“Hunting Housewives” (2024) is a survival drama set up like reality TV. Four rich housewives are in a plane crash, and they try to survive in the wild, wondering why there haven’t been any search and rescue looking for them. The wife’s husbands are hanging out in Mark’s house watching live CCTV feed. Mark has an ulterior plan for all their wives, and it leads to plenty of surprises for the men and the women.
This story contains spoilers.
Hunting Housewives (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The movie opens at a plane crash site, and Karla wakes up praying her friend Sharell is not dead. She has blood on her hands because of a wound on her head. Sharell groans, and Karla is relieved. She helps her up, and they are relieved to see each other alive in a flashback to two hours before Joli and Rebel are waiting for Karla and Sharell to arrive. Rebel sees Sharell in her workout attire and is worried if they are going to a workout spa.
Sharell clarifies that she is coming from Pilates and received a certification. She also tells them that she is planning on opening her spa. Joli is mad at Karla since she has not responded to her texts. To which Karla apologizes, saying her husband Mark and she don’t use phones when they are having a romantic time together. The pilot comes to check on them and asks if they have flown in a private jet before, and the women think it’s a ridiculous question.
Rebel flirts with the pilot, and they take off. In the present, Joli has a wound on her leg, and she is bleeding. Sharell is shocked as she finds Rebel’s dead body. Subsequently, the women gather and break down. Joli says it would be nice to take her ring back to her kids. Karla asks Joli to do it as she is Rebel’s best friend. In a flashback, we see Rebel and Joli hanging out with each other. Rebel says she is jealous of Karla because she has a lovely marriage. They also gossip about her as she does not leave the kids and her step-kids with a nanny.
Karla tends to Joli’s wounds, and Sharell looks for some pills to help ease Joli’s pain. They rummage through Rebel’s purse and find pills and shoes, which Karla uses because her heels are broken. Karla’s phone is intact, but there isn’t any signal. Sharell asks to use it to record everything until the battery dies out. She says her husband Andre would have wanted to see the recording as he is a lawyer. Joli suggests taking Andre’s help to sue the private jet company. They decide to take pictures of the dead Rebel as well.
At home, Mark has gathered the men- Andre, Evan and Jared. Mark reveals that he flew the ladies out to a spa that does not exist. Furthermore, he tells them about what their wives are doing behind their backs. He asks Andre if he knew Sharell was planning on blackmailing him by asking him to fund her wellness retreat, and only then will she support his political dreams. Mark had hired a private detective to get all the information.
Mark tells Jared that Joli had recorded their private conversation about trade and had decided to delete it only if he tears the prenup. He tells Evan that Rebel only wants him for the trust fund and she is cheating on him. Then, he says that Karla has betrayed him, and that’s why he has come up with a solution to all their problems. He turns the TV on, and they can see their wives. Evan does not see Rebel, and Mark says he got lucky because she died on impact. At first, the men think he is joking but soon realize he isn’t.
Evan loses his cool, and Mark takes Evan out of the room at gunpoint into a panic room. Jared and Andre realize they need to get out of the place, but they are terrified. The three women are sitting huddled together, trying to come up with a plan. Sharell wonders why nobody had come looking for them. Karla thinks Mark will get aggravated since she has not checked in with him. In a flashback, we see Mark illegally watching over his employees through CCTV cameras. When Karla points that out, he gets angry with her, telling her that he is living a relaxed life and doing nothing because of her.
Karla and Sharell take a walk and Karla suggests they climb up a tree to see a light to know which direction to move towards. Sharell climbs a tree and couldn’t see a light for miles. The women don’t remember anything much after getting on the plane. Andre and Jared play along to whatever Mark is doing as they are terrified. Mark assumed that they all would have died on impact. We see the three women sleeping close to each other. The next morning, Karla is wide awake. She couldn’t sleep in the night and tells them that she has a plan to garner the rescuers’ attention.
She tells them they need to light a fire and keep it on all throughout the day and night so they can be found. The other women agree it is a brilliant plan. Joli tries to find anything that can be helpful to them and finds a shard of glass to use for protection. Sharell is fixing a campfire and Karla is out to look for food and other things. Karla finds a parachute and a river but has to face a challenge as she sees a bear. She starts praying, and the bear leaves. Meanwhile, Sharell and Joli say how lucky Karla is as Mark is devoted to her.
