"The Most Dangerous Game" is an influential 1924 short story by Richard Connell. It tells the story of big-game hunter Sanger Rainsford becoming the hunted when trapped on a jungle island owned by General Zaroff, a Russian aristocrat who has turned to hunting man after becoming bored of hunting animals.
There have been many adaptations of "The Most Dangerous Game" across different forms of media, including film, radio, and television, among others.
Film The story has been directly adapted into films several times. Additionally, the story's plot has been used as inspiration for other films. The Most Dangerous Game (1932; dir. Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack): Produced by RKO Pictures and the first major film adaptation of the original work. A Game of Death (1945; dir. Robert Wise): Produced by RKO Pictures, this version changes Zaroff into "Erich Kreiger", a Nazi, and is set in the aftermath of World War II. Run for the Sun (1956; dir. Roy Boulting): stars Richard Widmark, Trevor Howard and Jane Greer. Bloodlust! (1961; dir. Ralph Brooke): Stars Wilton Graff as the Zaroff-type character, and Robert Reed as the leader of a band of youths who become stranded on the island. Confessions of a Psycho Cat (1968; dir. Herb Stanley): An early sexploitation film taking place in New York City. Zaroff is replaced with a woman known as Virginia Marcus, who offers three acquitted murderers $100,000 if they can survive a night of her hunting them down. It takes little from the story apart from the concept of hunting humans for sport. The Suckers (1972; dir. Arthur Byrd): A sexploitation version, with the hunter using models as his prey. The Woman Hunt (1972; dir. Eddie Romero): Produced by Roger Corman for New World Pictures, it stars John Ashley and Sid Haig. Turkey Shoot (1982; dir. Brian Trenchard-Smith - originally released in the US as Escape 2000 and also known in the UK as Blood Camp Thatcher): Set in a country under a totalitarian rule, people labelled as "deviants" are sent to internment camps. At these establishments, the director allows the country's societal elite to use the "deviants" as game for their recreational hunting hobbies. Avenging Force (1986; dir. Sam Firstenberg): Starring Michael Dudikoff, the story of a former Secret Service agent and his partner who are lured into a trap by an ultra-right organization and used as live prey in a deadly hunt. As in Richard Connell’s short story, an elite group turns people into trophies, viewing the hunt of humans as the ultimate form of entertainment and superiority. The film reworks this premise as a martial-arts action movie in which the victim becomes the hunter. Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity (1987; dir. Ken Dixon): A sci-fi/sexploitation where scantily-clad women are hunted on an alien world by a mad scientist, Zed. Predator (1987; dir. John McTiernan): A group of Special Forces soldiers in South America find themselves hunted by an alien creature which wants to collect trophies. Deadly Prey (1987; dir. David A. Prior): A former soldier is kidnapped by mercenaries who train by hunting innocent people. Hard Target (1993; dir. John Woo): In New Orleans, homeless Vietnam War veterans serve as human prey for the hunt. Surviving the Game (1994; dir. Ernest Dickerson): Starring Rutger Hauer, Ice-T and Charles S. Dutton, it depicts a homeless man who is hired as a survival guide for a group of wealthy businessmen on a hunting trip in the mountains. The Pest (1997; dir. Paul Miller): A comedic parody, with German huntsman Gustav Shank (Jeffrey Jones) accidentally bringing teenage Puerto Rican hustler Pestario "Pest" Vargas (John Leguizamo) to his island instead of the skilled athlete he had intended to hunt, only to decide to hunt the Pest anyway due to his sheer obnoxiousness. The Eliminator (2004; dir. Ken Barbet): Seven captured people are hunted at night for sport on an island as a betting game for the wealthy. Piranha (2006; dir. Andrey Kavun): Starring Vladimir Mashkov tells the story of a former Russian Spetsnaz operative who falls into a trap in the Russian taiga set by a group of wealthy and powerful people staging an illegal human hunt as an extreme form of entertainment. As in “The Most Dangerous Game,” the victim is deliberately released into the wilderness—the Russian taiga—given a head start, and then pursued as prey. The film grounds this motif in specifically Russian realities—mercenaries, elite hunters, bandits, and Old Believers—turning the classic premise into a gritty modern action thriller. Never Leave Alive (2017; dir. Steven LaMorte): Stars WWE wrestler John Hennigan. The Hunt (2020; dir. Craig Zobel): A contemporary retelling, involving liberal elites hunting "deplorables" in and around a manor in Croatia. Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020; dir. Don Michael Paul): In the seventh installment of the Tremors franchise, Burt Gummer and several other unlucky people are trapped on an island with a trophy hunter, who hunts graboids for sport. Apex (2021; dir. Edward John Drake): An ex-cop serving a life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit is offered a chance at freedom if he can survive a deadly game in which a group of hunters pay for the pleasure of hunting another human on a remote island. The Most Dangerous Game (2022; dir. Justin Lee): A remake of the 1932 film. Death Hunt (2022; dir. Neil Mackay): A Canadian film variation on The Most Dangerous Game, as a couple is captured and hunted in the woods by three local men. Apex (2026; dir. Baltasar Kormákur): Starring Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton, tells the story of a rock climber and kayaker who finds herself hunted in Australia.
