Hunter Prey

Every once in a while I see a movie and think, wow that was a good movie and I feel that more people should know about it. Recently I saw a movie I think describes that, it is called Hunter Prey. I was at my friend Dennis' house (check his awesome blog) and he said this movie is sort an homage to 70's sci-fi, but what sold me is that it was directed by Sandy Collora, the director who put together Batman: Dead End some years back. If you have yet to see the video please watch it here before you go on with reading the rest of this blog:



According to imdb.com, the video was made in 2003 which dates it two years before Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins was released. When I first saw it I thought, wow this is a well made short and I wished that the Batman movies would be more like this short. Not meaning have Aliens and Predators (which would be cool) but to have the costumes and fighting come off as gritty and realistic. Batman: Dead End also lived out a fantasy for many of us who always wanted to see Batman face off against the Predators, as he had done in many comics before hand.

The Joker was also dead on, the late Andrew Koeing (Boner from Growing Pains) played The Joker with an insanity that I loved, he was playing more of the Joker from the actual comic books. His acting was spot on, sadly Koeing committed suicide some years later. I believe if Batman: Dead End was released today, it would spread much faster then in 2003. It would be all over Facebook and Twitter where in 2003 we had to call up a friend or email them the link somehow, and without You Tube to help us.

I will always wonder how Collora got such good costumes on what had to be a limited budget. The Aliens actually looked and moved like the creatures from Alien and Predator films. The ending of Batman: Dead End leaves you wondering if they were hoping for a sequel. Alas we will never know, it has been 7 years since the short came out, but Collora has once again made another small budget quality movie.

As I was saying, I watched Hunter Prey and and the first thoughts were that they were definitaley referencing Star Wars. Growing up with iconic heroes from Star Wars I could understand why Collora would want to emulate the badassery of Boba Fett. Hunter Prey opens with three men dressed in what appears to be a mix of Boba Fett and Clone Trooper costumes stranded in a dessert looking for someone. I won't go into super detail on the plot because it has a few twists. I just wanted to write about how I was impressed with the movie on almost all it had to offer. It is a good homage to those space movies of the 70's and 80's. It reminds me of such movies as Enemy Mine and Star Wars.



Collora uses actual costumes and make-up, what I like and can respect is when a filmmaker can use special effects when needed, not just to show off. Collora is a master and getting amazing looking costumes. The movie is filmed all in a dessert and you know it must have been exhausting to have actors walking around in a huge suits, but that is what low budget films have to accomplish sometimes. When used, which is sparingly, the special effects are well done and move the story along.

Overall Hunter Prey was a surprisingly well done movie. It looks beautiful and you can tell that they really tried to get every penny out of the reported $425,000 budget they had to play with. We could only imagine what Collora would do with a few million. I say give this man some money and let him do his own thing. And if you have the time add this movie to your netflix or ask the local rental place if they have it.