One of the most influential genre classics is also among the least seen. Though The Most Dangerous Game is often dismissed as a kind of proving ground for King Kong, time has demonstrated it to be much more than that. Though the film is approaching 95 years old, the ripples of its influence seem stronger than ever.

Based on a 1924 O. Henry Award-winning short story by Richard Connell, the film was originally intended to be a much larger movie, on par with King Kong in spectacle and budget, featuring a much larger cast and more intricate adventure sequences. Unfortunately, the studio got a case of cold feet, especially because the film was being shot, at least in part, simultaneously with Kong and had a first-time director calling the shots. The budget was cut to about $200,000, less than half of what the original script required. As a result, the cast was cut down considerably along with the higher concept situations and, ultimately, the overall length of the film.

In some ways, The Most Dangerous Game was a way for first-time feature director Ernest P. Shoedsack to show the studio brass at RKO that he was up to the task of helming (or at least co-directing) their big, special effects-laden gamble. He was paired with established dialogue director Irving Pichel but was found to be up to the task of directing not only the action scenes, but the quiet dialogue sequences as well. Because of the budget constraints, Shoedsack cut down the intended shipwreck scene to just a few moments and created the shark attack sequence from shots lifted from King Vidor’s Bird of Paradise (1932).

King Kong Connections and the Infamous Trophy Room

Instead of a cast of about half a dozen “hunted” individuals, most of whom perish in the shipwreck and shark attack scenes in the final film, the story focuses on Robert Rainsford, played by Joel McCrea, who would soon become a massive star, and Eve Trowbridge, played by the Original Scream Queen, Fay Wray. Facing off against these two is acclaimed British actor Leslie Banks as the homicidal Count Zaroff and his faithful assistant Ivan, played by Noble Johnson.

I use the term “homicidal” intentionally to describe Zaroff. In many ways, he is the first serial killer of the American screen, with perhaps only Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert in Fritz Lang’s M (1931) preceding him worldwide. In the original story, his character is essentially an ultra-rich nut who has grown bored with his big game hunts and decides that man is the only worthy trophy. In the film, Zaroff has entwined personal sexual gratification with the hunt.

The most horrifying sequence of the film involves the discovery of Count Zaroff’s trophy room, featuring the stuffed and mounted heads of several animals and a human being. After test screenings in 1932, the sequence was cut significantly, resulting in the breezy, sixty-three-minute final runtime of The Most Dangerous Game. Though short, the sequence is still chilling and offers a glimpse into the madness of Zaroff, who then sends his guests out into the wild to fend for themselves.

The second half of the film was shot on RKO’s standing jungle set, which had been built for King Kong stop-motion genius Willis O’Brien’s abandoned film “Creation.” O’Brien was shifted to working on Kong, and the spectacular jungle set played double duty on Game and Kong. In fact, several topographical features of Zaroff’s private isle can also be spotted on Skull Island for those who care to look. These island adventure sequences are the most memorable of the film and climax with a pack of Great Danes (provided by silent comedy legend Harold Lloyd) pursuing the glamorous couple.

It is difficult to unravel the timeline of the nearly simultaneous shooting schedule of The Most Dangerous Game and King Kong, but film historians and Fay Wray herself in her memoir On the Other Hand have been able to give some clues. It seems that Kong visionary Merian C. Cooper was in charge of directing the special effects sequences involving actors for Kong. Principal photography was then paused as those shots were sent to Willis O’Brien and his team to create the miniature and stop-motion effects. In the intervening weeks, the actors, including Wray, were free to work on other projects.

This process went on for so long that Wray alone made about a dozen films in 1932 and 1933, including the horror films Doctor X, The Vampire Bat, and Mystery of the Wax Museum, in addition to Game and Kong, a run that would solidify her legacy as one of horror’s greatest stars. After work on the film was completed, Shoedsack, Wray, Robert Armstrong, and others threw themselves into finishing the principal photography for King Kong, a film that would make them all legends.

The Film’s Lasting Influence on Horror and Action Cinema

Watching it today, The Most Dangerous Game feels a bit slight compared to other island horror adventures released around the same time, like Island of Lost Souls (1932) and, of course, King Kong (1933), but its real power has become apparent in the decades since. The story has been remade officially and unofficially almost endlessly. The basic setup of the ultrawealthy hunting human beings, usually poor people, is dramatically compelling but also politically evergreen. It is no wonder that filmmakers keep returning to the basics of the story to mine the depths of its themes.

Shoedsack himself made a science-fiction tinged take on the idea called Dr. Cyclops (1940) in which the hunted are shrunk down to about four inches and sent into the jungle. An official remake, retitled A Game of Death, directed by Robert Wise, was released in 1945 and features a cast and situations more along the lines of the original vision for the 1932 film. A faithful adaptation of the story was released as recently as 2022, starring Tom Berenger, Bruce Dern, Judd Nelson, and Casper Van Dien, but far more fascinating are the unofficial versions of the story.

In the 1980s and 1990s, several action versions of the story were released, including John Woo’s Hard Target (1993) starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Ernest Dickerson’s Surviving the Game (1994) starring Rutger Hauer and Ice-T. The latter especially takes advantage of the political dimension of the story, including not only aspects of class but race as well. Perhaps a bit more tangential but still similar enough to be included is the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle The Running Man (1987), which pits wrongly accused prisoners against futuristic hunters called “Stalkers” in a game show format.

Recent Horror Reinterpretations

A new variation of the story has forced the poor, usually young people, to hunt one another while the wealthy and corrupt government looks upon it all for entertainment. Battle Royale (2000) is a great example of this variation in which a group of ninth-graders is forced to kill each other in brutal ways. The Hunger Games series (2012-present) has been the most financially successful version of the story to date and continues to spawn revisions and spinoffs. Hot on its heels was the hugely successful South Korean series Squid Game (2021-2025) on Netflix, which dives deep into the psyche of its contestants as well as the rich overlords.

In the vein of more traditional horror, three recent films (plus one sequel) have caught the fire of The Most Dangerous Game once again. Ready or Not (2019), directed by Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett), and its recent sequel Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026) up the ante by pitting Samara Weaving, and in the sequel Kathryn Newton, against families of rich weirdos with a satanic twist. The Illuminati-style element of the wealthy Le Domas family and their ilk also pokes fun at the conspiracy-minded nature of our current world.

Adding a political dimension to all this is the controversial The Hunt (2020), which not only pits rich versus poor but left versus right in a situation that becomes more complex and nuanced as it goes along. Also playing on a Faustian Satanic bargain is Kirill Sokolov’s They Will Kill You (2026), which combines the familiarity of The Most Dangerous Game with the hyper-stylized action and gore of Hong Kong and Japanese cinematic sensibilities.

These are really just a few highlights. There are subtle and blatant riffs on the story spanning nearly a hundred years, and I am positive that we have not heard the last of The Most Dangerous Game.