Hunter Prey (2010)

Hunter Prey is living, breathing comic strip, lifted almost panel for panel, straight out of the pages of the European Heavy Metal magazine. Everything from the brilliant, understated simplicity of the story and characters to the vibrant color palette is inspired by great comic artists such as Jean Giraud, Enki Bilal, and Phillipe Drulliet. It is refreshing to see a film that so wonderfully captured the starkness and desolate reality of the landscape without the dreadful, MTV type editing or overbearing imagery thrown at the viewer, utilizing the sparse nature of the dialogue, letting the visual imagery tell story. The only down side to that of course, is that American audiences will not understand the subtleties and undercurrents of this marvelous piece of work. In the world of American cinema dominated by the Michael Bays and James Camerons of the world, it was delightful to see such subtle and artistically driven sensibilities especially from an American director. While most have cited "Star Wars" as the inspiration for this film, I see much more of a French new wave and Japanese influence. It has the European artistic qualities and the Japanese, Kurasawa elements to the story. If you're a fan of seventies fantasy art, or the old Metal Hurlant comic strips, you will absolutely fall in love with Hunter Prey.

Fmovies: What a relief a movie like Hunter Prey is in this world of grade Z "SyFy channel" entertainment. The focus on this movie is not on special effects (although they are excellent) but on character and story which sadly isn't the norm.

Above average in this film are the cinematography and score, which gives the film the appearance of being big budget. The film itself feels like it was shot in the 1970s, I mean this in a positive way as it takes it's time to develop the characters and stories.

Hunter Prey is the kind of science fiction movie we don't get enough of, one that puts the substance over the style.

First thing is I must say, this film looks so stunning and captivating, it's like watching one of those discovery channel nature shows, just on an alien world. I was blown away at the level of design and attention to detail in absolutely everything in this movie, especially for the low budget. This director has a great eye. The locations were awe-inspiring and lent themselves well to the story. I give films like this a lot of credit. It's hard to be ambitious in this genre without the money and the means. Most who try, fail miserably where "Hunter Prey" succeeds.

Something which really stood out to me while watching this film, was the sense of the director wanting to tell a larger story and make a bigger movie. I could actually feel the filmmaker striving to be James Cameron only with Roger Corman's checkbook.

"Hunter Prey" takes a little while to get going and parts of it are very derivative, but once it does, it delivers on a level that few films in this budget range can. 8/10

Hunter Prey fmovies. What a surprise treat this film was. Throwback to the old school style of film making when directors needed talent and imagination to make these kinds of movies, not millions of dollars. HUNTER PREY is an example of what can accomplished on a very limited budget, with two actors on basically one location. It's easy to make big budget, tent pole, summer blockbusters when you have a hundreds of people, millions of dollars and movie stars. I'd like to see just one of those big studio directors make something from nothing, get blood from a turnup and bring a world to life with only raw talent and there two hands. This director is a real artist who knows how to tell a compelling story with visually arresting imagery. 10/10

Science Fiction is one of those genres that seems to ebb and flow over time. The late-1960s through the early-1980s, undoubtedly saw its unprecedented high point, with the explosion of such visionary films such as "Planet of the Apes", "2001", "Star Wars", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Alien". Films that transported us to different places, introduced us to otherworldly beings, and portrayed the human race as perhaps not the smartest or strongest life forms in the universe. This is the essence of "Hunter Prey", the feature directorial debut of director Sandy Collora.

A team of futuristic, military commandos, transporting an alien prisoner, crash-land on a barren, hostile planet. A handful of the soldiers survive, along with the prisoner. Their orders; Bring it back alive. The military men have a lot technology and capabilities on their side while they hunt down their quarry, while the prisoner is left to his wits to elude them on this wasteland of a planet, which is mostly devoid of life. The cat and mouse game of these two characters, trying to outsmart one another, against a backdrop of interplanetary war, makes for an interesting film that cleverly, without exposition, paints a picture of a much larger universe, without actually showing it. Consequently, this is not an action movie. There's action in it that's exceptionally well shot, but there are no huge, epic battles, space dogfights or explosions that some might anticipate from watching the trailer, which doesn't quite represent it as what it truly is, which is a great looking, well written and directed character piece that showcases the storytelling ability and undeniable visual talents of this up and coming filmmaker.

The alien characters in the film seem somewhat understated, which in this case is a smart choice, letting the performances of the actors and the story, shine through. Cool aliens, armored costumes, spaceships and high tech hardware, matched with plenty of laser fire and explosions are the staple of any science fiction film worth its salt, especially with today's audiences, but the real key to the success of any good movie is the story, and this is the real gem of "Hunter Prey".

Shot in the Mexican desert in seventeen days, on a shoestring budget, the filmmakers utilized the red one camera system, resulting in an incredibly film-like, cinematic experience that was very well suited to the panoramas used all throughout the film. I didn't sense any of the "cold" feel of traditional digital productions, yet everything felt very detailed and polished. The director's choice not to tweak the colors, blow out the highlights, and follow the current stylistic trends of his contemporaries, is truly what sets this film apart and makes it unique. You won't find any quick cuts or shaky-cam shots to obscure both the physical nature and the psychological elements of the struggle between the two main characters."Hunter Prey" is pure, bold, no frills, film-making that doesn't rely on gimmicky camera tricks, flashy editing or millions of dollars worth of CG shots, to keep the audience engaged.

One of the most pronounced aspects of the picture is the use of dramatic landscape shots to underscore the utter desolation of the planet, the plight of the characters, and the fight for survival. The planet itself, becomes a character in the movie, complete with it's own voice and ominous, yet beautiful presence. The sw

If you like movies that are more story driven, you'll like "Hunter Prey".

It has the look and feel of one of those made for TV movies of the 70's. I mean that in a really good way. You see, way back when, before all this CG crap, filmmakers had to use ingenuity and talent to craft their films. They had to tell their story through... Well, telling a story.

This is not a film for anyone seeking a fast paced, mindless, mess. It's a film for hardcore sci fi junkies like myself, who grew up on Star Trek, The Outer Limits, and The Twilight Zone.

It's more about the story and characters than special effects.