You guys, I love making these reviews. I love watching movies, thinking about what I’d say, drafting these reviews, finding funny pictures, writing funny memes, and downright bullying the filmmakers for silly little things I thought were silly and little.
But I also feel kinda bad about these reviews because what if someone who made the movie read my scathing indictment of their work? What if someone spent their entire career toiling away, writing for shitty kids’ shows, then finally, finally got a break writing for a big Hollywood movie, and then some guy with half a dozen reads on their review blog told you that you wrote some crap?
So anyways I love horror films. I don’t really like gore or body horror (there’s a lot of the latter in Prey), but I like feeling things. And within that realm, I really, really enjoy Catholic demonic horror films. I don’t know why- I’m not even religious. I just like movies with sister and fathers who do shit in a pre-established magic system and mythology. It’s just easy to jump in knowing that there’s some basic groundwork for us done already, at least in terms of film language, if not in the zeitgeist. We know that poor, innocent people will become possessed, screech, and contort their backs. Then someone wearing all black with a level of undeterminable conviction and vague powers will step in, say some shit in Latin, jizz some holy water, que floaty people/furniture, here’s some screeching and badabing, badaboom. Roll credits.
Horror films aren’t complicated, and I’ve gone over their basic structure extensively every time I go over a James Wan movie (I will never miss a James Wan flick, I love my Wan-wan daddy). It’s an old, dated, tried and true formula, and Prey does not deviate. Remember, safety is paramount.
People have really dragged this movie over the coals for playing it so safe, and no one on Reddit is happy with the movie. Keep in mind, Reddit is 100% representative of the entire US population and all opinions and you may as well just run elections through Reddit at this point. But to be fair, I didn’t expect the film to exceed any base expectations. After all, it’s not like some random youtuber was making this movie.
I was surprised, though. Not because this movie is extraordinary, original, or any type of memorable. But because it was not entirely, 100% atrocious. I think that these folks really tried to create a narrative with details and connections and clues- visual and audial. There’s a little montage, however ineffective, at the end of the film that ties together supernatural happenstances throughout the film in a sort of intentional montage. It’s like, remember all this scary shit? It was all a part of the grand plan! I think they really tried.
Of note was the lead actress, Jacqueline Byers, who looks suspiciously, substantially, and distractingly like Rory Kinnear. The similarities do not end there, as Byers is honestly a really, really talented actress. I was pleasantly surprised at her casual, immersive and realistic emotions and expressions. I mean, obviously, insert a major asterisk when we’re talking about the demonic howling and screeching, because that was a) routine and b) annoying. But when Byers plays a normal human, she’s actually really good at her job. And I’m not just saying this because she’s really cute, because I’m a little thrown off by the fact that Byers is 100% editing her own Wikipedia page, and she’s clearly peaked in high school.
I don’t know. Prey was as promising as The Nun or The Rite, and just as bland. Some people have claimed that there’s some pro-life messaging in the film, but I think it may be a bit of a stretch, because I don’t think that the writers meant to do that. Like, do you really think that these guys intentionally included a character who got an abortion for a rape-induced baby, was so regretful that she was literally possessed by a demon, and then committed suicide. But then our protagonist carried a child to birth, and eventually reconciled with her child while also defeating the devil? I mean… is it that really… is that… imagery? A metaphor? Subtext? Intention in filmmaking? Probably not.
4/10.
As an aside, my research for this film led me down a rabbit hole that eventually led to the realization that Kiera Knightly is married to a guy who’s Wiki page is just… woof.
You can rent or buy Prey for the Devil on all major streaming services.
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