like doing things getting things ready And there's a lot of like close-up on what he's on focusing on what he's working on and For some reason I really like that I think that's part of the reason that I really like a lot of how The beginnings of like giallo films are shot because I like that kind of stuff and usually in conjunction with those types With that type of directing. There's also a really well executed sound design. There's usually a very A high level of importance put on sound design so a lot of times the music gets kind of backed off at least for those portions and The sounds of what's going on are kind of amped up and that becomes more of the focus And that's really at play in this film They their sound design design is excellent in this film the music is very minimal And I think it worked extremely well for the film for that reason Because it it's almost silent a lot of the times But there's just this kind of like real low-level kind of music that that's super minimalist in the background That it sets like the littlest background so you can hear a lot of what else is going on And if you've seen my other reviews, you know that I'm a fan of proper use of Quiet and silence in a film because I think it can be extremely impactful and this film actually does a lot of that There aren't many. Oh, I already said that's that there aren't many medieval horror films I'll take more of those I feel like the look the pacing and the rate of story development in this reminds me a lot of The movie the witch so I don't know if people out there really like the witch. I did I thought it was cool So the pacing the look the story development Felt a lot like the witch to me, but it had the low-budget spirit of something like evil dead Now throwing these things out. You'll see what I mean if you actually see it You'll understand that put some comments down there. Do you agree or disagree? I'm sure there'll be plenty of people either way, but that's just kind of the feel I got from it. I Already said there's pretty much no speaking not no But very low level of speaking in it, but it works I mean they really pulled it off and I think that speaks to how well the directing was how well the acting was and The cinematography because it keeps you engaged when there's not much being said It's one of those awesome things I really really like when they can be pulled off in film where it's show me Don't tell me and this goes very far down that scale of being like we're gonna show you almost everything and tell you Basically nothing, but they got all the points through and none of it was really murky none of it was muddied So that's a pretty big accomplishment in my opinion to be able to do that a Lot of people have problems where there's not a whole lot of dialogue They want to be told things that are going on they want interaction between characters and all that stuff But if it's pulled off properly, I am more than happy with Learn long stints of silence in film and this film actually does that and I think it works I think it works very well no problems for me That goes to what I said next which is it's cool because there's a lot of showing and not telling But I think some people may actually complain Because most action-packed stuff with this is implied and not actually shown now That's where the real low budget portion of this kind of Comes through where you're kind of like why are they cutting away right now? This is like the one of the main drawing points for the film potentially, but No going into it knowing is a thirty thousand dollar film You understand that even if you don't know that ahead of time if you see enough of the moments where you're like Ah, that was just implied you would get the point. This is probably a pretty low budget film So they had no choice, but Understanding that no problem whatsoever I was cool with it. The shooting locations for this look phenomenal. They look amazing. This goes back to the directing. It was Outstanding the cinematography looks ridiculously good The environments that they have it set up in those locations. They use look beautiful look Disgusting at times look, you know on spiring. It's all of these things. It just looks great The aesthetics in this film are awesome in my opinion Which is kind of weird to say because it's so like muted and dirty and grimy But you know, you can find beauty in that stuff if it shot well One of my small gripes with this there was this weird switch to a point of view shot in the film And it wasn't for a sustained amount of time And it's only at this one point which I kind of understand why it was done But it seemed out of place and just kind of weird in my opinion And I didn't really enjoy that it kind of took me out of the pacing of the film and it just like maybe be like Wait, what's going on right here? So it just felt weird, but small thing. I like the last portion of the film And how it ended. I'm not gonna say too much about it You definitely get More than what you had in the beginning of it So trust me more of the budget gets used towards the end of the film to kind of like bring it to a bigger Conflict and to resolve everything. So just know that it's not gonna be Cutting away from things all the time throughout you do get some payoff at the end, which is nice So here are some recommendations for me from me Watch this in the dark because there are a lot of darker moments So if you're in the dark when you're watching it You'll be able to see a little bit more definition of what's actually going on in the shots So just a tip