"Hunting Creatures" is one of several projects by a loose collection of German amateur filmmakers, the most prolific of which is Timo Rose. Here, the directing credits are shared by Andreas Pape and Oliver Kellisch, who all seem loosely associated with one of the most horrible "professional" horror directors around, Olaf Ittenbach. The nicest thing I can say about "Hunting Creatures" is that it's not the worst effort from the group, even though it's still completely worthless.
It is actually difficult to give this film a fair rating. Judging from the technical quality alone, it is puzzling how these "movies" find their way into actual video stores. The problem is just that the filmmakers don't know anything about film-making. The films are shot on (digital?) video without any attempt to set up suitable lighting conditions, so that the camera is blinded every time it is turned towards a window or doorframe. To be fair, the camera angles chosen are often quite nice, but there's just more to camera-work than just pointing the camera in the right direction. No set pieces or props are used; the movies are simply shot in the actors' private homes (or better, their parents' homes) -- and it shows that the zombies are stomping through their own old romper rooms. The acting is abysmal throughout. Obviously, most of the work goes into the splatter and gore effects (which are sometimes, but not this time, provided by Ittenbach).
The overall effect could have been unintentionally funny, but is actually strongly annoying. Don't get me wrong: I sometimes have a lot of fun with amateur productions because I like to see people use their creativity. What keeps annoying me about these present productions is that they are so uncreative. Every image, every storyline, every bit of dialog is lifted from other films just as it is, without the slightest attempt at originality. It's as if these guys think about a scene, decide that "that's how they do it in the real movies", and then miserably fail at attempting the same.
Be warned: There's more like this out there, and worse. You may also want to avoid "Space Wolf", "Kettensägen-Zombies" and the repulsive "Rigor Mortis".
It is actually difficult to give this film a fair rating. Judging from the technical quality alone, it is puzzling how these "movies" find their way into actual video stores. The problem is just that the filmmakers don't know anything about film-making. The films are shot on (digital?) video without any attempt to set up suitable lighting conditions, so that the camera is blinded every time it is turned towards a window or doorframe. To be fair, the camera angles chosen are often quite nice, but there's just more to camera-work than just pointing the camera in the right direction. No set pieces or props are used; the movies are simply shot in the actors' private homes (or better, their parents' homes) -- and it shows that the zombies are stomping through their own old romper rooms. The acting is abysmal throughout. Obviously, most of the work goes into the splatter and gore effects (which are sometimes, but not this time, provided by Ittenbach).
The overall effect could have been unintentionally funny, but is actually strongly annoying. Don't get me wrong: I sometimes have a lot of fun with amateur productions because I like to see people use their creativity. What keeps annoying me about these present productions is that they are so uncreative. Every image, every storyline, every bit of dialog is lifted from other films just as it is, without the slightest attempt at originality. It's as if these guys think about a scene, decide that "that's how they do it in the real movies", and then miserably fail at attempting the same.
Be warned: There's more like this out there, and worse. You may also want to avoid "Space Wolf", "Kettensägen-Zombies" and the repulsive "Rigor Mortis".
