- Offered by Las Vegas Entertainment Insider
- Brenden Palms
- 7:00 PM Red Carpet
- 8:00 PM Movie
- 10:00 PM After party at Moon
- IMDB (Boy there are lots of movies called Prey)
First allow me to thank all those who put the event together. It was much better organized than any previous screening or red carpet event.
Now here is the hard part... I ether have to admit defeat to my need to please others or I trash a film. Allow me to explain.
While having a snack in the food court, I happened to park myself where the guests for the red carpet were brought in. I recognized the most bizarre looking and best dressed gentlemen in the group and surmised he must be the director or producer. I quickly found out the latter was true as I introduced myself to Robert Lewis Galinsky. The kind gentlemen explained to me that after four years of development, the movie did well where it was produced in Australia. He hoped the humor would translate well in America. We parted with his sincere wish that I enjoy the film. I'll have to disappoint on that one.
OK, horror + humor has made for some great movies and some tragic flops. You have to really get it right, or incredibly wrong, to win your audience. For example: Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. These had gags and bigger than life scenarios so over the top bold you had to laugh at them. Personally I love the 40 gallon rule (40 gallons of blood in a human being under high pressure). The horror and gore are still there, but the laughs are bigger.
The contra to that would be a move like The Janitor - a b rate slasher flick that tried to be funny and shocking, but failed on the jokes. It just made the over the top situations seem too far fetched for story continuity. This is how I saw Prey.
On the positive side: there were a couple of jokes that translated well; for example the gay friend innuendo ,the mocked sex scene and the bubble headed comments of the new age goddess. In addition, there is some good gore and nifty special effects - some left to the imagination, some right in your face. There was one good jump in the movie - too early to be useful, but that's where it ends. Some of the panoramic scenes that were shot were beautiful and mesmerizing just due to the backdrop. Oh yes, the accents; I can thank Nicole Kidman for my personal enjoyment of an Australian accent.
The negative: Where to begin? The movie contained bizarre characters that do not follow logically with their roles, skills and/or talents. Yes, you can have a character do a 180 and surprise you, but not be in character one minute, and out the next.. and back again. I'm a skilled Doctor; I am a panicked wreck under pressure when someone is hurt; I'm a skilled Doctor ?!?
Most of the humor seemed to be lost on the audience. In places where the story did not further itself, it instead inserted an absurd action, reaction or chain of events that are (I learned later) intended to generate laughter. They did not.
My next beef was it did not set up the story ark. You can make a horror film by just killing everybody and build the story as you go - or - you can foreshadow what is to come by investing the audience in a myth, legend or in-story that sets the expectations and drives suspense. Pick a direction and run with it and your audience is suspending disbelief and is enthralled. Fail to do one of these and you have an unknown driving force in the plot that is tough to get the audience to believe. It also sets up you up in that your story climax seems anticlimactic because we, the audience, are not invested in the story.
Continuity issues arise as well in the film that defy logical explanation. I don't want to spoil the fun of that one.
All in all I have to admit that didn't like the film although I wish that I did. To thine own self be true.
Asides:
I met a guy snapping photos at the Red Carpet. If he emails them to me I'll add them in.
There were local "Zombies" hired in for decoration. The makeup was fantastic. One was an incredible looking young lady. If I get the photos - I'll post her too. I invited her to bite my neck - so much for flirting.
The after party was included in the invite for the evening so I got to visit the Playboy Club and Moon for the first time. If I get motivated, I'll throw up a review of those later.
-Flix by Flicks
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