A B-Movie Premise Played Surprisingly Straight

MOVIE REVIEW
Hungry
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Genre: Survival Thriller, Creature Horror
Year Released: 2026
Runtime: 1h 32m
Director(s): James Nunn
Writer(s): James Nunn
Cast: Madison Davenport, Joaquim de Almeida, Tracey Bonner, Michel Curiel, Samantha Coughlan, Olivia Bernstone, Jim Meskimen, River Codack
Where to Watch: in select theaters on June 3, 2026, and VOD June 23

RAVING REVIEW: HUNGRY gets a surprising amount of mileage out of the fact that hippos are absolutely terrifying animals. Creature features usually lean on sharks, crocodiles, giant snakes, or mutated insects, while hippos rarely get treated like the potentially violent animals they actually are. These things are basically living tanks with terrible tempers, capable of tearing people apart with ease. Writer/director James Nunn recognizes that immediately, which helps the film avoid collapsing into pure self-aware parody. The premise could’ve easily turned into disposable nonsense built entirely around the novelty of a killer hippo movie, but HUNGRY plays the danger straighter than expected. Instead of chasing camp in every scene, the film keeps pushing toward something meaner, uglier, and more chaotic, and that choice gives the attacks far more weight than they probably should have in a movie like this. Instead of following along the line of the increasingly long list of board game adaptations, this one treats it more like a wink and nod to nostalgia instead of what it could have been.

The Louisiana swampland setting does a lot of heavy lifting for the entire film. The murky water, dense vegetation, and cramped riverboat naturally create tension before the hippo even enters the picture. Nunn has enough genre experience to know that anticipation matters more than constant exposure, so HUNGRY spends a decent stretch building unease through movement in the water, distant sounds, damaged surroundings, and the growing realization that these tourists are completely unequipped for what they’ve wandered into. The bayou becomes less of a backdrop and more of a trap. Once the characters lose control of the situation, the environment itself begins to feel hostile.

And most importantly, the film is careful to avoid the trap of showing the hippo too much; you don’t always need to see the scary. The CGI is also handled really well throughout, which helps the film land! That atmosphere gives the film a stronger foundation than many modern streaming creature features. When the attacks happen, they carry weight because the movie has already established how isolated these people really are.

Madison Davenport has been building one of those careers in which she consistently elevates material without always getting enough credit, and that continues here. Her performance grounds the movie during stretches where the script threatens to drift into generic survival-thriller territory. Davenport understands exactly what kind of movie this is without ever playing beneath it. She reacts to the danger like a real person trying to stay alive, rather than someone performing exaggerated horror-movie cliches for the camera.

Joaquim de Almeida brings a veteran presence to the cast, helping stabilize some of the weaker dialogue. Even when the screenplay falls into exposition-heavy exchanges, he gives the material enough authority to keep things moving. Tracey Bonner also leaves a strong impression, especially during moments when the film allows its characters to fracture under pressure rather than simply becoming monster fodder waiting for their turn to die.

That said, characterization remains one of the movie’s biggest struggles. HUNGRY introduces a fairly large group, but not everyone gets enough definition to stand apart. A few supporting players mostly exist to fill space between attack sequences. Once the survival stretch kicks in, the film occasionally defaults to familiar creature-feature decision-making, in which intelligence disappears whenever the plot needs another body count. Some of the choices characters make feel less driven by panic and more driven by screenplay convenience.

The movie also struggles a little with tonal consistency. While it deserves credit for resisting full-on self-parody, there are moments when it feels caught between grounded survival horror and pulpy creature feature. Certain scenes are staged with grim intensity, while others flirt with exaggerated action-thriller energy that feels pulled from a different movie altogether. It never completely falls apart tonally, but you can feel the balancing act.

The hippo itself looks better than expected, especially given the scale and budget this appears to be operating within. The quick bursts of violence, submerged movement, and sudden attacks generally look convincing enough to maintain immersion. More importantly, the film understands the animal's physicality. This isn’t treated like a fantasy monster with magical abilities. The horror comes from brute force. The thing is massive, territorial, and relentless. The simplicity of that danger is more effective than the movie's attempt to overcomplicate the threat.

HUNGRY doesn’t become outright nihilistic, but it’s harsher than the trailer initially suggests. Injuries hurt. Panic spreads quickly. The swamp starts wearing these people down mentally as much as physically. By the second half, the movie becomes less about defeating the creature and more about surviving long enough to escape. That shift helps prevent the film from becoming repetitive.

It doesn’t spend half the runtime setting up mythology or teasing larger universes. It knows the assignment. Dangerous animal. Isolated location. People are making increasingly desperate choices. The movie commits to delivering exactly that while adding just enough atmosphere and intensity to avoid feeling disposable. Creature features live or die based on whether the audience buys into the threat, and HUNGRY succeeds there. The hippo feels dangerous from the start, giving the film a constant, underlying tension even during its weaker stretches. You never relax because the movie effectively establishes that the creature can strike almost anywhere in the swamp.

HUNGRY won’t reinvent the formula, and it doesn’t always escape the limitations inherent in modern survival horror. Some characters feel underwritten, certain emotions don’t land, and parts of the script rely too heavily on familiar genre mechanics. In the end, though, the film works because it takes its premise seriously enough to create actual suspense while still embracing the primal ridiculousness of a murderous hippo tearing through tourists in the Louisiana swamps.

And honestly, after years of interchangeable shark knockoffs and forgettable digital monsters, there’s something satisfying about seeing a movie weaponize one of the most terrifying real animals on earth instead. The fact that HUNGRY manages to make that concept feel tense more often than silly already puts it ahead of much of its competition.

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