La traque

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.

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")

You made your bed, now lie in it. We mess with Nature at our own risk. Genetically modified fertilizers can cause some nasty problems, as we see in this first feature by French director Antoine Blossier.

While the family heads to the woods to find what is out there, we are treated to tensions caused by one not born into the group. The rest act as if he is also prey and they try to tear him apart.

While in the woods in the darkness, we see snouts and teeth and hear terrifying noises. Will any survive? Do you really care for any of them?

Is there anything new here? Haven't we seen it all before (Prophecy, Razorback, Pig Hunt)? The actors were good, and kept our interest, but I wonder if it would have been worth it to wait for Eric Valette's The Prey. Serial killers are more exciting than razorbacks.

A man wanders into his yard to find some deer badly mutilated. Is this somehow related to the nearby chemical plant or a coincidence?

I have to say I enjoyed this movie. While not the greatest, it still had plenty of action, rich characters, a unique story, and amazing special effects. Whoever designed those animals did such an impressive job. I also appreciate the use of not showing things rather than showing them on occasion -- the imagination can fill in blanks nicer than CGI can more often than not.

The romantic interest in this film is Claire, plated by Bérénice Bejo. You may recall Bejo as Christiana from "A Knight's Tale" or more recently as Peppy Miller in "The Artist". Her role is, sadly, rather small... but it was nice to see some noteworthy talent in a movie that otherwise had no names to speak of that I (as an American unfamiliar with French cinema) could recognize.

If you wanted to venture into the world of French horror, this is not a bad place to start (and it makes a nice double feature with "The Pack").

I know this film has received quite a bit of press and discussion on the Wildside forums but for some reason I was at a loss for what this film was about when I first rented it. As it progressed, I got the picture rather quick as Prey doesn't take long at all to jump into the thick of things. It's no surprise (or spoiler) that Prey's killer pigs aren't normal but I probably should warn creature feature fans that these particular piggies aren't of the deformed variety. They do, however, appear to be real deal FX creations (which they reveal sparingly) instead of CG though and that really helped me remain within the film.

The actors all performed admirably but their characters were, in my opinion, rather bland and lacked personality. Not only did they come off flat but their motivations will be disappointingly apparent to astute viewers, leading to a predictability that siphons away some of the impact of the finale. I found myself losing interest in the fates of the characters, even the remotely likable ones, of which there weren't many. There's certainly more than enough tension to hold your attention though and it never lets up, not even for a minute.

Prey is a decent thriller with some gruesome sequences of woodland carnage but it's nothing I could see myself watching again or even purchasing for my personal collection. When it comes to killer pig flicks, it is infinitely superior exercise in suspense than a film like Pig Hunt, which was completely gonzo, but the ecological disaster concept is stale and the entire film lacks replay value for me. Still…not a bad film so give it a shot, you may enjoy it.