Writer/Director Franck Khalfoun, the French filmmaker behind P2 and Maniac (2012), knows a thing or two about brutal horror and wringing palpable tension from it. His latest, Night of the Hunted, adapts the 2015 Spanish horror-thriller La Noche del Ratón for a grim single-location feature that taps into the tumultuous social climate. Khalfoun continues his streak for delivering nail-biting suspense through escalating violence, though the film’s messaging may prove divisive.

Alice (The Deep House’s Camille Rowe) sleepily video chats with her husband as she gets ready in her hotel room. She ends the call mere moments before her lover, John (Jeremy Scippio), enters the frame, avoiding catastrophe within seconds. After pausing to collect herself, Alice pushes John onward as they head out in the middle of the night to start their travels home. They don’t get far down the road, as a stop at a rural gas station in the dead of night turns into a harrowing bid for survival when Alice discovers she’s trapped there by a sadistic sniper.

Khalfoun, who co-wrote with Glen Freyer, gets right to the horror after briefly introducing the unreliable protagonist, Alice. The desolate setting inherently establishes unease, and the filmmaker quickly dials up the tension with rapid gunfire that leaves Alice isolated, injured, and scrambling for cover. That spirals into an intense cat-and-mouse game between the hunter and hunted, with Alice attempting to root out her attacker’s motives and find an escape.

Night of the Hunted is at its best when focused on the brutal thrills and chills of an unseen assailant with remarkable aim. The more Khalfoun leans into the mysteries of why and staging action that requires Alice to maneuver out of the sniper’s sightlines, the more engaging it is. The uncertainty of whether this is a random act of violence or a strategic targeting of an unlikable lead bolsters the unpredictability of the first act.

The more the sniper reveals his motives and philosophy, the more the polarizing messaging threatens to overtake the horror. A red herring plot thread attempts to distract and prolong the overarching question of what drives this madman to pursue Alice relentlessly, but it winds up bogging down the propulsive action. It’s not helped by on-the-nose dialogue that works a bit too hard to drive the point home. The good news is that just when the social commentary verges on the cusp of no return, a bloody climax and final scathing punchline drive the cautionary point home with success.

Rowe carries the film well, with much of the runtime resting almost solely on her shoulders as the lone person on screen for significant stretches. That Alice gets introduced as someone with dubious morals makes this even more impressive. While that does factor into the plot, it also adds complexity to the character, and Rowe ensures rooting interest through horror action physicality and nuanced vulnerability.

An intense standoff situation gets bogged down by prolonged conversations between Alice and the sociopathic sniper, which weighs in on the “both sides” argument to an uncomfortable degree. Khalfoun bides his time until the final moments to take a stance, and only then does the murky messaging come into clear view. The journey getting there is frequently intense as it is muddy by its occasionally heavy-handed dialogue, but every single step is in service to that final punchline. Night of the Hunted taps into the prevalent rage of today to oft-thrilling results, though it sometimes stumbles in making its point.

Night of the Hunted debuts on Shudder on October 20, 2023.