Hunted Ending & The Wolf’s True Meaning Explained

Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted is a straightforward survival horror movie, but its ending is particularly bizarre, especially in regard to the wolf.

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WARNING: Spoilers for Hunted ahead.

Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted is a survival horror movie with an ending that is just as bizarre as it is fair. As Eve (Lucy Debay) fights for her life against two hateful men, she navigates a terrifying woodland terrain that’s reminiscent of a childhood tale told by her mother. With imagery of black wolves and crows, there are various nuances that Paronnaud brings to his “Little Red Riding Hood” inspired horror movie that necessitate an explanation. Here’s a breakdown of Hunted’s ending, the wolf, her mother’s story, and what happened to Eve.

Hunted is one of the first official exclusives released through Shudder in 2021. The niche streaming service had one of its most successful years in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic putting a major halt on horror movie release schedules. Throughout 2020, Shudder showcased just how diverse their release lineup can and will continue to be. In summer of 2020, Shudder released several foreign horror movies that earned significant acclaim, including the recently Oscar nominated folk horror movie Impetigore from director Joko Anwar. Shudder has even acquired the anthology series Slasher from Netflix, and is set to begin production on season 4, which will star director David Cronenberg of The Fly and Scanners fame. With the new year well underway, one of Shudder’s January 2021 releases, Hunted, showcases how the streaming service intends to make 2021 even greater than 2020.

Paronnaud is most famously known for cowriting and codirecting Persepolis, but beyond that, he is predominately recognized for his comic books. Hunted was written by the director as well as Léa Pernollet, whose works are comprised of movie shorts. This is Paronnaud’s first movie that he directed on his own and Pernollet’s first feature-length horror movie. With foreign horror on the rise, their Belgian-French-Irish movie was an obvious choice to add to Shudder’s expansive lineup, especially considering Hunted’s fairytale and folk influences, which is another rising horror trend.

What The Paintball Scene Means

The last few scenes of Hunted contain several bizarre incidents. Perhaps the most strange is the paintball fight that suddenly breaks out in the midst of Eve’s battle against “The Handsome Man” (Arieh Worthalter). A group of men storm into the forest; one shoots her with a blue paint bullet. The color blue is meant to indicate calmness and serenity when used in movies, but Eve’s situation is nowhere near that.

While it may have been used as a means to juxtapose her fight for survival with a calming color, it is far more likely that the situation of the paintball fight speaks toward the blissful ignorance that’s depicted among the men. It is very clear that Eve is fighting for her life against a vicious villain, but none of the men come to her aid. Instead, they continue their game of paintball and ignore her, even shooting her with a blue bullet out of complete disregard for her existence. The entire movie is meant to commentate on women’s anguish as insignificant, as well as the ways that they are often treated in patriarchal societies.

Hunted’s Ending Explained

Following the paintball scene, Eve and “The Handsome Man” fight to the end in a home development construction zone when a police dog comes to assist her. This is a deeply symbolic moment that leads to her prevailing against her attacker, but results in a strange ending where Eve appears almost feral. When the dog bites the man, it subverts the iconic Brothers Grimm fairytale that Hunted is inspired by.

In “Little Red Riding Hood,” a man comes to save the girl from a wolf. In Paronnaud’s movie, the wolf is on Eve’s side and provides her with the upper-hand in killing “The Handsome Man” before he has time to do any more harm toward her. When she runs through the woods screaming, it refers back to her mother’s story where a woman sang to God and the forest, which saved her from the vile men who wished to consume her flesh. Her screams are of triumph, and pay homage to the woman who would rather live among wolves than men.

What The Wolf In Hunted Actually Means

Traditionally, black dogs and wolves are an omen of evil ahead. In horror movies, they are a common motif used to foreshadow future events. Hunted uses the animal with the same kind of symbolism, as it warns Eve of “The Handsome Man” who will manipulate and kidnap her later that day. It is also used as a means to establish that wolves and dogs will be a consistent theme in the movie rather than a throwaway taken from her mother’s story. Hunted begins and ends with this animal imagery to help create a sense of connectivity between the black dog omen to “The Handsome Man”, as well as the helpfulness of the wolf in his defeat.

The wolf isn’t the only symbolic animal popular in horror that came from her mother’s story. For a brief instance, a crow is featured in the tale. When the bird appears, it is an omen of death. The crow lands on the head of “The Handsome Man,” which symbolizes that he will die by the end of the movie. It is a subtle and overt nod towards his death that is also utilized to further tie Eve and the woman in her mother’s story together. In comparison, the wolf holds more significant weight in Hunted, as the movie’s inspiration is drawn from “Little Red Riding Hood.”

Eve’s Mother’s Story Explained

In the very beginning of the movie, Eve’s mother tells her a story about a woman who was going to be sacrificed to feed a group of men. According to the tale, she sang to the forest and God to plead for her survival. When wolves showed up to assist her, she defeated the men and stated, “the company of wolves is greater than that of man.” A young Eve asks if there are still wolves. To which, her mother responds that there are not, but there are men. The tale sets up Eve’s entire story arc and foreshadows how she will defeat “The Handsome Man.”

According to her mother, wolves do not pose a threat to women, but men do. Eve begins to experience this fact early on when her boss tries to undermine her capabilities as an employee, a stranger tries to coerce her into having drinks with him, and “The Handsome Man” kidnaps her with the intent of filming her getting assaulted. When it comes to her hour of need, a wolf comes to her rescue just like in the fairytale she was told as a child. As she runs through the forest, it symbolizes that she has joined the wolves and the woman who defeated a group of men centuries prior to her existence. The entirety of Hunted contains a wealth of nuances about women and the patriarchy while telling a story of her triumph and survival with nature on her side.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/hunted-2021-movie-ending-explained/