If you love your creature features drenched in sweat and mud, director and writer James Nunn (Shark Bait) is back with Hungry. The film’s lore taps into a wild, forgotten piece of American history. In the script, the characters stumble upon an abandoned farm tied to the American Hippo Bill. In real life, conservationist Fritz Duquesne and Congressman Robert Broussard pushed a bill in 1910 to import hippopotamuses from Africa into the bayous of Louisiana. The bizarre plan aimed to solve a two-fold problem: tackle a severe American meat shortage by introducing hippo meat to the diet and clear out the invasive water hyacinth clogging southern waterways. While the bill ultimately failed, Nunn uses this incredible historical footnote to ground Hungry in a chilling “what if” scenario that gives these creatures deep-rooted ties to the American swamp.
Vacationing in New Orleans to cope with personal loss and a recent job layoff, Sistine (Madison Davenport) and her best friend Hannah (Olivia Bernstone) just want a casual escape. They sign up for a discounted alligator-watching riverboat tour guided by Rodrigo (Michel Curiel) and overseen by his boss, Walker (Joaquim de Almeida). Alongside a handful of other tourists—including high-strung businesswoman Dionne (Tracey Bonner) and a multi-generational family group featuring nurse Sally (Samantha Coughlan), retired firefighter Tim (Jim Meskimen) and teenager Mikey (River Codack)—they head out into the bayou.
Things take a disastrous turn when Dionne pays Rodrigo a hefty $300 tip to veer off-route to hunt down a legendary, massive gator named Big Ben. Instead of a photo-op, they find Big Ben’s savagely mutilated remains. Enter the real terror: a ferocious, highly territorial hippopotamus that rams and overturns the riverboat.
As night falls, the stranded survivors are picked off one by one by the relentless beast, while struggling against their own mounting tensions. Through desperate gambits involving fire, emergency beacons and an abandoned alligator farm, the film builds a gritty, atmospheric trap where nature answers to no one. Sistine must ultimately look past survival into understanding, discovering that the animal is fiercely protecting its young before a rescue chopper finally pulls her from the murky depths.
If you like animals attacking humans—and who doesn’t—you can get this from Deep Discount.
