2010’s Hunter Prey did not get much exposure in theaters, but it makes good use of its very modest budget to deliver a strong genre entry.
What Is It?
This movie follows a group of interstellar commandos tracking their alien prisoner on a desert planet. Somehow, the prisoner manages to force the prison ship carrying him to crash on the planet, and now it is the job of these commandos to take him back into their custody, but they must bring him in alive. This turns out to be a point of contention, seeing as the alien proves more formidable than first thought, but the commander explains that since they have wiped out all but one of this alien’s race, it plans to “return the favor,” and they must find out how.
Cast: Damion Poitier, Isaac C. Singleton Jr.
Crew: Sandy Collora (Writer/Director), Nick Damon (Writer)
Original Release: May 1, 2010
Legacy:
This indie film made the most of its modest budget, delivering a decent sci-fi entry that has gone on to develop a cult following despite its lack of exposure.
A Closer Look
This 2010 independent science fiction film was written and directed by Sandy Collora on a very economical budget of $425 thousand, and despite a few flaws here and there, it manages to deliver a very good genre entry. It definitely has an initial cheesiness about it, which may cause some to tune out early on. But I recommend that you stick with the film and give it the chance it deserves. The armored uniforms that the commandos wear are definitely an early weak point, looking not unlike discarded Power Rangers gear dragged through the dirt several times. But if you don’t dwell on that, you pretty quickly won’t even notice them anymore. Also, the acting has lapses from time to time, but for the most part is at least decent.
What sets Hunter Prey apart from the typical genre B-film that it resembles at first blush is that it takes a familiar story and builds on it and develops it organically instead of through contrivance. We have seen this sort of tale before, done well in the Star Trek: TOS episode “Arena” and not so well in the feature film Enemy Mine, but Hunter Prey quickly establishes itself as more than just a knockoff of genre formulas. The film could have easily descended into a predicament-oriented affair where the commandos and their prey find themselves in a never-ending succession of precarious situations, but it avoids that pitfall.
It follows a rather straightforward plot of hunters pursuing a dangerous prey, though it throws in a nice helping of twists along the way. And it advances the story through character development and mostly avoids the contrivances you expect from a low-budget sci-fi film. The ending is a bit confusing (more on that below in the SPOILERS section), and maybe somewhat unsatisfying, but it does not completely derail the film. And the movie is relatively brisk at about a 90-minute running time, which works in its favor. It’s definitely worth checking out, even if it won’t quite overshadow too many of the bigger-budget CGI-fests that regularly hit theaters.
WARNING: SPOILERS TO FOLLOW (Skip this paragraph to avoid). As mentioned above, the ending to Hunter Prey is rather vague and may turn off more than a few viewers. I have actually watched it a couple of times and have picked up a few more clues each time, but still can’t claim that I fully understand it or feel like it delivers a satisfying resolution. I think a lot of the understanding revolves around the comment that Centauri makes to Jericho: “Is that what you want the legacy of your kind to be?”, referring to the latter’s plan to destroy the Sedonian homeworld. I believe that Centauri infects himself with a degree of self-doubt at that point, and we had already seen that he had his own previous disagreements with Sedonian authorities. But would that be enough for him to allow Jericho to escape and potentially carry out his plan of retribution? And what did Centauri mean when he said that he and Jericho would meet again? Was that setting up a sequel? If so, it seemed to be at the expense of a more satisfying resolution. But again, as I said above, that doesn’t completely kill the movie, which is mostly excellent up to the end.
Director Sandy Collora had previously worked with effects and makeup expert Stan Winston (Aliens, Predator, The Terminator) and has spent most of his career behind the scenes. But in 2004, he directed the well-received fan film Batman: Dead End, which Kevin Smith has referred to as “possibly the truest, best Batman movie ever made” (you can watch that at this link). Hunter Prey is Collora’s first feature-length film, and he definitely shows promise with this one. Science fiction fans should check it out and keep an eye on future developments from this director (which, sadly, have been sparse).
Why Was There No Sequel?
As mentioned above in the spoilers section, this movie did appear to set up a sequel toward the end, and Sandy Collora did express an interest in expanding the universe of Hunter Prey. But this one was made on a low budget with no major distribution deal, and it did not get much exposure upon its initial release. It has since developed somewhat of a cult following, and I am sure the fans would like to see a sequel or continuation, but money is the issue. It does not appear that Collora has been doing too much of late, though, so perhaps he could focus his attention back on this property and try to crowdfund a sequel. There may be enough fans of the original who would contribute to that (I know I would), and that would give him the chance to build on this universe.
Should It Be Rebooted?
Another option instead of a sequel would be a reboot, and that could work as well. I would want to see Collora onboard for that, and it only makes sense if he is given a decent amount of money to produce the remake. That could allow him to deliver a cleaner, less cheesy production, and it could still be done on a modest budget “maybe $10-$20 million?). It would also give him the chance to potentially expand on the Hunter Prey universe and turn it into a franchise. A sequel would be the better way to go in my opinion, but a reboot with Collora onboard is definitely an option as well.
Interesting Facts:
This film has all sorts of obscure references to other science fiction properties which seem to be intentional. The names of Karza and Croyer are certainly references to the Micronauts toys and/or comic book series (Baron Karza and Acroyear). Centauri could be a reference to the like-named race from Babylon 5 or any of umpteen other sci-fi uses of the term. And Orin Jericho comes straight from the 1985 animated cult favorite Starchaser: The Legend of Orin. There are also a few other references sprinkled about that the discerning fan will pick up.
Erin Gray, best known for playing Wilma Deering in 1979’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, provides the voice for the computer Clea.
In addition to the Batman short Batman: Dead End, Collora also did a mock trailer for a World’s Finest Superman vs. Batman film, and that could have turned into a much better production than the DCEU slogfest that was eventually produced (you can watch that at this link).
Where Can You Watch It?
The movie has been released on DVD, but it has gone out of print and it is fetching high prices from third party sellers. It is currently available to streaming for free with ads at Fawsome.TV.
