A man wanders into his yard to find some deer badly mutilated. Is this somehow related to the nearby chemical plant or a coincidence? I have to say I enjoyed this movie. While not the greatest, it still had plenty of action, rich characters, a unique story, and amazing special effects. Whoever designed those animals did such an impressive job. I also appreciate the use of not showing things rather than showing them on occasion -- the imagination can fill in blanks nicer than CGI can more often than not.The romantic interest in this film is Claire, plated by Bérénice Bejo. You may recall Bejo as Christiana from "A Knight's Tale" or more recently as Peppy Miller in "The Artist". Her role is, sadly, rather small... but it was nice to see some noteworthy talent in a movie that otherwise had no names to speak of that I (as an American unfamiliar with French cinema) could recognize.If you wanted to venture into the world of French horror, this is not a bad place to start (and it makes a nice double feature with "The Pack").

Nathan and Claire are over the moon as they're about to announce to her family that she is pregnant. But the joyous occasion doesn't go according to plan. Not only is the family's Pharmaceutical business in trouble, Claire's father is also mysteriously attacked by terrorised deer. Nathan reluctantly joins the heavily armed in-laws to find out what causes the odd behaviour. But as they venture deep into the woods, they soon discover that what started out as a hunting party, has turned into Prey.When you think of New Wave French Horror, you think of gory insanity. If you go into this film with that expectation, you will be bitterly disappointed. If you go into it expecting a good old fashioned suspense film, then you will be pleasantly surprised! Starting with, the characters are quite self indulgent and unlikeable, so you don't get any sympathy for their cause. This is the biggest downfall of the film. With better characters, a connection with them would have caused the horror scenes to be even more of an impact. Now for the positives. Visually, this is a stunning film. Reminded me of South Korean Cinematography in some instances, with the bright colouring and almost surreal atmosphere. This is a film of "seeing less is best" so there are no CGI creatures in this film, which is great because most of the time, CGI can take the realism out of it. You don't actually get to see the dangers in focus, its all a blur, but by the way its filmed, you know that the threat is very intimidating. Film making of this technique is not common in the world dominated by CGI. So its great to see that some directors still like to let the viewer use their imagination. With great suspense and a surprising ending, this film comes recommended. Its not the greatest French Horror film, but if you are bored one night, this certainly makes entertaining viewing.

This is now already the fifth part of my little review series: Movies that are way better than you expect.When I bought this movie at a low price a couple of days ago I expected some entertaining gore horror movie and the short length of only seventy-six minutes seemed to underline my expectations. What I discovered is a fast paced diversified thriller with many surprises that I didn't see coming at all.In only five minutes or so the director introduces a complicate family drama to us: The young main actor that wants to finally start a new life with his pregnant girlfriend in a city, his girlfriend itself who is torn between her family and their enterprise and the love of her life, her egoist father who secretly worked with pesticides and is constantly in search for further power, his ex-wife who helped him with his conspiracies and still takes a big place in his life, the father's grim brother that feels exploited by him, their father who suffers a strange disease and feels the dark shadows coming over the family - they are all part of the following race and when they go out for a hunt, they become not only the prey of some strange boars that have gone wild but also each other's prey. Jealousy, pride and egoism lead to many surprising and radical scenes and the dramatic turns of events all seem to liberate the worst in each of them. A quite simple plot turns into a haunting and surprising story that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.It's incredible that the director had the time to introduce half of a dozen profound and diversified characters to the movie and mix the horror hunt with influences from the drama and psychological suspense genre and that's what makes this movie so unique and worthwhile. You will quickly realize that the movie focuses on the monsters in the human soul and not that much on some pigs gone crazy even if that aspect is also explained in a credible way. The hunting story itself includes a dark atmosphere, some gripping survival horror parts with a couple of good ideas and some gore scenes that are not too exaggerated and fit well to the general atmosphere and the character's extreme changes. The special effects are not outstanding but done in a truly solid and credible way in comparison to many other low or no budget horror flicks that show too many artificial and unreal monsters and quickly turn me off. The good camera work and the well done soundtrack are other positive points that make this movie one of the best of its kind and a little unexpected masterpiece gem.In the end, you should not expect anything revolutionary but in its genre and for what it is supposed to be, this movie really left a deep and permanent impression and I will surely watch it a few times again. Make sure to check this underestimated French horror flick out in your local video shop.

I expected a little more from this horror movie. I never miss a french one, never. This feature is actually half drama, half horror, with a subplot between the characters I did not expect in such a film. But this is not uninteresting at all, on the contrary. It gives something more to the movie, and the characters are more involved in the story than in a usual horror flick. This topic reminds me of course Russel Mulcahy's RAZORBACK and also John Frankenheimler's PROPHECY, where we see the dangerous "side effects" that some criminal chemical industries can make to the surrounding wild life and country side.Just one thing: there are some lengths and so so sequences you have seen a billion times before in other movies. I won't say it's boring but...HmmmThe ending is OK, very "french" and far from the so predictable American ones...