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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Darrell Roodt
Bridget Moynahan (Coyote Ugly)
Carly Schroeder (Mean Creek)
Conner Dowds
Peter Weller (Robocop)
Supplied By : The Weinstein Company
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Jan. 25, 2007
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| PLOT Tom Newman can’t join his family on their first African adventure vacation due to urgent business obligations, but hopes the trip will provide a chance for his son and daughter to bond with his new young wife, Amy. Their ranger, Brian, decides to add some extra thrills and adventure to their trip and takes them “off roading.” All is well until Amy and the two kids become lost in a labyrinthine game reserve and begin to be stalked by savage lions who won’t quit until they have dinner. |
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| THE REVIEW PREY centers around Tom Newman and his family. children Jessica and David, and his new younger wife Amy as they go on vacation in Africa. The children, especially Jessica is finding it rather difficult to get along with her new stepmother as she feels betrayed by her - so the trip arranged by Tom was a suggestive way to smooth things over a bit. The family had scheduled a game drive in which to view the many exotic animals Africa has to offer but at the last moment, Tom an engineer is called in for work. Not to ruin the family fun, Tom insists that they still go, Amy agrees as it may help her bond with the distant children. They set out of the drive along with their Ranger/tour guide Brian whom at the notion of a bored Jessica suggest they go "off-roading" in order to get some real adventure, But unbeknownst to them when young David need to make a pit-stop. he is accompanied by Brian while he uses the bathroom. Little do they know they have just walked into a feeding zone, inhabited by vicious Lions...David makes it back to the awaiting car safely....but the same cannot be said for Ranger David, as he is gruesomely slaughtered right in front of the families very eyes. Trapped for days, we watch on as the Newmans try anything to survive and not to be eaten alive, and during the course there are a few gory and entertaining scenes but in the mix of things there are some rather slow moments as well. PREY, written by Director Darrell Roodt and by the creators of CRY_WOLF, at first sort of reminded me of another Weinstein production, FEAST, which both had a female heroine type character who fights off a beastly force. I absolutely dug FEAST as it virtually had it all, the horror, the comedy, the sometimes cheesy dialogue and characters to care for - and although you do care for the Newman family and there survival here....there is just not enough to the story to make their survival as meaningful as it should be - that's my major complaint. For one, in my opinion, PREY moves entirely too slow at times, the first killing happens on screen and then it is awhile in between that, that anything else happens.... the rest of that time is a bunch of dialogue as the victims stay in the car with no clue whatsoever as to what to do. There is one instance where Amy and the kids retrieve the keys to the car only to attempt to drive off and later crash(which was entirely predictable to begin with) and meanwhile when Tom gets word of the family's disappearance in enlist the help of a local hunter -whom you immediately sense is going to die horribly and he does....leaving Tom alone to finally reunite with his family. Overall, PREY, is nothing that special, in fact many films like it have been made already, and likely air on the Sci-Fi Channel (although PREY's production values are a step above those), and yes its gore in the film is quite repetitive as every kill begins to look the same after a while, still with all of that said I found PRET to be a good way to kill some time, but again, it could've been a whole lot better. |
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| GORE
METER 5/10 Not as gory as the cover may suggest, but the CGI gore, being a bit exaggerated makes it fun as you watch the attacks occur |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 4.5/10 the score is the typical jungle-like appropriate themes, that seem suitable for this type of film - nothing too original. | ||||
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM In the end, I did find PREY enjoyable at times, yes it is slow in some select scenes, but for the scenes that the action does pick up, it is well worth a watch, when you have nothing else better to do than take in a predictable yet fun "creature feature". This DVD will be available January 30, 2007 |
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