Friday, April 12, 2024

Prey

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In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated 1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going to review every single movie I see.  I’m going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future).  You can always ask me why I gave the ratings for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses under the ‘About Me’ section).
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Prey                                                                             EH/OK
Many movies have this title, as a search on All Movie will confirm.  One, from 2007 (directed by Darrell Roodt), also involves lions; a very underrated natural horror movie, I might add.  This one stars Ryan Phillippe and Emile Hirsch; Mena Suvari appears too.  Ryan and Mena play an American couple working somewhere in Africa before they must flee from terrorists coming after them.  They board a rickety-ass plane flown by Emile’s character along with other passengers and end up crashing due to a weight problem.  Unfortunately they crash in an area populated by wild game, namely lions.  There are other animals as well as local humans these survivors must contend with while staying in place or trying to reach a nearby village.  This was well-shot and started off really well, there being great location shots and an encroaching sense of dread, but I ended up being bored more than having fun.  The attacks, when they do actually happen (which isn’t often), all occur offscreen.  Real lions were used, but, come on, this was made in 2024, and if you can afford at least three famous faces (maybe not so much anymore, but still), you could’ve provided us with some attacks we actually see!  And the ending seemed a bit too spiritual, thus didn’t work for me.  It’s not the worst movie I’ve seen, but there are worthier lion attack movies out there; the aforementioned Prey from 2007 being one, as well as The Ghost and the Darkness, and even Beast (my review for that is in here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2022/10/beastdahmerhellraiser.html).  4/11/2024

Bonus review:

Dolly Deadly
I would’ve never heard of this film from 2016 had it not been mentioned in a recent Fangoria article.  It involves a young boy living with his grandmother and her lazy man in a trailer because of what happened to his mother as a baby (which you will see), and let’s just say this boy doesn’t have the best life; eventually those around him won’t be so lucky.  It is obviously low-budget, but it is ambitious (I guess); it is bizarre AF (or “absolutely bonkers,” as the writer of the aforementioned article put it), filled with idiosyncratic characters, depraved even (it does take place in a trailer park, after all), but it is one of those bad movies begging to be seen at least once (I was curious as to where it was all going).  That’s not necessarily a recommendation either…4/10/2024

Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

Drive-Away Dolls  >>>EH

Everwinter Night  >>>OK

Festival of the Living Dead  >>>OK
                        (Tubi)

Personal Shopper  >>>EH/OK

---Sean O.
4/12/2024

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