Signature Entertainment
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
A low-budget horror movie about a killer hippo is currently the biggest streaming hit on all of Prime Video. "Hungry" is, on the surface, a little unassuming. It was given a blink-and-you'll-miss-it theatrical release earlier this year before making its way to VOD. It didn't have a major marketing campaign and has no A-list actors to speak of. Yet, it's now the biggest movie on one of the world's biggest streaming services.
According to FlixPatrol, writer/director James Nunn's "Hungry" is the number one movie on Prime Video, sitting above "Love of Your Life" and "Masterplan." It's the third-biggest title of any kind on Amazon's streaming service, behind only the long-awaited second season of Chris Pratt's action series "The Terminal List" and the Stephen King series "Carrie." That's nothing if not impressive for a small movie such as this.
The creature feature centers on a group of people on holiday who become lost in the Louisiana swamplands and must fight for their lives against a rampaging hippo on the loose. Madison Davenport ("It's What's Inside") leads the cast.
As for how this movie managed to top Prime Video's charts seemingly out of nowhere? That's certainly attributed to the simple yet attractive premise, which is just as silly as it is scary. In 2012, the folks at Film School Rejects made a "Hungry Hungry Hippos: The Movie" trailer, and the idea gained some traction online. Signature Entertainment, the company behind this movie, couldn't make use of the board game, but that's undoubtedly what it was meant to evoke.
Hungry continues horror's great tradition of animal attack movies
Signature Entertainment
To put it kindly, "Hungry" isn't exactly a critical darling. As of this writing, it holds a mixed 52% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes to go with a crummy 34% audience score.
Still, this is now and has pretty much always been a pretty popular sub-genre within horror. It has a lot in common with the most savage animal attack horror movies, such as "Lake Placid" and "Cujo." It takes an animal that exists in the real world, makes it bigger and scarier for cinematic effect, and turns it into a killing machine. These movies aren't often accused of being high art, but they offer a lot of entertainment value for a certain sort of viewer.
In some cases, these animal attack movies become true cinematic classics. Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" reshaped the box office forever and birthed the summer blockbuster as we know it. One of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous movies is "The Birds." This genre can rise above the level of bargain bin fare. Historically speaking though, those classics are more the exception rather than the rule.
More likely, viewers are going to encounter stuff like the "Jaws" rip-off "Grizzy II: Revenge" that served as George Clooney's movie debut. There's also stuff that sort of exists somewhere in between, such as 1997's "Anaconda." It's undoubtedly a beloved '90s gem for people of a certain age, but that's also in part because it's the right amount of cheesy. It walks a fine line.
How will history ultimately judge "Hungry" as time marches on? That remains to be seen. Is it just going to be a here-today-gone-tomorrow streaming curiosity? Or is this just the start of its journey to eventual cult status? We shall see.
