Get Duked! is the film The Hunt wishes it could be

When three teenage hooligans are given one last chance to avoid expulsion from school, they reluctantly agree to participate in a Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme hike in the Scottish wilderness. Added to their party is a young overachiever who’s enthusiastically completing the DoE award in order to pad out his CV. Dropped in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a map and the challenge of figuring out how to work together to find their campsite, they find themselves being hunted by a mystery assailant, turning a simple orienteering challenge into the fight of their lives.

Thrilling, inventive and blackly hilarious, “Get Duked” takes its simple premise and spins it into an outrageously savage class satire while never losing sight of the need to keep hitting the horror and comedy beats.

It’s a wonderfully crafted screenplay, crammed with running and developing jokes which all combine and pay off in a satisfyingly riotous and barmy finale. For anyone who’s ever undertaken a wilderness challenge – reluctantly or otherwise – there’ll be a lot of familiar moments which will prompt a rueful smile and that’s without the crazy, bloodsoaked high jinks which follow.

The cast – a winning mix of veteran character actors like Kate Dickie, James Cosmo, Eddie Izzard and Jonathan Aris blend and spark off the younger leads (Samuel Bottomley, Rian Gordon, Lewis Gribben and Viraj Juneja as the show-stealing DJ Beatroot), delivering a savage and sardonic romp through the Scottish countryside. Debut feature Writer/ Director Ninian Doff is definitely one to watch and on the strength of this movie I think it’s safe to say a pretender to the throne of Edgar Wright has emerged.