Caçados

Judging from the reviews here, I didn't expect much so I was somewhat pleasantly surprised. In a cold winter evening in Sweden it can be pretty nice to see a movie set in the beautiful South African landscape. The story is not much to say about. It's basically "Cujo" but with lions instead of a St Bernard Dog. By far not a great movie, but a pretty entertaining and exciting 90 minutes. Seen to the budget the movie looks pretty good. The acting is also OK, but it could have been a better movie if the script would have been more believable. But that is often the case with this type of movies and it didn't bother me that much.

Prey should be retitled The Stupid Family Goes to Africa. If one took this film seriously, which would be a mistake, one could say that this dysfunctional family was responsible for the deaths of several persons who would have been just fine if this family hadn't come to the Dark Continent to make it even darker. Knowing nothing about the private lives of lions, I can guess that the plot was probably highly inaccurate as I cannot imagine why a pride of lions would set their sights on these silly people when there are lots of zebra and wildebeest running around. As I sat open-mouthed(with awe at the lousy direction) waiting for the ending, I felt certain that a film this bad would have to end with one of the most offensive of movie clichés and indeed it did when Peter Weller said, "Let's go Home." This is what I would have said at the beginning of the movie if I had seen it in a theater.

Call me crazy, but a pride of lions being the pinnacle of evil instead of the usual axe-wielding psycho is kind of refreshing. That's where the good stuff I have to say about this one ends. I think this movie is actually the director's cut of the Lion King...you know, the violent part of Simba's life that couldn't be shown in a Disney movie.

This movie is almost like a real-life version of movies like Anaconda, Jaws or Cujo where innocent people are being stalked by a predatory animal that is purely bent on killing them. Like I've already noted, I really like the idea. Being out in the middle of nowhere and not at the top of the food chain is a scary thought to me...which is why this movie sparked my interest.

However, it didn't deliver like I hoped for. Check it out if you'd like but don't get your hopes too high.

Not bad of a movie! Still, has a lot of common with Cujo, the Stephen King adaption. Attacks of big pussycats (okay, there had to be some kind of difference, wasn't there) on a car (jeep) where a woman (duuuuhhh) is trapped with her child (in this case children)... No way out, no food, no drinks... dehydration near... damn... The lions did their job fantastic! And I must say the stepmother was not bad of an actress... only thing I found a bit exaggerated... three hunters (by all means) are killed... and each time they get to kill at least one lion but still another takes revenge... The Male Lion is the real actor in this movie! The way he blew up in that jeep... great! All by all, not a bad movie, but had no new elements! It's worth a Seven, I won't give it more, but certainly won't give it less either!

A father (Peter Weller), his new wife (Bridget Moynahan), and his two children (Carly Schroeder and some boy) go to Africa, where he is overseeing the construction of a large dam. One day as his family goes on safari without him, they decide to go off the road and end up stranded in a field full of bloodthirsty, man-eating lions. That's a bummer. In a country without cellular reception or decent police, how can they be found?

I watched this film because I felt obligated as a horror reviewer to tackle it. Not because it was something I thought would be any good. Usually -- and this is no exception -- my instincts are correct. They found a way to take lions -- the kings of the jungle -- and make them seem like just lazy, overeating cats. I really couldn't care less that a family was surrounded by them (especially since the family does everything possible to dig themselves a deeper hole).

There isn't much good to say about this film, but at least the cast included two good choices: Wisconsin native Peter Weller (still best known for "RoboCop"), and Carly Schroeder, who I recall seeing on "Dawson's Creek" some time ago and telling my friend Kristy that this girl was going to have a bright future. I guess I made a mistake -- I never dreamed she'd end up starring in bad no-budget films.

For the first part of the film, this seems like a weaker version of "Wind Chill" or "Penny Dreadful" due to the idea that a person or small group is stuck in a car surrounded by harsh situations. Is this a new trend in horror? I hope not. At least it's short, but not short enough. And by the way, did this film need to be even 84 minutes? Couldn't it have been written as some special episode of "Hannah Montana" or something?

I didn't like the mother and step-daughter fighting, and the bratty stepdaughter archetype... boring. If I see one more film where the daughter blames her step-mom for everything wrong in the world, I'm going to scream my head off. No matter what happens in this film, the new wife is the enemy.

I really disliked the "lion vision". I have complained and complained and complained so many times in my reviews about "snake vision" and "vampire vision" and "pinata vision"... and this is no exception. I don't care that lions see things differently from humans, and I have no interest in seeing some lame effect to tell me where the lion is. Go ahead and give me "lion cam" but don't give them a special lens. That's just unoriginal and lame.

Every intelligent thing you could do, these people avoid -- they drive too fast, they run and scream from lions, yell for no reason when no one can hear them, go off the designated road to find animals... dumb dumb dumb. I don't feel bad for them in the slightest. The only part of this film that was at all worth watching was the run-in with the natives. There was a strong tension that had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see how they were going to play out a racially-charged rape scenario. And they took it where I never expected them to go with it!

Please don't rent this film, and absolutely don't buy it. I don't want these people thinking they did something right so they can make "Prey II" or some other "When Animals Attack" garbage. This film will go to the cheap bin and then never get a second printing, and I think that's the best thing one could wish upon this waste of my time.