Radio "The Most Dangerous Game" has been presented four times as a radio play:
The CBS radio program Suspense featured two separate adaptations of the story. The first, airing September 23, 1943, starred Orson Welles as Zaroff and Keenan Wynn as Rainsford. A second episode, aired on February 1, 1945, starred J. Carrol Naish as Zaroff and Joseph Cotten as Rainsford. Both Suspense productions presented an adaptation by Jack Finke in which Rainsford narrates the story in retrospect as he waits in Zaroff's bedroom for the final confrontation. The CBS radio program Escape also featured an adaptation of the story, airing October 1, 1947, with Paul Frees as Rainsford and Hans Conried as Zaroff. The CBS radio show Tales of Fatima aired an adaptation on September 24, 1949, featuring Basil Rathbone and Rex Harrison.
Television
Have Gun Will Travel, "The Hunt" (1962), Paladin is lured to Oregon by a widow, so that a bored Russian prince named Boris Radachev (Leonid Kinskey) can hunt him and her; "The Black Bull" (1963) Paladin is hunted in a bullring by an insane matador (Carlos Romero) Shadow of the Condor (1964) Jonny Quest cartoon Series: Race Bannon must fight for his life in the Andes Mountains in a dogfight in World War I fighter aircraft against an insane German world war I ace who wants to make Bannon his 100th kill. The Wild Wild West, "The Night of Sudden Death" (1965), Jim West and a circus girl are trapped inside an Africa Reserve wild animal park in Colorado and are hunted by an insane big-game hunter Warren (Robert Loggia). Get Smart, "Island of the Darned" (1966), Agents 86 and 99 are trapped on an island with a mad KAOS killer Hans Hunter (Harold Gould), a German hunter. Gilligan's Island, "The Hunter" (1967), big-game hunter Jonathan Kincaid (Rory Calhoun) turns his sights on Gilligan when he realizes there are no wild animals on the island. Lost In Space, "Hunter's Moon" (1967), Professor Robinson (Guy Williams) is forced into being a human prey and hunted by an alien named Megazor. I Spy, "The Name of the Game" (1968), Agents Kelly and Scott are pursued through the jungle in Mexico by a crazed former American general with paranoid delusions. Bonanza, "The Hunter" (1973), a deranged killer, Corporal Bill Tanner (Tom Skerritt), who is a former tracker for the United States Army, hunts Little Joe (Michael Landon). Gunsmoke, (20/1) "Matt Dillon Must Die" (1974) Marshal Matt Dillion is hunted in the mountains by a crazed madman and his sons. Charlie's Angels (season 4, episode 12) The angels are hunted on a remote island by a person who considers himself wronged by Charles Townsend (their boss). Fantasy Island, pilot episode (1977), a big-game hunter comes to the island to be hunted by a man, a twist on the usual version, in which the hunted participates against his will. In Logan's Run episode 3 “Capture”, the runners and pursuing sandmen are both captured by a big game hunter who plans to hunt them for sport, just as he has done for other runners. The runners and sandmen are forced to cooperate to escape the common threat. The Incredible Hulk episode "The Snare" has fugitive scientist David Banner trapped on a private island owned by an insane hunter who not only craves the challenge of hunting humans, but considers the discovery of Banner's powerful Hulk form as a sign of a quarry who is even more of an appealing challenge. Hart to Hart, "Hunted Harts" (4:11, 1983), the Harts are lured to South America to be hunted by a big game hunter. Xena: Warrior Princess, "Dangerous Prey" (6:11, 2001), Xena goes after Prince Morloch, who is hunting the Amazon women as if they were animals. The Simpsons Halloween special "Treehouse of Horror XVI" contained a segment titled "Survival of the Fattest" which parodied the story closely. In this segment Mr. Burns invited much of the cast to his hunting lodge on a private island, only to reveal that he intended to hunt them all for sport. Another episode makes a reference to "The Most Dangerous Game" when Rainier Wolfcastle says that he bought a YMCA to demolish it and install a hunting ground dedicated to "hunt the most dangerous animal of all... Man." In an episode of the animated sitcom American Dad!, the Smith family and a young woman become stranded on an island after Francine jumps off a cruise. Stan goes up to the mansion on this island to ask for help, but the inhabitants say that they are going to hunt the family. The Smiths and the young woman become trapped in a cave, where the young woman dies and they eat her to survive. The hunters then break into the cave and shoot the family. Stan sits up, realizing it is paint. At a party later, the hunters reveal that nobody really dies on The Most Dangerous Game Island. In Season 2, Episode 21 of Criminal Minds, "Open Season", two brothers capture people stranded in a remote region of the wilderness outside Challis, Idaho, release them into the hills, and hunt them with compound bows for sport, referring the men as "bucks" and the women as "does". In Season 13, Episode 15 of Law and Order: SVU, "Hunting Ground", a serial rapist and killer lures female escorts after their date to a remote area where he sets them free while he hunts them down to recapture them again. (Episode may have been inspired by real-life serial killer Robert Hansen.) In the Disney animated series The Mighty Ducks "The Most Dangerous Duck Hunt" episode, the heroes are trapped on an island and hunted. In a "Dial M for Monkey" segment of the animated series Dexter's Laboratory, the hero, Monkey, is trapped by an alien big-game hunter named Huntor. In Season 1, Episode 15 of Supernatural, "The Benders", a family has been behind disappearances in a city. The family snatches victims to hunt and kill. Sam and a police officer are taken, but Dean finds them and helps them subdue the family before it can cause them any harm. In Season 7, Episode 12 of Futurama, "31st Century Fox", Bender becomes the target of a fox hunting club and is referred to as "the most dangerous game." In Season 2 Episode 6 of The Blacklist, Elizabeth Keen and her FBI task force encounter a family in Idaho who trained the mother's youngest son to hunt and kill humans kidnapped by the eldest son.