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🎬 Movie Review: Hungry (2026) – A Hippo Turns a Louisiana Boat Trip Into a Fight for Survival
Hungry is a 2026 British survival-horror thriller directed and written by James Nunn. The film takes the familiar animal-attack formula and gives it a rather unexpected predator: a massive, aggressive hippopotamus.
The story follows a group of holidaymakers who become stranded in the Louisiana swamplands after their boat tour goes horribly wrong. Their ordinary vacation quickly becomes a desperate fight for survival when they encounter a territorial hippo. The film stars Madison Davenport, Tracey Bonner, Joaquim de Almeida, Michel Curiel, Samantha Coughlan, Olivia Bernstone, Jim Meskimen and River Codack.
At only 1 hour 33 minutes, Hungry is designed as a fast, straightforward creature-feature rather than a deeply developed character drama.
⭐ Quick Review Overview
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| 🎬 Movie | Hungry |
| 📅 Release | 2026 |
| 🇬🇧 Country | United Kingdom |
| 🎭 Genre | Horror • Survival Thriller |
| ⏱️ Runtime | 93 minutes |
| 🎥 Director | James Nunn |
| ✍️ Writer | James Nunn |
| ⭐ Lead | Madison Davenport |
| 🎵 Music | Austin Wintory |
| 📸 Cinematography | Job Reineke |
| ✂️ Editing | Richard Blackburn |
| 🏢 Production | Signature Entertainment |
| ⭐ My Rating | 3/5 |
📖 Storyline & Narrative
The film begins with a group of tourists taking a boat trip through the Louisiana bayou.
It should be a relaxing holiday.
Instead, the group becomes stranded in the dense swamplands.
And something enormous is moving through the water.
The obvious danger in Louisiana would normally be an alligator.
But Hungry has something much more unusual waiting for its characters:
🦛 A rampaging hippopotamus.
The group gradually discovers that the animal is extremely territorial and dangerously aggressive, particularly because it is protecting its young.
Now the tourists must figure out how to move through the swamp without becoming the hippo’s next target.
The film therefore becomes a survival puzzle:
Where can they hide?
How can they escape the water?
How can they reach safety without attracting the animal?
The plot isn’t complicated—and that’s intentional.
The movie mainly exists to put its characters into increasingly dangerous situations and see how they survive.
🎭 Performances
⭐ Madison Davenport as Sistine
Madison Davenport is the film’s main protagonist.
Sistine is portrayed as resourceful and physically capable, and her character gradually becomes one of the group’s key survival figures.
The performance works best during the escape sequences, where fear has to be communicated through physical reactions rather than lengthy dialogue.
The Guardian singled Sistine out as the character most likely to survive, partly because her gymnastics background becomes useful during the group’s attempts to evade the animal.
Performance: ⭐⭐⭐½/5
⭐ Tracey Bonner as Dionne
Tracey Bonner plays Dionne, a career-focused woman caught completely unprepared for the nightmare unfolding around her.
The contrast between her ordinary appearance and the extreme environment creates some interesting survival situations.
Performance: ⭐⭐⭐/5
⭐ Joaquim de Almeida as Walker
Joaquim de Almeida brings veteran presence to the ensemble.
His character contributes to the group’s attempts to understand the environment and survive the attack.
His experience helps give some authority to the survival scenes.
Performance: ⭐⭐⭐½/5
⭐ Michel Curiel as Rodrigo
Michel Curiel plays Rodrigo, the tour guide who becomes an important part of the group’s struggle.
His character is particularly useful because he knows the environment better than the tourists.
Performance: ⭐⭐⭐/5
⭐ Samantha Coughlan as Sally
Samantha Coughlan adds another layer to the group dynamic, particularly through the relationship between Sally and her son.
Performance: ⭐⭐⭐/5
🦛 The Hippo – The Real Star
Let’s be honest:
The hippopotamus is the reason to watch this movie.
The concept sounds almost ridiculous at first.
A killer shark?
Familiar.
A crocodile?
Familiar.
A giant snake?
Familiar.
But a killer hippo?
That’s unusual.
And the film understands that the novelty itself is part of the entertainment.
Real hippopotamuses are extremely dangerous animals, and Hungry uses their territorial behaviour—particularly around young—to justify the creature’s aggression.
The Guardian notes that the film deliberately builds the animal as a territorial threat rather than simply portraying it as a creature that attacks because it is “hungry.”
🎥 Direction – James Nunn
James Nunn keeps the movie moving.
That’s important because Hungry doesn’t have a huge amount of story to tell.
The director wisely avoids making the film excessively long.
Instead, the movie concentrates on:
Boat → Swamp → Hippo → Escape → Survival → Another Attack
The strongest directorial choice is the use of anticipation.
The hippo isn’t always immediately visible.
Sometimes the audience sees movement in the water.
Sometimes there is a sound.
Sometimes something disappears beneath the surface.
That creates suspense before the creature actually appears.
😱 Horror & Suspense
The movie works better as a survival thriller than as genuinely terrifying horror.
The most effective moments come from wondering:
“Where is the hippo?”
The characters know the animal is nearby, but they don’t always know exactly where.
