Hunter Prey

If you like movies that are more story driven, you'll like "Hunter Prey".

It has the look and feel of one of those made for TV movies of the 70's. I mean that in a really good way. You see, way back when, before all this CG crap, filmmakers had to use ingenuity and talent to craft their films. They had to tell their story through... Well, telling a story.

This is not a film for anyone seeking a fast paced, mindless, mess. It's a film for hardcore sci fi junkies like myself, who grew up on Star Trek, The Outer Limits, and The Twilight Zone.

It's more about the story and characters than special effects.

They have the same budgets, and probably more. Hunter Prey is just the kind of thing that channel should be filled with, but instead all we get is silly, dimwitted, fodder designed for nothing beyond a Saturday evening with beer and burgers. I hope to god this film doesn't wind up on SyFy. Hunter Prey was better than some genre films I've seen that even got a theater showing. It has all the right elements that make a good science fiction film. Great characters and production design, beautiful cinematography, lots of aliens and a good story. What more can you ask for? Hunter Prey delivers the goods and left me wanting more. Bring on the sequel!

What a surprise treat this film was. Throwback to the old school style of film making when directors needed talent and imagination to make these kinds of movies, not millions of dollars. HUNTER PREY is an example of what can accomplished on a very limited budget, with two actors on basically one location. It's easy to make big budget, tent pole, summer blockbusters when you have a hundreds of people, millions of dollars and movie stars. I'd like to see just one of those big studio directors make something from nothing, get blood from a turnup and bring a world to life with only raw talent and there two hands. This director is a real artist who knows how to tell a compelling story with visually arresting imagery. 10/10

When I stumbled upon this flick I am not sure what I expected. A lot of your sci-fi or monster movie titles can really be hit or miss. Well, this was "hit". I really enjoyed this movie. So many times with a sci-fi movie it seems like they try to cram way to much into the movie to make up for poor writing. Not the case with Hunter-Prey. The story was great and it had just enough high quality effects to really make this exciting. I think that is what I liked best was the fact that, because of the writing, the entire story seemed somewhat possible, if not completely believable. I will be keeping my eyes open for a sequel too. The door was left wide open for a part 2, or even TV show.

I would have liked to have seen the version of Hunter Prey where Collora followed his gut instincts and made a pure art film, instead of trying to make it more commercial or sellable. I see this all the time with indie genre films, particularly ones that don't have a bankable star in them. The producers feel they need an element that can take the place of a notable actor, especially in the foreign markets. What that usually ends up being is some really awful, bad CG ridden, formulaic mess that ends up on the SciFi channel. What we have here, is a film that thankfully isn't that, but what it does end up being is a bit of a confused movie, unable to define itself.

It's good, but it's clunky in places. Sometimes this is a result of performance issues, but sometimes it lies more in the writing and editing choices. There are a few elements of Hunter Prey that simply don't match up or make much sense.

The most glaring example of this, is the score. It's fantastic, but doesn't fit the movie, especially after the first act. It's way too big for a small, personal movie like this. I just felt like the filmmaker was trying to pound me over the head with music that maybe was representing what he wanted to be there visually and perhaps didn't have the budget to do. It seemed like they took the score from a big, popcorn action movie and stuck it on Hunter Prey in an effort to make it seem bigger or more commercial, but all it does, is make the audience wish there was more movie or less music. A more subdued, un-inflected, moody soundtrack would have served this film much better.

I'm predicting this film will eventually become Collora's "Blade Runner" of sorts... An awe inspiring, visual feast with a story that some people will get into and some won't. Like most art films, it will be unsuccessful and commercially disappointing at first, with an audience that slowly builds over time. As his body of work grows and he makes more films, people will come to appreciate Hunter Prey.