Prey is a 2007 film directed by Darrell Roodt and starring Peter Weller and Bridget Moynahan.
When the opening scene of Prey showed, in graphic detail, actual documentary footage of a bunch of female lions dragging a zebra to the ground and going for the kill, I hoped I was in store for something truly horrifying, and perhaps more importantly, bold and original.
What I got was a corny family Drama (that's not a typo, this is drama with a capital D…) with some man eating lions and meany tribesmen thrown in (the latter almost as an afterthought).
The Newman family (Peter 'Robocop' Weller, Bridget Moynahan and two snotty brats) are in Africa. While Tom (Weller) is there for work, the wife and kids decide to take a relaxing safari to see some wild animals and great scenery. Unfortunately, their dipshit guide decides to go "off the beaten track", and winds up mauled by a lion when he and the annoying son go for a whizz. This of course leaves Mommy and the kids stranded, surrounded by wild lions, who see nothing more than a meal wrapped in a Jeep. After no success with the local bushmen, Daddy decides to venture off into the scrub (with a lunatic the locals avoid) to track down the family himself, and this leads to....yadda yadda you get the idea (even non-jaded filmgoers will have no trouble predicting the outcome of this film).
With such a good premise you'd think it'd be hard to screw it up. But somehow, director and co-writer Darrell Roodt, and writer Beau Bauman manage to do just that.
You see, Mommy isn’t really Mom, she's "Step Mom", and that’s where the Drama comes in. The 14 year old girl resents her, and decides that hey, this is as good a time as any to discuss some issues with her. Are you yawning yet? Don't worry, you soon will be.
The lion attacks are less than impressive. We get the obligatory "Monster-POV" shots, some CGI blood spatters and zero suspense. Then, when Step Mommy braves the outside to retrieve the car keys from the dead guide, you think, well, they're safe now. Just turn the Jeep around and go back the way you came. Lions are pretty cluey but their intelligence stops short of being able to, you know, open car doors.
But no, of course this doesn't happen because it makes too much sense. Step Mommy panics, floors it, and drives like a blind monkey straight into a ditch, leaving them stranded again in a even worse predicament than before.
I start clock-watching during horror movies when the main characters do things that are so idiotic your sympathy for them flies out the nearest window. Step Mommy's suicidal drive is a case in point. It reeks of lazy writing, and this movie is full of it.
The later scenes with the African tribesmen attempt to inject a bit of tension into a failing movie, but even a tangent can't save this film.
Prey could have been very cool. The premise is not that original but in horror films, there's some predictability that works. This film doesn’t. For a film about a family trapped by inhospitable desert and hunted by wild animals, there's a distinct lack of tension. Every time there can be a rampant cliché, there is. And the ending had me stop just short of throwing my remote at the screen. If you're brave enough to watch it through, you'll see what I mean.
Obviously some effort went into the production which was not wasted. The real lions featured here are magnificent creatures, and they are obviously well-trained. Bridget Moynahan turns in a fairly solid performance despite the lacklustre script. The cinematography by Michael Brierly is actually not bad, despite a sepia-tone in an effort to create a sun drenched look.
But sadly the movie is just pretty awful. The lion attack scene in the historical adventure flick Mountains of the Moon crams more tension into about 30 seconds of screen time than this movie does in all its 90 minutes.
If I'm ever trapped with these idiots I think I'll bail out of the Jeep and take my chances with the lions.
