Syfy’s ‘Hunters’ is a bungled mishmash
Published 9:39 am Friday, April 8, 2016
One of the schlockiest, most amateur series to come along in the PeakTV era, Syfy’s “Hunters” (10 p.m. Monday), delivers a mashup of a terrorist-tracking drama and alien invasion story.
Developed by writer Natalie Chaidez (“12 Monkeys,” “Heroes”) and based on the novel “Alien Hunter” by Whitley Strieber, “Hunters” follows Baltimore FBI agent Flynn Carroll (Nathan Phillips) who gets recruited to join the ETU — exo-terrorism unit — to help track down terrorists who appear to be part-human, part-alien and obsessed with rabbits.
Flynn is eager to capture the group’s apparent leader, McCarthy (Julian McMahon, “Nip/Tuck”), after McCarthy kidnaps Flynn’s wife — because the first thing law enforcement does is make the husband of a crime victim a key player in solving her abduction. Right.
The whole shebang seems rinky-dink. Cast members’ accents waver intermittently; some of the acting is just plain bad. What is obviously the distinctive facade of Dulles International Airport is identified as “Maryland International Airport.” If you want me to believe in alien terrorists, don’t tatter a story’s suspension of disbelief with obvious inaccuracies about famous American architecture.
The aliens have the ability to run through treetops, a la the vampires in “Twilight,” and that’s how viewers learn one of the ETU agents, Regan (Britne Oldford), is an alien working with the humans. There’s also a possible mole among the feds, which makes ETU reminiscent of CTU on “24.”
The show’s best attribute is the sound effect that makes good use of a bug-like clicking noise to represent the aliens. But that’s not enough to recommend this blah, bungled effort.
Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
