Load of rubbish!!

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I can't say I'm a great admirer of Mr. Maas or his works. Still, credit where credit is due : Mr. Maas is one of the most consistent filmmakers of the Netherlands. He has carved himself a very specialized niche (let's call it comical horror and gore) and he sticks to it, with all the loyal faith of a guide dog. No gadfly he : he knows what he likes and he continues to produce it, come rain or shine. Moreover, he is honest in describing his ambition : he just wants to give the viewer some jolly good scares."Prooi" (or "Prey" in English) follows the pattern to the letter : Mr. Maas promises a rogue lion going on a bloody rampage through the Netherlands and that's exactly what you, the viewer, get. There's roaring, there's springing, there's dismemberment and there's blood - enough blood, in fact, to repaint the pyramid of Giza. There are also a lot of pursuits and hunting scenes, up to and including through some of the busiest cities of Europe. And that's it : if you want petty details like backstories, exposition, logic, witty dialogue, character development or insightful comment go and watch some Woody Allen. This robust attitude is the reason why the movie does not explain the sudden presence of a lion : the lion is there, period. Who cares if the beast escaped from a circus, swam all the way from Africa or rode a bike from Finland ? Or it's just as possible that the lion used to be the class pet of a Dordrecht school for very young children. ("But before school closes for Christmas vacations : who wants to take little Fluffy home ? Remember, no more than five hyena carcasses a week ! Fluffy is becoming a little chubby !")I didn't like the movie much, although there were some funny touches here and there (Dick Maas is absolutely correct in pointing out that the Netherlands are filled to the brink with artistic and heraldic representations of lions, while the sudden appearance of a real lion would create a screaming, howling crisis). However, for lovers of the comic gore genre "Prey" is Dutch catnip of purest quality.

In case you live in The Netherlands (or the Flemish speaking part of Belgium, like yours truly does) and you're an avid fan of eccentric horror/cult cinema, well then you simply have to be an admirer of Dick Maas. He's pretty much the only writer/director of the entire Dutch region who dares to be different and even a tad bit crazy. After all, Maas is the hero who – during the glorious eighties' decade – brought us the phenomenal horror flicks "De Lift" (about a murderous elevator) and "Amsterdamned" (about a vicious murderer hiding out in the canal system), as well as the legendary black comedy "Flodder" (about an utterly demented dysfunctional family). More recently, in 2010, he also saddled up thousands of little Dutch children with incurable traumas by portraying Saint Nicholas (the local Santa) as a relentless monster. But the ideas behind his newest feature are perhaps the most grotesque and craziest ones of his entire career… In "Prey", Dick Maas unleashes a male lion – evidently an exceptionally large and unusually aggressive species – in the city center of Amsterdam; to my recollection still one of the busiest and least rural capitals of Europe. One could go for the so-called "suspension of disbelief" in case the script attempted to explain that the animal escaped from the local zoo or from the private collection of a foolish millionaire or something, but no… The lion simply shows up in Amsterdam and damned if we ever find out who or what brought him there. The closest we ever come to a clarification is a dumb piece of dialogue: "In Eastern countries people still keep lions as pets, and when they escape they don't report it to the police!" Yeah sure… But hey, let's at least try to forget for a moment that absolutely nothing in the script of "Prey" makes any sense. If you manage that, you're left with a completely over-the-top but entertaining creature-feature with a massive body count, tons of blood & gore, ridiculous slapstick comedy, a complete cast of imbecilic characters and a handful of cynical observations about the Dutch society. Throughout the opening sequences, Maas still attempts to pay tribute to "Jaws" and creates a moody atmosphere with ominous POV-shots and sinister music, but then he goes straight for trashy and mindless splatter fun. The lion munches his way through the crowded city without being spotted, so naturally the dumb cop and the cute zoo veterinarian have a difficult time alarming the press and the public. And yet, even when it's made abundantly clear there's a dangerous predator at large in town – that, by the way, already killed at least a dozen of people by then – the public still doesn't seem to be too panicky, as they cheerfully continue to walk their dogs at night, go to restaurants and hang around in the central park! Numerous sequences and plot twists are almost too ludicrous to describe, like when the lion gets on board of a city tram or when a crazy wannabe hunter and his retarded son are hired to ambush the animal in the park. The cute veterinarian eventually has to bring in her former lover, who used to be notorious hunter in Africa. A romance between a veterinarian and a hunter … Can it get any crazier? Of course it can, because the "fearsome" hunter turns out to be a driveling alcoholic Brit in a wheelchair! "Prey" is a pretty bad but immensely entertaining B-movie in every sense of the term! The acting performances are already terrible when the cast speaks in Dutch, but when they switch to English they become downright atrocious. The gore and make-up effects are decent, but look a little too "digital" and – like the case in most traditional creature features – the lion is most menacing when it remains off-screen. I genuinely hope that Dick Maas stays as stubborn and eccentric as he ever was, and that he continues with making these insane movies. It's not because "Prey" gets a low rating (I just don't have another choice) that I don't love and respect this man tremendously!

I happened to catch this movie yesterday and had a blast. Sure, you can see the lion is fake and yeah...some of the "acting" is horrible ( you know who I mean you son of a great game hunter!!!!!), and it's almost identical to "Jaws" ( just watch the opening scenes) but this film has the most funny dialogue i've come across in a long time. "What does this lion like to do besides running?" "I don't know, but it has something to do with people" ( mind you, this is after the lion kills 7 people.) The only thing that was a bit 'meww" for me was the scene with the public transportation aka the tram. I've expected more from this purely based on the fact that in the trailer there's this infant in a stroller who sees this lion, points at it and goes "kitty,kitty.." Overall, I enjoyed this movie and had a good time and if you lower your expectations i'm sure you wil too

You can't blame Dick Maas for not trying. This movie is probably not going to disappoint you if you're are a fan of his much older work. You might think Maas learned from his past mistakes, but his directing style is not going anywhere and it is still utterly horrible. The whole plot (or lack there of) is awfully slow, nothing really happens until the lion shows up and after that the whole film seems oddly paced. I won't go into details to avoid spoilers. The lion was supposed to be done entirely with digital effects, but because of the lack of budget they had to resort to animatronics, for which you could applaud the makers. Sadly, everything falls apart quickly. Whenever you see the lion, it's never believable. Not only because of how it looks, but also it's behavior. The action is entirely unsatisfying and the whole movie falls flat after the hour mark. The acting ranged from horrible to decent, which might add to the camp factor of the movie.This movie was supposed to fall into the "So Bad It's Good" category, like most of Maas' films, but this genre is overrun by movies that made this an art form (look at the library of "The Asylum", movies like "Sharknado" and it's sequels). This movie doesn't get to that standard. What you do get is a movie that doesn't know what it wants to be, a thriller, a horror, a comedy or an action movie. Selling a movie on just the idea of a lion going on a rampage in Amsterdam isn't something you can base a complete movie on this way in 2016.It comes down to a nice try to revive the 80's bad horror movie, something Sam Raimi recently achieved beautifully with his Evil Dead franchise. But you need more self-awareness as a filmmaker to get this to work in this day and age.The movie supposedly cost around 3 million to make, around three times the budget most other Dutch films are made for, so it's surprising the movie feels like a bad 10.000 dollar movie.As stated before; if you like films by Dick Maas, you might enjoy it and feel the nostalgia coming over you. But wait for it to come to Netflix and watch it on a rainy Sunday, instead of paying for a theater ticket. For all other people; save your money and don't bother with this.