You can find thousands of movies and television series on Netflix and other streaming platforms. But some, you might never be able to watch. This horror film, a few years back, was actually canceled from its US release for this distressing reason – and even Donald Trump lashed out about it.
The movie business can be a tricky one, and when it comes to what people want to and can watch, the opportunities are almost limitless. However, several movies in recent history have been banned or canceled for their content.
Some were canceled without a fuss, while others were “forced” to be canceled due to strong reactions. One in the latter category occurred in 2019, prompting President Donald Trump to furiously react on social media.
In 2019, the horror movie The Hunt was set to be released. However, due to circumstances, Universal decided to cancel the film’s release. Today, you can still see it on Netflix in some countries around the world.
The film was called The Hunt. Starring Hillary Swank and Betty Gilpin, it followed a group of 12 “globalist elite” strangers who kidnap working-class people to hunt them.
But as the trailer came out, many saw the film as a reflection of reality, and the political debate became a national concern.
Why the controversial horror thriller ‘The Hunt’ was cancelled
The trailer referred to the hunted group as “deplorables,” a word that had been used during the 2016 Presidential Race by Hillary Clinton. During her campaign, she at one point remarked, “You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call ‘the basket of deplorables’”.
Basically, many saw the film as a liberal elite hunting down Donald Trump supporters, and many U.S conservatives opposed the film’s release.
While Donald Trump didn’t cite The Hunt by name, it wasn’t tricky to understand that his frustration was against the controversial film as he wrote on X, “Liberal Hollywood is Racist at the highest level, and with great Anger and Hate! They like to call themselves “Elite,” but they are not Elite. In fact, it is often the people that they so strongly oppose that are actually the Elite. The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos. They create their own violence, and then try to blame others. They are the true Racists, and are very bad for our Country!”
However, there was another disturbing reason why the film was actually canceled. In 2019, two massacres, one in El Paso, Texas, and one in Dayton, Ohio, occurred just 13 hours apart.
“Not the right time”
It left more than 30 people dead and many more injured. Days later, on August 10, 2019, Universal released a statement that they canceled the plans for the opening date release of The Hunt.
“We understand that now is not the right time to release this film,” Universal said.
The film was eventually released in US theaters in March 2020. The Hunt was available on Netflix for a short while but was removed in 2022.
According to the catalogue tracking data, you can currently only stream the movie on Netflix in four countries: Lithuania, South Korea, Slovakia, and Thailand.
Would you watch this movie? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
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