Open Season

1974

1h 45m

IMDb RATING

5.7/10

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4 Videos

26 Images

Action

Drama

Thriller

Three Vietnam vets have become so conditioned to violence that they have developed psychotic tendencies. They kidnap people, brutalize them, then turn them loose and hunt them like animals. However the father of one of their earlier victims is plotting a vicious revenge against them.

Directors

Peter Collinson

Writers

David D. Osborn(novel by)

Liz Charles-Williams(writer by)

José Antonio Sáinz de Vicuña(writer by)

Stars

Peter Fonda

Cornelia Sharpe

John Phillip Law

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Videos4

Photos26

Top cast

Ken

Nancy Stillman

Greg

Art

Martin

Hal Wolkowski

Sue

Helen

Joyce

Alicia Rennick

Annie

Sandy

Moonmaid (as Loli Tovar)

Barman

Alice Rennick

Waitress

Niña

District Attorney

Directors

Peter Collinson

Writers

David D. Osborn(novel by)

Liz Charles-Williams(writer by)

José Antonio Sáinz de Vicuña(writer by)

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Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews2

Review

Featured review

Three veterans of the Vietnam War, Ken, Greg and Art, played by Fonda, Law and Lynch respectively, have struggled to reintegrate back into society after their experiences and though furnished with the trappings of middle-class family life, they take an annual trip into the woods to take out their aggression on the local wildlife. Tiring of their haul of deer and squirrels, they turn their attention to human prey, specifically a holidaying couple (actually having an affair), young Nancy (Cornelia Sharpe) and not-so-young Martin (Alberto de Mendoza, best remembered from _Horror Express_). What follows is a decidedly brutal game of cat and mouse, complete with rape, beatings, humiliation and torture. Taking its cue from as far back as _The Most Dangerous Game_ (1932), this is far more than a traditional 'hunting humans' suspense tale, featuring relentlessly unhinged performances from the three 'bad guys' and an oddly unique couple as the victims. The real hook to the film is the direction by Collinson, more famous as the director of the decidedly more respectable The Italian Job, throwing the viewer right into the midst of the action, showing much of the action from the perspective of the hunted, meaning that the traps and mistreatment come as both a complete surprise and are therefore even more shocking. Freeze-frames mid-action also adds to the jarring, unusual set-up. Fonda delivers an utterly gripping performance, his 'casual evil' a constant threat. Law's clean-cut accomplice a massive departure from his other roles (the likes of _Danger Diabolik!_ and _Barbarella_) and future genre star (_God Told Me To_, _Cut and Run_) Richard Lynch's nerdy runt of the litter, are both excellent foils. Somewhat sandwiched in tone and theme between Deliverance and Rituals, the film delivers more evil sadism than both combined. Daz Lawrence, MOVIES and MANIA

MOVIESandMANIA26 Mar, 2021