The Top 10 Best Human Hunting Movies

5. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Kinda weird to think that one of the best human hunting movies out there was based on a young adult series. Kids gotta learn sometime though I suppose. Some of you might think it’s strange that I chose to include the sequel and not the original movie here. To be honest, the first movie was kind of lame. I mean, a bunch of kids being forced to kill each other? Snooze. Now, a bunch of the kid killing champions doing battle on an island? Yes, please!  Katniss Everdeen is back (she ganked so many kids) and this time she’s not throwing down with a bunch of minors who haven’t hit their growth spurt yet. No, she’s got real killers to contend with now. Of course, it would be hard to have even more sequels if she got killed by the trained psychos she’s pitted against, so thanks to PEETA and a few more allies she manages to make it through to the end. For my money, this one is the best in the series.  

4. Ready or Not

Guys! Have you heard that rich white people are actually pretty terrible!?! Ready or Not earns a respectable spot on this list of human hunting movies by proving that. The film follows bride-to-be, Grace (Samara Weaving), who’s marrying into an incredibly wealthy Le Domas game dynasty. Like most in-laws, the Le Domas’ don’t offer her the warmest welcome. Things go from bad to worst as it turns out in order to maintain their lavish lifestyle they have to make a human sacrifice to the demon their great-grandfather made a deal with. Unfortunately for her, she’s intended to be their newest offering, but they give her a sporting chance by telling her that they are playing a game of hide-and-seek. Unfortunately for them, Grace is one hell of a final girl and gives those elitist bastards a run for their money. I guess money doesn’t buy everything

3. Southern Comfort

As a southerner, I can attest to the fact that swamp people (also known as hill people, bumpkins, and backwoodsmen in other parts of the country) are a legitimate concern. That’s why I’m including Southern Comfort on this list of human hunting movies. The film follows a group of National Guardsmen on a training exercise in the bayou. Now, in my experience nothing good ever lives in the bayou and they find out the hard way that the locals have a lot of time to kill. They piss off the wrong good ole boys and soon find themselves being hunted in the swamps of Louisiana. Like all good rednecks, these guys are survivalists and have rigged the area with all sorts of traps. To make matters worse, the National Guardsmen were only given blanks for their guns. So, they’re really up a creek without a paddle as the raggin’ Cajuns close in on them. Southern Comfort is one of the few classic human hunting movies out there.

2. The Most Dangerous Game

When it comes to human hunting movies, The Most Dangerous Game is the OG. Based on the novel by Richard Connell, it inspired this whole list. That’s why it’s coming in at the number two spot. The film follows a big game hunter (named Bob) who is shipwrecked on an isolated island. Luckily for him, he discovers that he isn’t alone when he stumbles upon a huge mansion. The owner is one Count Zaroff, who happens to be a big fan of Bob’s and an avid hunter himself. Zaroff though is a little too good at hunting and has upgraded to the most dangerous game (spoiler alert: it’s people). Bob thinks he’s crazy for doing this, but if experience has taught me one thing, crazy people don’t like it when you call them that. So, Zaroff gives Bob a head start and grabs his trusty rifle. The only question is who the hunter really is between them.

1. Battle Royale

Here it is, folks! The best of the best when it comes to human hunting movies. Much like The Condemned and The Hunger Games, Battle Royale features people thrown into a horrible situation where they’re forced to hunt each other down until only one survivor remains standing. This time though, it’s a bunch of unwitting high scholars. In an alternate future, Japan passes an act to keep their unruly youth in check. The act requires that a class of students is chosen at random to be whisked off on beautiful Okishima Island. The thing is that vacations to Okishima island tend to be one way, as the students are promptly given necklace bombs and weapons to take place in a Battle Royale. They’re given a set of rules to follow, but the short version is that these kids gotta kill each other before the clock hits zero. Ethics go out the window pretty quickly and the kids start a full-on blood bath. It’s a delightfully twisted film and one that I wholeheartedly recommend.

Honorable Mention: The Furies

The Furies has one of the most intriguing twists of all the human hunting movies I’ve seen. Six women are captured only to awaken in a forest with masked madmen released to hunt them. The twist is that each masked killer is tasked to ensure all the women die except for the one assigned to them. If their special lady dies, then they do too. This rule forces the killers to fight one another as well, in order to protect their “beauty” while they still try to take out the others. A pretty great twist that nearly earned the Furies a spot on the list above.

Special Shout-Out: The Predator Films

If not for the rule about humans being the hunters, I would have included all four of the Predator movies on this list. While a lot of the entries on this list of human hunting movies featured some pretty intense hunters, they got nothing on the galactic big game hunter and one of the scariest movie aliens of all time, the Yautja.

Those are, hands down, the best human hunting movies of all time… Or at least so far. You’ve seen my picks. So, let me know what some of your favorites are by leaving a comment below. I’ll be updating this list and new human hunting movies hit theaters. So, make sure you check back in the future to see how the rankings might change. Until next time, happy hunting.