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Human hunting is a quasi-urban legend, where certain people hunt and kill humans for the purpose of pleasure or entertainment. Serial killer Robert Hansen would abduct and hunt his victims before killing them. Some science fiction writers depicted fictional future or alternate history tyrannical regimes where the hunting of humans for sport is institutionalised (see The Sound of His Horn).

As a genre

Films

Numerous films have used the theme of human hunting as the basis or as a feature of their plot. The first film to ever feature it was the 1932 film The Most Dangerous Game, which is based on the Richard Edward Connell short story of the same name. Other films that deal with human hunting are:

• Apocalypto
• Battle Royale
• Battle Royale II: Requiem
• Betrayed
• Bloodlust!
• The Condemned
• Rovdyr (A Norwegian horror-movie)
• Dogboys
• Dominion
• The Eliminator
• Enemy Territory
• A Game of Death
• Hard Target
• Hostel
• Hostel: Part II
• The Hunted
• Judgment Night

• Madman
• The Most Dangerous Game
• The Naked Prey
• Octopussy
• The Pest
• Run for the Sun
• The Running Man
• Series 7: The Contenders
• Shadowhunter
• Slashers
• Surviving the Game
• Turkey Shoot
• Wolf Creek
• The Woman Hunt
• Wrong Turn
• Zodiac

Television

• Bonanza - The final episode of the long-running western, titled "The Hunter" featured "Little" Joe Cartwright, played by Michael Landon, being hunted by a war-deranged ex-Army officer. The villain—who fancies himself as a hunter—steals Joe's supplies, water and wagon, then allows him to flee as his "prey," before later going after him to kill him. Joe is forced to rely on his wits and luck to defeat the villain.
• Cold Case - The character of George Marks, played by John Billingsley, is shown hunting his victims in forests, much like the real-life serial killer Robert Hansen.
• Criminal Minds - The episode Open Season revolves around two brothers who kidnap people and release them in the Idaho wilderness and hunt them down with compound bows.
• Doctor Who - In the serial The Deadly Assassin the Doctor enters a virtual reality and is hunted by an assassin in a jungle environment.
• Human Giant - One sketch featured astronaut Cliff Tarpey (Rob Huebel) who created his own reality TV show called "Lunatics" in which he and two other astronauts capture people, hunt them down and kill them on the moon, for entertainment purposes.
• The Incredible Hulk - David Banner is befriended by a rich man under false pretenses. Later, he is hunted until he hulks out and attacks his antagonist.
• Johnny Bravo - In an episode parodying Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game".
• Lone Star Hate - a documentary that examines a hate crime homicide where the victim had been hunted in the wilderness for some considerable time by his homophobic killers before being shot dead.
• Renegade - one episode featured convicts being hunted for fun/as target practice by novice/wannabe assassins.
• The Simpsons - The episode "Treehouse of Horror XVI" featured a section which also parodies Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game".
• Supernatural - An episode in season one portrays a family of inbreeders whose generational past-time is the hunting and killing of the random people they kidnap. It is notably one of only two episodes where brother detectives, Sam and Dean Winchester, actually confront human "monsters", rather than the "supernatural" boogeymen, the derived namesake of the show.
• Torchwood - The episode entitled "Countrycide" of the BBC science fiction series deals with a group of cannibals who hunt/trap travellers through their village on a traditional ten year cycle.
• Dollhouse - The second episode of the first season sees main character Echo taken on a date in the country side, and then is hunted by him.
• The Critic - In one of the running gags during the main credits, Jay's boss Duke calls him, inviting Jay to his ranch upon the news that Duke has received a license to hunt man. Jay is advised to bring "comfortable shoes".

Novel/comic/short stories

• In Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love, Lord Alconleigh uses bloodhounds to hunt his children across the Oxfordshire countryside
• Battle Royale
• Dangerous Game
• Eagle Strike
• The Fifth Elephant
• Friday the 13th: The Jason Strain
• The Invisibles
• Lord of the Flies
• The Manhattan Hunt Club
• The Most Dangerous Game
• The Sound of His Horn
• Trail of the Dead
• Dune: House Atreides

Videogames

• Deer Avenger and its sequels revolve around a bipedal, talking deer which hunts humans, especially hunters, in order to avenge his fellow deer which have been hunted.
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion includes a quest (titled "Caught in the Hunt") which revolves around the player becoming the target of a human hunt.
• Hitman: Contracts contains a level where the protagonist must rescue the potential victim of a human hunt from an English manor.
• Manhunt revolves around a fictitious convicted murderer, James Earl Cash, who is forced to hunt other convicts as part of a snuff film.
• Smash TV is based on a fictional TV game show in which the main character is put in an arena to fight waves of clones for money and prizes.
• The Club revolves around a secretive organisation which runs a high-stakes arena.

See also

• Hunting
• Lynching
• Snuff film
• Thrill killing
• Sadism
• Sadism and masochism as medical terms
• Premeditated murder
• The Sound of His Horn

References

External links

• The Onion once had an article spoofing human hunting called "Maverick Hunter's 'Human Beings As Prey' Plan Not As Challenging As Expected"