Adela (Assumpta Serna) is an honest pacifist lawyer specialized in Criminal Law and happily married to Jorge (Víctor Valverde). She is dedicated to defending criminals with total conviction of what she does and says about personal hardships and poverty is what leads them to crime and she does not think in natural evil. She is a lawyer with her own convictions that she believes in justice. Assumpta Serna competently plays the lawyer who passionately defends criminal scum who she believes commit crimes due to unfortunate life circumstances. However, her latest defendants have no qualms about pointing her out as her next victim. They steal her car, find the keys to her country villa and decide to rob her place at the next opportunity. Unfortunately, Adele's family shows up at the villa in the middle of a robbery, but then things take a turn for the worse during the home invasion.
Jorge Grau's Hunting Ground is a chilling story of revenge brimming with social commentary and underlying political criticism. At the heart of 'Coto de Caza' (international title: Code of Hunting or Hunting Ground) is a film that explores crime and punishment, and the effects both have on society. The narrative revolves around a defense attorney who believes that all criminals are redeemable, and that the punishment imposed on those convicted is counterproductive. This naivety leads her to the Mauri gang, one of whose members she defends, stealing her car with her personal belongings and preparing a hit on the family country house that has a private hunting reserve. From there, she is forced to go against everything she believes in when it becomes clear that her only way to survive her tormentors is to become one of them. The film turns out to be a crossover between the sub-genres of ' Home Invasion' , 'quinquis' and 'revenge', like ¨Michael Winner's Death Wish¨ with Charles Bronson, although I think it follows more the style of ¨I Spit sobre tu tumba¨ ('I spit on your grave' in its two versions: 1977 and 2010), adding some very strong scenes that would make ¨Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left (1972)¨pale. Along with the excellent starring Assumpta Serna, other good actors appear providing adequate performances, such as: Víctor Valverde, Luis Hostalot, Montserrat Salvador, José Sacristán, Adolfo Thous, Manuel Pereiro, among others. From a production point of view, there is no area in which 'Coto de Caza' does not deliver and even achieve certain slenderness in the violent thriller. The premise of crime and punishment is adequately realized and the director does a great job of maintaining tension throughout. With the ending providing an interesting conclusion to the events that have unfolded.
The film was professionally directed by Jorge Grau, although it developed with some ups and downs. Grau worked as a radio scriptwriter before embarking on his film career and was also a playwright and painter. He was a versatile filmmaker who was immersed in most film genres. He began studying at the 'Centro Sperimentale' film school in Rome, Italy. In Grau there is always a good filmmaker, who uncorked himself in the sixties and seventies with truly modern cinema, developing what was not widespread then, such as high-profile plots. Jorge Grau was an artisan, but he is best remembered for a couple of horror films that he directed, thus he made all kinds of genres such as Drama, suspense, comedy, such as: "The Stranger on Cruz del Sur Street", "The punyalada", "El spontaneo", "La siesta", "Death penalty", "Tutset Street", "Love Letters from a Nun", "Club Girls", ¨la Trastienda¨, "Acteon". Being his two greatest hits within the horror genre, such as: ¨Bloody Ceremony¨ (¨Ceremonia sangrienta¨,¨The Legend of Blood Castle¨, ¨The Femaler Butcher" or "Countess Bathory") and especially the horror classic, ¨No profanar el sueño de los muertos¨ (1974) ("Living dead in the Manchester Morgue"). ¨Hunting Ground¨ rating (1983): 6/10. Acceptable and decent film, in fact internationally and particularly in the United States it has a certain status of a "Cult Movie".
