Proie

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 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.

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").

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.

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.