PREY

Directed by: Dick Maas

Starring: Sophie Van Winden, Julian Looman, Mark Frost, Reinus Krul

A man-eating predator is stalking the outskirts of Amsterdam, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake. The police detective in charge of the case brings in Lizzie, a vet at the local zoo, as an advisor, and she correctly surmises that they are dealing with a large lion. Facing disbelief and derision from both the press and the local bureaucracy, Lizzie and her friends must do their best to stop the carnage.

A trailer for Prey (Prooi) dropped on Youtube over a year ago, and even though it was in Dutch with no subtitles, I was very excited about it and have been looking forward ever since to watching and reviewing it. I am very happy to say that the experience has not disappointed in the slightest.

The film starts as it intends to proceed, with not only a bunch of killings (including children - no one is safe in this film!) but also a wide streak of black humour (father wakes up, investigates noise outside and sees what can only be described as a girl's father's worst nightmare). We are off to a cracking start!

We soon meet our main protagonists. Lizzy Storm is a vet working at the local zoo, brought in by Olaf Brinkers, the detective working the case and had relied on Lizzy's expertise on a panda smuggling case six years previously. Lizzy has recently broken up with her boyfriend, Dave, who is a news cameraman, looking to get back into her good graces.

Lizzy quickly confirms Brinkers' suspicion that they are looking for a large man-eating lion. However this proves to be difficult to sell both to the police chief and the press, who at first scoff at the idea and wonder if it's April Fools Day! However a few more attacks finally get them on-board, although they still aren't convinced at Lizzy's suggestion of bringing in an expert to assist. No, it takes another couple of disasters before they can bring in Jack, who just happens to be an old flame of Lizzy's.

Prey is nothing less than a total blast of a film from start to finish. Just about everything here works, from the cast to the special fx to the many set-pieces throughout the film. Unlike the recent Nic Cage movie, PRIMAL, Prey attacks its premise with gusto, coming up with as many wild ideas as it can wring out of the premise of a lion amok in a modern city.

It is able to get a lot of humour out of the situation too. The scene with the three golfers is really funny, as is the moment the local White Nationalists decide to take care of the problem themselves. The lion itself is never put into a humorous situation and in fact there is one scene in particular which might have been played "cute" in a US movie but here is given its full nightmare potential

The film gives us some well-rounded characters. Lizzy spent a lot of time in Africa dealing with the threat of poachers, so we know there is a layer of steel to her character. She has her own sexual agency, able to use David for her own needs while at the same time keeping him emotionally at arms length. David is initially portrayed as a cad and a coward, and feels insecure comparing himself to Jack. However his charm does work on you and you will eventually warm to him. Jack is a very larger-than-life character who has not let the loss of a leg slow him down. When he surveys a particular "crime scene" you get to sense his knowledge and experience at work.

Considering that Prey didn't have a Disney-level budget to play with, the lion fx are pretty decent throughout. According to IMDB, to do a full CGI lion for the whole running time would have been prohibitively expensive so they had to build animatronic sections for the film, including the head for close-ups. This is all for the better, giving the actors something tangible to fight against.

The climax of the film is very tense and gory, as the surviving cast members stalk-and are stalked by - the lion inside a University wing. This section is not for the squeamish as the floors end up awash with blood and entrails but is a thrilling end to a great creature feature.

THE VERDICT

The only element of PREY which isn't quite up to standard is the score, which works against certain scenes. Other than that, I heartily recommend this film. It has everything you would want from a creature feature movie - lots of gory kills, solid characters and plenty of set-pieces.

9 out of 10  - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

MikeOutWest