In a flashback, we see Mark getting semi-violent with Karla and aggressive. In a minute, he apologizes and asks her to get better at not making him angry. They wonder why the pilot had not checked on the crash site after landing safely. Mark is annoyed because he can’t hear anything clearly. The men see a bear on one of the cameras, and he is excited. They get together and eat the last protein bar.
They come up with a plan to find help. Sharell and Karla will go look for help, and Joli will be at the campsite. They decide to move Rebel out of the campsite so as not to attract animals. Karla and Sharell wrap Rebel in the parachute and drag her away. Mark wonders if they realize that a dead body will attract animals, and Jared points out that is why they are moving it away. The women decide to have a memorial for Rebel. Overwhelmed by emotions Joli drinks the last of Rose wine.
In a flashback, we see Joli and Rebel talking about their lives. Rebel asks Joli to fight for herself and live a happy life. Mark thinks despite what they did for Rebel he thinks they are evil incarnates. Mark reveals that he met Karla in a bar in a horrible neighborhood. He started talking to her and eventually asked her to marry him, and then he ‘tamed’ her to be perfect in every way. Therefore, he is mad that she decided to leave him. He tells the other men that they told different stories to friends about how they met, but this is the real story.
Joli reveals that Rebel got in her head, and she decided to threaten Jared. Sharell reveals that Andre is funding her spa because she threatened him. Karla reveals that she is afraid of Mark when he is angry and can’t trust him with the kids. She can’t imagine what he will do if she decides to leave him. Andre shows Jared some pills, and they decide to drug Mark and find a way to get out of the house.
The next day Joli gives the shard glass for their protection. Karla and Sharell begin their journey, and Mark is not worried that the girls are leaving the crash site as he has a backup plan. Karla and Sharell stop as their legs hurt, and an arrow is shot and it hits the tree in front of them. They ask the person to come in front of them. But the person shoots another arrow and it hits Sharell’s bag, and Sharell falls. Karla checks and realizes the arrow did not go through the bag.
Mark is distracted, and Jared mixes the pills in his beer. Jared and Andre reveal that the women had spoken to them, and they had agreed. Mark is mad as these men are losing their pride in front of these women. Jared’s plan backfires as Mark does not drink the beer. Karla spots the camera on a tree, and the women manage to break it. Behind the camera, they see that it is Mark’s company, and Karla realizes that this is Mark’s doing.
In a flashback we see Mark bullying and threatening Karla to act out how she is going to behave in front of people in a black tie event. Karla finds the next camera and it is confirmed Mark is behind this. Karla tells Sharell that Mark created the murder plot. The men think a bear is headed towards Joli, but it turns out to be a squirrel. Joli is hungry and thinks if she should kill the squirrel for food. Karla realizes there is a transmitter nearby, and they try to find it.
Mark is still not worried as he has another plan. Karla disconnects the transmitter, and the men lose the signal. Mark uses his phone to contact the pilot as he takes the man’s help to get rid of the women. The women hear gunshots and come up with a plan. Karla tells Sharell to keep a stone ready, and she will reevaluate, and when he is going to shoot, she needs to hit him. They do exactly that, and the pilot falls on the ground. They check his phone and message Mark that the mission is accomplished. He responds by saying a car will arrive and sends a location.
Hunting Housewives (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Will Mark be successful with his plans?
Mark is ready to celebrate with the men. The car arrives, and the girls wait for the opportunity and ask the man to drop his keys and phone in the car at gunpoint. They drive away and see where the car was parked last and realize it is Karla and Mark’s country house. Sharell calls the cops to find them and rescue Joli. Karla and Sharell sneak into the house and find Evan in the panic room. He tells them he has nothing to do with this. The men decide to find Evan and enter the panic room to realize he is missing.
Karla cuts the power, and they hear the men. Jared and Andre are saying that only Mark is responsible for this and Karla follows Mark outside. Sharell finds Andre, and it turns out Andre was in on the plan. Evan rescues Sharell. Karla confronts Mark, and he continues to manipulate her by saying she was nothing before him, and just then, the police siren is heard. He panics and loses his balance, and his gun falls into the pool. Joli is rescued, and in the next scene, we see the three girls hanging out and talking about their plans.
The film ends with the women being rescued and free from their toxic husbands. They also get the custody of their children. The film, however, is flawed in terms of the survival aspect that the film intended to do by dropping them in the forest. They spent three days in the forest with barely any danger, and even the dangers they encountered felt sloppily staged. Mark is a toxic and manipulative guy, but Andre’s involvement in it fell flat as his character wasn’t written well. It also felt rushed, as there wasn’t any time to establish anything.
