Aquatic horror films have featured many enemies, but not yet the most ferocious and angry of land and water beasts: hippos. No, for real. Hippos are natural killers; vegetarians who kill out of territorial rage. Sharks, alligators and anacondas are nasty hunters, but hippos are a special breed. Writer-director James Nunn aims to eclipse the “End Flicks” we’re used to, including his disappointing film Shark baitand he does it admirably. The aptly titled “Hungry Hippopotamus” movie Hungryenough to make Hasbro jealous for not capitalizing on the concept first.
Nunn somehow transforms exotic Malta into stuffy New Orleans to Hungry. Best friends Sistine (Madison Davenport) and Hannah (Olivia Bernstone) drunkenly agree to a tour of the alligator swamps, which they attend while severely hungover. They are joined by a family of tourists and Dionne (Tracey Bonner), a workaholic mother who wants to take photos of wildlife. Their captain, Rodrigo (Michel Curiel), takes them to the swampy woods of New Orleans, but doesn’t find his alligator attractions traceable. A gigantic hippo overturns the ship and sends everyone rushing towards tall trees, lest the furious animal maul them.
By the standards of festive, to-die-for aquatic horror, Hungry is a tasty dish. Nunn is a little sharper than on Shark baitwhich itself features gruesome killings, but falls into a narrative trap that many filmmakers struggle to overcome. It’s one thing to lock characters in with no escape, but it’s a bigger task to make us care about a group of delicious snacks, especially when their situation is completely ridiculous. Hungry doesn’t overcome every obstacle, but he’s nimble enough to hook us with survival thrills and “inventive” enough to maximize the impact of using a hippopotamus as an antagonist.
It doesn’t take much for a film like Hungry to appeal to a horror-loving audience. Give us gory deaths, rad creature effects, and some semblance of narrative cohesion to keep things moving. Where movies like Friend trying to insultingly sneak in some pathetic digital effects, Nunn invests heavily in practical hippo designs and smooth digital mixing. Hungry boasts some impressive creature effects as this snarling, teeth-gnashing mammal chases capsized vacationers for sport. Perhaps the movement of the swimming hippo is a bit fast, which seems unnatural for emphasis, but every time its head surfaces or the entire hippo enters the frame, Nunn ensures that the visual effects remain optimal, keeping Hungry to chase away his audience.
If there’s one complaint, it’s the lack of elaborate kill sequences, with humans being murdered one after the other. Hungry is a low-budget affair, which means Nunn reuses the same trick of pulling victims underwater, only to turn them into a cloud of red liquid. For so vicious and daredevil Hungry appears, there is a downgrade when violence breaks out. Nunn relies on our imagination to fill in the blanks when the hippo claims another life, as the wounds are inflicted by chance off-screen. This goes against the overall enjoyment of these types of animal attack movies, because we’re there for the attacks and demand spectacular executions.
The performances are fitting, but all adhere to the tropes of traditional subgenres. Joaquim de Almeida stands out as hippo expert Walker, who proves gruff and resilient when trying to save Rodrigo’s clients. Davenport is a strong anchor as the film’s survivor, forced to watch innocent lives be devoured. But there’s also Bonner’s ruthless businesswoman, a mom who doesn’t care about anyone else because she’s the most important. This is the selfish, obnoxious stereotype that we have seen exceed its dramatic limits time and time again, allowed to wreak havoc beyond the rational threshold of moral tolerance. It’s good ; each of these storylines needs a bastard wild card, but Nunn lets the charade drag on far longer than the script can handle.
And yet, Hungry is a stupid yet brutally charged creature feature that gets the job done. It’s not the baddest vehicle in terms of body counts, which costs Nunn’s film a few points. The narrative doesn’t redefine the subgenre either. Hungry succeeds because of his confidence and commitment to producing a knockout hippopotamus that the characters deserve to fear. By basic standards, Nunn invests in the right elements, showing other filmmakers how easy (comparatively) it can be to win over viewers. If only his competitors would listen to him.
Movie score: 3/5
