Sylvester Stallone has held the rights to make a film based on James Byron Huggins' 1999 novel HUNTER (you can pick up a copy of the book at THIS LINK) for a long time, and nine years ago he was planning to do something very unexpected with those rights – he was going to replace the novel's lead character Nathaniel Hunter with John J. Rambo and turn the story into a film titled RAMBO V: THE SAVAGE HUNT. It would have been a very different sort of Rambo movie, dropping the character into the sci-fi horror genre to face off with what Stallone described as "an inhuman beast" that was created through genetic experiments.
Thankfully, Stallone is now filming a RAMBO V that, like the previous films, draws inspiration from real world issues. In this case, Rambo will be taking on drug cartels and human traffickers. But Stallone still hopes to turn HUNTER into its own movie, and his production company Balboa Productions, which he recently formed with Braden Aftergood, is in the process of securing a writer for the adaptation.
Huggins' novel has the following description:
Nathaniel Hunter is the ultimate tracker, the world's best. If you're lost, Hunter can find you — whether you want him to or not. Still, Hunter is particular about the searches he takes on. So when the military men seeking his help are very secretive about the mission they're recruiting him for, Hunter's instincts tell him to refuse. But there is a beast loose somewhere north of the Arctic Circle and it's already charged through a secret research facility, wiping out the elite military squad that had been guarding it. And this raging superhuman monster is headed south for civilization, ready to wreak bloody devastation.
It's a job that Hunter can't turn down, but what he discovers here in the wilderness is that terror has a form, that a renegade agency has let a half-human abomination escape into the wild. This almost invulnerable creature was created through a series of outlawed genetic experiments that have left it with a hunger for human blood. And may have made it immortal.
When HUNTER was going to be turned into a RAMBO sequel, this is the synopsis that was sent around:
John Rambo could track anyone – or anything – on earth. Now the military desperately needs him for a mission that his ultrasensitive instincts tell him he should refuse. A beast is loose somewhere north of the Arctic Circle. It has already decimated a secret research facility and annihilated a squad of elite military guards. And the raging creature is headed south towards civilization, ready to wreak bloody devastation.
It's a job that Rambo and his 22-year-old hunting partner, Beau Brady, can't turn down, but they and a team of highly skilled special forces kill team discover that the prey is beyond their wildest fears, a half-human abomination created by a renegade agency through a series of outlawed genetic experiments. It has man's cunning, a predator's savageness, and a prehistoric power that has transcended the ages. And even if Rambo and Beau survive its unrelenting hunger for human blood, they'll still have to confront the grim reality that it may have grown immortal.
I didn't want to see Rambo fight a monster, but I definitely want to see Stallone fight a monster, so I hope HUNTER is about to be put on the fast track to production.