Prey - Vom Jäger zur Beute

Hunters become the hunted when they head out into the woods to track down a beast that has been killing the local deer population. A family who own a once successful pesticide company soon realise that it may very well be the side-effects of one of their chemicals that has led to the emergence of giant mutant wild boars.

Prey is another film which makes up part of the cycle of French horror movies which have invigorated the genre since the new millennium. This one goes down a less expected creature-feature route, with the fairly routine idea of a man-made natural disaster being the root cause of the rampaging monsters. There is a fine balance between the family drama and creature feature horror here, with the characters creating as much threat to one and other as the giant pigs. The result is a fairly standard bit of horror in all honesty. This is a sub-genre which is quite well-worn and there isn't anything particularly new brought to the table with this one. That said, it is still a decent enough entry if you like this sort of thing.

A family of industrialists go on a hunting trip and soon realise the error of using nasty chemicals in their factories.

This Eco terror horror movie treads some old ground and anyone familiar with the mutant bear movie 'Prophecy' will recognise some of this movies key moments.

Although none of the ideas here are original the movie itself is still very enjoyable. From the early rustling in the bushes scenes to the all out chase through the swamp at night this movie does a good job raising the tension levels. You may not fall in love with the characters as none of them are particularly likable but you'll still be rooting for them to escape the angry bores.

The creature effects are great. It's all real physical effects too, none of that terrible looking CG stuff here which really added to the believability of the creatures.

If you watch this and enjoy it like I did I suggest you look up the aforementioned 'Prophecy' movie as it is superior to this, but 'Prey' is still worth seeing.

This is now already the fifth part of my little review series: Movies that are way better than you expect.

When I bought this movie at a low price a couple of days ago I expected some entertaining gore horror movie and the short length of only seventy-six minutes seemed to underline my expectations. What I discovered is a fast paced diversified thriller with many surprises that I didn't see coming at all.

In only five minutes or so the director introduces a complicate family drama to us: The young main actor that wants to finally start a new life with his pregnant girlfriend in a city, his girlfriend itself who is torn between her family and their enterprise and the love of her life, her egoist father who secretly worked with pesticides and is constantly in search for further power, his ex-wife who helped him with his conspiracies and still takes a big place in his life, the father's grim brother that feels exploited by him, their father who suffers a strange disease and feels the dark shadows coming over the family - they are all part of the following race and when they go out for a hunt, they become not only the prey of some strange boars that have gone wild but also each other's prey. Jealousy, pride and egoism lead to many surprising and radical scenes and the dramatic turns of events all seem to liberate the worst in each of them. A quite simple plot turns into a haunting and surprising story that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

It's incredible that the director had the time to introduce half of a dozen profound and diversified characters to the movie and mix the horror hunt with influences from the drama and psychological suspense genre and that's what makes this movie so unique and worthwhile. You will quickly realize that the movie focuses on the monsters in the human soul and not that much on some pigs gone crazy even if that aspect is also explained in a credible way. The hunting story itself includes a dark atmosphere, some gripping survival horror parts with a couple of good ideas and some gore scenes that are not too exaggerated and fit well to the general atmosphere and the character's extreme changes. The special effects are not outstanding but done in a truly solid and credible way in comparison to many other low or no budget horror flicks that show too many artificial and unreal monsters and quickly turn me off. The good camera work and the well done soundtrack are other positive points that make this movie one of the best of its kind and a little unexpected masterpiece gem.

In the end, you should not expect anything revolutionary but in its genre and for what it is supposed to be, this movie really left a deep and permanent impression and I will surely watch it a few times again. Make sure to check this underestimated French horror flick out in your local video shop.

Nathan (Grégoire Colin) is in the countryside with his girlfriend Claire (Bérénice Bejo) in the house of her family expecting to announce that she is pregnant and will move with him to the city. Claire is the chemical engineer of Lemans, the pesticide factory that belongs to her father, Nicolas (François Levantal), and she lives in the farmhouse of her grandfather Eric (Fred Ulysse) with her father, her mother Marie (Isabelle Renauld) and her uncle David (Joseph Malerba).

When Eric and David find several dead deer in their land, they organize a hunting party with Nicolas and invite Nathan to participate. Nathan initially refuses but then he sees the chance to have a conversation with Nicolas about Claire's situation. Soon they find that the water supply is compromised since the river is contaminated with pesticide. Further, pigs were fed by a sick sow and turned into mutants. When they are attacked by the animals, the tension increases among the family members and they become the prey in the hunting.

"Proie" is not a bad movie but could be better and better with improvements in the screenplay. The characters should have been better developed since the motives for the increasing tension among the family members would be explained. But the worst is the disappointing conclusion, too dark for my taste. It would not be necessary a happy ending, but I found it pointless. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Presa" ("The Prey")

Decent enough gore and violence. Its too bad the characters were so unlikable. I might have cared if they got eaten or not.