Henry Cavill’s Twisty Detective Thriller Is a Hidden Gem on Free TV

If you’re looking for an almost 90-minute thriller to capture your attention for an evening, then perhaps it’s time to give Night Hunter a try. This Canadian-made Henry Cavill-led detective flick boasts a stacked cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Stanley Tucci, Nathan Fillion, and Alexandra Daddario, and features enough twists and turns to keep you hooked until the very end. It may not be as action-packed as some of Cavill’s other 2010s features, but it’ll certainly entertain. Night Hunter is currently dominating the streaming charts, and can be found for free on PlutoTV, Fawesome TV and Hoopla.

‘Night Hunter’ Is a ’90s-Style Crime Drama With Potential

Originally titled Nomis upon release, Night Hunter follows Minneapolis-based Detective Walter Marshall (Cavill) as he stumbles upon a local child predator ring that has gone on for years undetected. In fact, the only reason the police happen upon it at all is due to the death of a young woman who escaped captivity — and a former judge, Michael Cooper (Kingsley), who has decided to take the law into his own hands. As Marshall and Cooper work together to track down the party responsible, the cops find and arrest the mentally disturbed Simon Stulls (Brendan Fletcher), who gives Marshall and police profiler Rachel Chase (Daddario) the runaround as they try to discern just how many women have been stolen and killed over the years. It’s here that Night Hunter gets particularly interesting as our heroes deal with the deranged party responsible. While everyone does a fine job in this picture, it’s Fletcher who truly delivers with the most important performance in the film, offering several complex and menacing sides to the criminal element at the center of the mystery.

Night Hunter — which was written and directed by David Raymond — has been considered a Zodiac replacement, and has also been compared to similar serial killer-driven pictures like Seven, The Silence of the Lambs, and even Split, given the fractured mental state of Fletcher’s character. While the film certainly takes some inspiration from the action crime thrillers of the ’90s, it feels particularly modern in its fast-paced approach to the aforementioned genres. The plot itself moves quickly along and although it’s unashamedly a B-movie, that’s no reason to simply write it off. While some could argue that the film is too complex or perhaps even contrived, Night Hunter makes for a fun watch if not just to see this solid cast unite for an entertaining (and high-stakes) 98 minutes that keeps everything moving. No, it’s not as profound as Seven, classic as Silence of the Lambs, or remotely as frightening as Split (except, perhaps, due to the “what ifs” you may imagine in the aftermath), but it does the job well with the time given and refuses to waste its leading star. As far as psychological thrillers go, it’s certainly mind-bending.

Henry Cavill and the Rest of the Cast Turn ‘Night Hunter’ Into the Perfect Evening Watch

Despite its mixed-to-negative reputation, Night Hunter has consistently been a favorite with audiences on streaming for years now, dominating the charts every time it’s been widely available on free-to-stream platforms. This was the case last summer as well as earlier this year, and the film continues to draw in an audience even now. One might take issue with some of the direction or possibly even the lack of material for stars like Tucci and Fillion, but there are certainly some uncut gems here that make the movie formerly known as Nomis worth the watch. Fans of Henry Cavill, in particular, will be pleased, especially when he’s performing opposite Fletcher or Kingsley. As a struggling father fighting to create a safe world for his daughter (only to wrestle in expressing himself to her), Marshall is a tried-and-true staple of the detective genre that emotionally grounds the picture. Fathers in the audience may cling to such material.

At the end of the day, Night Hunter may not be for everyone. It’s a video-on-demand flick that leans a bit too hard into its star power as a substitute, but it’s one that (for the most part) really does stick the landing. Whether you’re looking for a quick watch or slowly making your way through the leading star’s entire filmography (we recommend Blood Creek next), there’s no better price of admission than free. It may not be among Henry Cavill’s most rewatchable movies, but diehard fans probably won’t be too disappointed, either.