That uncertainty creates tension.
The film also makes good use of the swamp environment.
Water, vegetation, boats and limited escape routes all become obstacles.
The Guardian similarly found the film’s strongest element to be its mechanics of escape and evasion rather than its character development.
🔥 Survival Sequences
The survival situations are easily the film’s most entertaining component.
Characters have to use whatever is available:
- Boats
- Ropes
- Mechanical equipment
- Trees
- Waterways
- Makeshift escape routes
- Their own physical abilities
Sistine’s gymnastics background becomes particularly useful.
A retired fireman’s knowledge of pulleys and mechanical systems also becomes important.
These details give the characters something to do, rather than simply running away repeatedly.
📸 Cinematography
The cinematography is by Job Reineke.
The Louisiana-style swamp environment gives the movie a naturally atmospheric setting.
Dense vegetation and water make it difficult for both the characters and the audience to know what is around the next corner.
The movie benefits from not making every location look bright and open.
The swamp needs to feel like a trap.
And it generally does.
🎵 Music & Background Score
The score is composed by Austin Wintory.
The music serves the suspense rather than becoming the main attraction.
The score is particularly useful when the film delays revealing the hippo.
It helps build anticipation around apparently harmless movements in the water.
✂️ Editing & Pacing
Editor Richard Blackburn keeps the film moving quickly.
At 93 minutes, Hungry is appropriately short.
There isn’t much unnecessary material.
The movie gets to the central survival situation and stays there.
That’s a major advantage.
However, the short runtime also means the characters don’t receive much development.
The audience learns just enough about them to understand who they are—but not enough to become deeply attached to everyone.
🧠 Critical Analysis
The biggest problem with Hungry is also its biggest attraction:
The premise is ridiculous.
A hippo attacking tourists in a Louisiana swamp is inherently absurd.
The movie therefore needs to strike the right balance between:
Serious survival thriller
and
B-movie creature-feature fun.
Sometimes it gets that balance right.
Sometimes it takes itself a little too seriously.
Rotten Tomatoes’ audience reactions reflect this split: some viewers praise it as an entertaining, short animal-attack movie, while others criticize the filmmaking and character writing.
The Guardian similarly argues that the film’s central absurdity can undermine its attempt to create genuine menace.
🔥 First Half vs Second Half
⭐ First Half – 3/5
The setup is effective.
The boat trip establishes the environment.
The characters are introduced.
Then the situation begins to deteriorate.
The first appearances of the hippo are more suspenseful because the audience is still discovering what the animal can do.
Good setup and decent tension.
⭐ Second Half – 3.5/5
The second half is more action-oriented.
The characters are now fully aware of the threat and have to actively plan their escape.
This produces some creative survival sequences.
The film becomes less mysterious but more entertaining.
The problem is that character development becomes even less important as the movie races toward its conclusion.
✅ What Works
✔️ Very unusual killer-animal concept
✔️ Hippo makes a surprisingly effective creature
✔️ Short 93-minute runtime
✔️ Good survival sequences
✔️ Swamp setting works well
✔️ Some genuinely tense moments
✔️ Madison Davenport makes a solid lead
✔️ Practical-feeling survival situations
✔️ Doesn’t waste too much time
✔️ Fun choice for creature-feature fans
❌ What Doesn’t Work
❌ The premise can be difficult to take seriously
❌ Characters are thinly developed
❌ Some dialogue feels formulaic
❌ Emotional moments aren’t particularly strong
❌ The film sometimes takes its ridiculous premise too seriously
❌ Not consistently scary
❌ The hippo concept may work better as B-movie fun than serious horror
🏁 Final Verdict – Is Hungry Worth Watching?
Yes — if you enjoy creature-feature movies.
Hungry isn’t trying to be the next Jaws.
It is a compact survival thriller built around one simple question:
What happens when a group of tourists encounters a very angry hippo?
The answer is:
A lot of running, hiding, screaming and improvising.
The film’s characters aren’t particularly deep, and the story is straightforward, but the unusual creature and survival situations make it entertaining enough.
The 93-minute runtime is another advantage because the movie doesn’t stretch its relatively simple concept into an exhausting two-hour experience.
If you enjoy movies like:
- Crawl
- 47 Meters Down
- The Shallows
- Black Water
- Rogue
- Lake Placid
then Hungry is worth trying—especially if you don’t mind a little B-movie absurdity.
⭐ Overall Rating: 3/5
| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Story | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Screenplay | ⭐⭐½ |
| Madison Davenport | ⭐⭐⭐½ |
| Supporting Cast | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Horror | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Suspense | ⭐⭐⭐½ |
| Creature Concept | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Action/Survival | ⭐⭐⭐½ |
| Direction | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Cinematography | ⭐⭐⭐½ |
| Music/BGM | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Entertainment | ⭐⭐⭐½ |
🎯 Final Score: 6/10
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
A fun, strange and surprisingly watchable creature-feature that turns a Louisiana boat trip into a battle against a rampaging hippo. The characters and screenplay are basic, but the survival sequences and unusual monster give Hungry enough bite to make it worth a one-time watch.
