04 | July | 2021 | Movie Reviews 101

Director: Franck Khalfoun

Writer: Franck Khalfoun, David Coggeshall (Screenplay)

Starring: Logan Miller, Kristine Froseth, Jolene Anderson, Jerrica Lai, Phodise Dintwe, Anthony Jensen

Plot: A young man must survive an island retreat while a sinister force hunts him, leaving bodies in its wake.

Tagline – Don’t close your eyes.

Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Prey starts when Toby Burns (Miller) is living in the shadow of his father death, with a therapy idea for him to go on a survivor holiday, one where he gets to learn the basics of surviving, with the final 3 days of this trip involving him being alone on a desert island in the ocean of Malaysia.

Being completely helpless on the island, Toby ends up running unto Madeleine (Froseth) who has been living on the island, knowing how to survive the island, willing to show Toby the safety he needs to make it through his time on the island.

Thoughts on Prey

Characters & Performances – Toby is recovering from the trauma of seeing his father killed, being sent on a survival getaway to build his skills and confidence, one that will see him left alone on a remote deserted island where he must fend for himself, only to find himself coming up against a deadly predator, who has been waiting for the hunt. Logan Miller does struggle to make a big impact in this film, it is just hard to ever see him as a sympathetic lead character. Madeleine is the young woman Toby meets on the island, who offers to help him survive, as long he follows the rules she puts in place, she has been here for her whole life, making her not used to meeting strangers. Kristine Froseth does bring the mysterious woman to life with ease, being the most interesting side of the characters. We don’t get to meet many more characters in the film, with most being used for the certain moments to fill in blanks.

Story – The story here follows a young man that is trying to recover from a trauma that will go on a remote island getaway to build character, only to meet a strange young woman that will add a big mystery about the island he has been placed on. This does have a good idea on trying to help build character, even if the location being placed does feel too random. The mystery on the island is interesting, but does struggle to give us the full impact as to what is happening. The story will leave you with more questions than answers which can come off disappointing more than anything. This does end up feeling like a story that had a couple more chapters to make everything click together.

Themes – Prey is a survival horror set on a remote desert island where a young man must learn to adapt to for a survival getaway. The island is filled with mystery, with different environments being used to contain the action involved on the island, while the special effects used for the horror, don’t leave much to the imagination, easily being the weakest part of the film.

Signature Entertainment presents Prey on Amazon Prime Video 9th July

Final Thoughts – Prey is a film that has the potential to be great, only to fall short with the big impact moments.

Director: Benjamin Barfoot

Writer: Danny Morgan (Screenplay)

Starring: Danny Morgan, Georgia Groome, Michael Scoha, Kelly Wenham, Dougie Poynter, Tom Sturrdge

Plot: A man can’t speak to ladies. His friend makes things happen but with 2 man-killing sisters looking for a virgin man to sacrifice to bring daddy back from the dead.

Tagline – Paint the Town Red

Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Fun Little Horror

Story: Double Date starts as we meet Jim (Morgan) a young man about to hit 30 that has never had any luck when it comes to dating who is always getting encouraged by his best friend and lady’s man Alex (Socha) to meet women. The two meet Lulu (Groome) and Kitty (Wenham) at a bar and they have a double date set up.

When the four are on the night out, Lulu starts to question the plan her and Kitty have, which sees the two women usually take the men back to their home for a form of sacrifice of a virgin man, in an attempt to bring their father back to life.

Thoughts on Double Date

Characters – Jim is the virgin that just can’t chat to women, even with his best friend by his side, he always ends up alone, though he is a genuine nice guy from a quirky family, this time he gets pushed into putting himself out there and gets a date with Lulu. Alex is the womanising friend that talks a lot about meeting different women and pushes Jim into being more like him. Lulu is the younger sister of Kitty who starts to get to know Jim and doesn’t want to go through with the plan. Kitty has been planning the sacrifice for a while, trained to defend herself and always pushing Lulu into anything they do, including bringing their father back from the dead.

Performances – We have a nice group of main performers, Danny Morgan as the unlucky in love guy works well with Michael Socha as a cocky figure, this reflects through Georgia Groome being the more resistant, while Kelly Wenham showing the determination figure behind the plan.

Story – The story here follows two women that search for a virgin to sacrifice to bring their father back to life, as the two guys they meet have different agendas when it comes to meeting women. This does have plenty of moments that we have seen before but it works, with the women needing to find a certain person to sacrifice for their own reason and how they need to get them from A to B. the men fill the friendship factor well enough, showing the support people would have in their lives and mixing the two together we get to see everything tie together nicely.

Comedy/Horror – The comedy in the film comes from how everybody interacts, with some moments filling the laughs we need. The horror comes from the plan the women have, as we are left to see if they will go through with their actions.

Settings – The film uses the everyday settings, be it the flats, the bar or the secluded locations for the women’s plan.

Special Effects – The film does use the effects well with the fight between Kitty and Alex not holding anything back.

Scene of the Movie – Alex and Kitty fight, it is brutal and nobody is holding back during it.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not sure why the plan hasn’t worked before.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun horror comedy that will get the laughs, has a brutal fight sequence and will leave you enjoying the film from start to finish.

Overall: Enjoyable Horror Comedy.