La traque

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")

I always liked natural horror/eco terror genre and who doesn't? With entertaining flicks such as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Them! (1954,)Jaws (1975), Prophecy (1979) and more recently Gwoemul (2006), Rogue (2007)etc.

This film also contains a family feud, between generations with a lot of dark undercurrents that is not that common but fuels this thriller and makes it a little less predictable. There are twists and turns that will surprise future viewers and feels more like a play from Eugene O'Neill, Tennesse Williams etc.

When it comes to the genre of pigkiller films, the FX is not bad but could been a little more audience friendly. Even Razorback (1984) gave us better and that movies FX has aged. Compared to Chawu (2009)however, it does not solely rely on CGP(computer generated pork).

The message is common tired old cliché but nevertheless important, profit at any cost even if the environment has to pay a high price. The acting is pretty solid with lots of nice performances from Grégoire Colin, François Levantal, Fred Ulysse, Joseph Malerba etc.

Sometimes it feels like you are watching the disintegration of a family. Add natural horror/eco terror you get a pretty nice mix. But this being a darker, European, genre film don't expect a upbeat, positive tone, this film contains no lighter moments.

While not the greatest effort, it is solid, has some scary moments and is more entertaining then Pig Hunt (2008)and should give any future viewer a good popcorn cinema fest.

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.

Nathan and Claire are over the moon as they're about to announce to her family that she is pregnant. But the joyous occasion doesn't go according to plan. Not only is the family's Pharmaceutical business in trouble, Claire's father is also mysteriously attacked by terrorised deer. Nathan reluctantly joins the heavily armed in-laws to find out what causes the odd behaviour. But as they venture deep into the woods, they soon discover that what started out as a hunting party, has turned into Prey.

When you think of New Wave French Horror, you think of gory insanity. If you go into this film with that expectation, you will be bitterly disappointed. If you go into it expecting a good old fashioned suspense film, then you will be pleasantly surprised! Starting with, the characters are quite self indulgent and unlikeable, so you don't get any sympathy for their cause. This is the biggest downfall of the film. With better characters, a connection with them would have caused the horror scenes to be even more of an impact. Now for the positives. Visually, this is a stunning film. Reminded me of South Korean Cinematography in some instances, with the bright colouring and almost surreal atmosphere. This is a film of "seeing less is best" so there are no CGI creatures in this film, which is great because most of the time, CGI can take the realism out of it. You don't actually get to see the dangers in focus, its all a blur, but by the way its filmed, you know that the threat is very intimidating. Film making of this technique is not common in the world dominated by CGI. So its great to see that some directors still like to let the viewer use their imagination. With great suspense and a surprising ending, this film comes recommended. Its not the greatest French Horror film, but if you are bored one night, this certainly makes entertaining viewing.