for everyone Like I said, but I'm gonna say it again I really enjoyed the directing on this one really really enjoyed the directing on this one I actually think that it's a situation where the directing was so good in this that that would for me with this film would put Jordan Downey into the auteur category at least for this film and it for people who don't know auteur is basically just like It means that the direction The that the director took with the film is so influential that it kind of makes the film It just seeps into everything and and that like is the film basically So I would say for this Jordan Downey's an auteur for this film and I was very impressed with what he did The soundtrack is very light most of the time like I was saying It lets the noises from the environment dominate which is actually a great thing a very very great thing in my opinion And then you know son sound design was great kind of rolls in with that So in a way, there's a theme here of how your job can take a toll on you and kind of what happens When you bring your work home now, that's very kind of like coded. It's not like a one-for-one It's not an overt theme But and I am gonna guess that when the script was written that that theme is not intended But that's just kind of like me watching it I was like, you know what I can see in this That this is what work can do for you. It's a very good kind of metaphor for For your work life and what happens when you bring work home kind of so people who have seen the film Already and you're watching this put a comment down there. Let me know your thoughts on that Do you see that or are you just like no ridiculous? Just let me know Um To do to do like I said, you know, this put Downie in the author category for me I also wrote his directing meant everything to this film. It truly meant everything to this film. It looks Great, it is pulled off really well. There's some really cool shots in it If you just if for nothing else then you know Watching something that looks good watch this film because it looks good The story isn't Intricate. It's not a super intricate story. It's relatively straightforward. It's an interesting story though So the directing really has to be good in order for it to to work and that that is the case So the last thing I wrote is I would love to see what Jordan Downie could do with another movie like this with a proper budget Now I say another movie like this because I'm not gonna tip my hand on Whether or not there it's set up for a sequel or not because that's too too spoilery in my opinion I don't want people to know that going into it. So could go either way But another film like this with a much bigger budget. I don't know what that could look like from Downie It could be unbelievable. It could be amazing But then you also have those issues where you know, people even tell you who are involved in film that When it is a super low budget, it forces you to be more creative It forces you to find those more interesting and Innovative fixes for the issues you run into so a lot of times those movies are more inspired and kind of better when they're pulled off As opposed to if you have a larger budget where you can just kind of throw money at problems to solve it And then things don't come out as good But I don't know, you know, not every director's like that. It depends. So I really want to see more from Downie and Who's the other guys named Kevin? Oh Wow, why am I? Blanking on that now Kevin Stewart. Sorry. Sorry Kevin Stewart. He didn't direct. So, you know Not that he didn't do anything important. He did but anyway So I'm gonna talk about this film in a few ways when I'm doing my rating now So I do with my five stars and a half stars in play. So if I'm taking the budget into account Well, let me do it the opposite way first if I'm not taking the budget into account And I'm just saying in the pantheon of all movies. What am I gonna rate this film as is not not thinking about how Hello, the budget was I would give it a three and a half. It is quite good. It's a very solid three and a half in my opinion I just couldn't put it at the four now if I'm looking at what the budget was to be honest And I'm considering that and giving it a star rating I would give a four and a half to be honest because based off that low of a budget This is a huge triumph an unbelievable triumph in my opinion. It's I I'm like my mind is blown on how they were able to do this film on 30,000 I mean, I see how it was done on 30,000 But to to be the person who executed that came up with the ideas did the planning all that I Can't even imagine how much work and how tough that was so Anyway, if for nothing other than giving this person Are these people your respect watch this film? I really want to see people support this film because we need more people getting into the horror industry like this who have this type of drive Who have different ideas who are really good directors and writers? We need it. So anyway, yeah, thanks everyone for checking out this review put your comments down there Do me that favor hit that subscribe Just like I'm saying see this movie Please hit that subscribe for me because if you like any videos I do I'm doing it all for free I'm just you know, I just want to interact with people and I want to grow the channel So we can reach more people and have more interaction because I love to talk horror And I don't really have that many people in my life who I can talk horror about So anyway, thanks everyone for checking this out until next time keep it brutal