Short Review: 'Prey' (2009)

As some of you may know, I’ve written a number of times on Samityville about my frustration regarding the limited production attention for genre films here in Australia and how so little of them are given a fair chance to see the light of day, let alone strike a decent distribution deal. As much as I wish horror could be more respected amongst the greater local film industry I also tend to cringe and cower in disgust whenever a bad Aussie fright flick emerges, thus appearing as somewhat of a hypocrite in the face of a losing battle. However, the truth of the matter remains that it is possible to make a great local horror movie (Long Weekend, Wolf Creek, Storm Warning to name but a few) but we just don’t seem to be financing the brightest apples on the tree on a regular basis.

Although knowingly aware of its inherent cheesiness, last year’s direct-to-DVD dumper Prey (aka The Outback in the US) is – it pains me to say – yet another example of an incompetent attempt at horror storytelling that further buries our prospective bar for financially successful tales of terror even deeper than before. *Sigh*

The ‘plot’ goes something like this: three young couples drive out to the remote deserts of the Australian outback for a getaway bonanza, however they soon stumble upon an ancient Aboriginal curse hell-bent on avenging the untimely death of an old lady some 20 years previous. The supernatural forces in question, (the ‘Dakaitcha’ serpent to be exact), are summoned by the help of an old shaman spiritualist with a particular attention for young Kate (Natalie Brassingthwaighte) who was present for the murder of the old hag all those years ago and may very well be the key to appeasing the evil’s merciless desires.

Despite its obvious drawing of inspiration from such cult classics as The Evil Dead and Re-Animator, Prey is a virtual textbook for everything wrong with the worst of horror movies and was perhaps doomed from its very inception. As evidenced in a making-of featurette included on the DVD release, screenwriter John V Sotto reveals that before the film was green lit he had been keen to try his hand at writing a script for some time, so much so that one day he visited a library and borrowed a book entitled How To Write A Screenplay(!). Furthermore, during filming the original director was dismissed from the project for going “mental” and subsequently replaced by one Oscar D’Roccster who’s task it was to salvage what was already shot (presuming such a feat was indeed achievable).

I don’t know if the filmmakers felt they had achieved their mission of entertaining their intended audience with Prey, however I do know that the resulting cavalcade of problems on show here are almost impossible to list in their entirety. Everything from its preposterous setup, numskull characters, laugh-out-loud performances, nonsensical soundtrack and painfully amateurish effects work dole out the impression that everyone involved really had no clue at all how bad the material was but kept on truckin’ nonetheless. Not once is there a successful attempt at building suspense, tension or dread of any kind, instead the entire cast look just as bewildered by their retarded dialogue as by anything posing as a threat to their character’s lives. Moreover, the exposition of the supposed curse is so clumsily handled that any chance one has in deciphering the creature’s methods or motivations is completely lost in the endless shuffle of badly composed shock tactics.

With all that said one must admire the will of celebrity singer Brassingthwaighte who, surprisingly, gives it her all in a half way decent performance as the films’ chainsaw-wielding heroine hottie. Even though the quasi-lesbian relationship between Kate and fellow survivor Ling (Natalie Walker) that emerges toward the end of the film makes absolutely no sense at all, (especially when both women start out with male counterparts (?) she still manages to deliver the goods needed for a strong female protagonist. Fingers crossed her next screen venture will entail a less ludicrous role for her to sink her acting incisors into.

Composing an unfavorable review of a new Australian horror movie is one of the most discouraging and depressing things I can imagine, and sadly this isn’t the first time I’ve done it. In my heart of hearts I hope the cast and crew behind Prey have learned from their film and will now strive to make their next project both more ambitious and creatively rewarding than this celluloid sewage proved to be.

Oh, and at the very least entertaining. That would be nice too.



Dir: Oscar D’Roccster
Writer: John V Sotto
Cast: Natalie Brassingthwaighte, Jesse Johnson, Natalie Walker, Ben Kermode
Country: Australia
Run Time: 76mins
Rating: MA15+