Prey

Directed by Thomas Sieben, Prey follows several friends, including David Kross’ Roman and Hanno Koffler’s Albert, as they’re stalked by a rifle-wielding psychopath during a bachelor-party-weekend trip into the woods. It’s familiar territory that is, by and large, employed to uninvolving, underwhelming effect by Sieben, as the filmmaker, working from his own screenplay, delivers a generic thriller that admittedly contains few attributes designed to capture (and sustain) the viewer’s ongoing attention – with the arms-length atmosphere perpetuated by protagonists that could hardly be less interesting or sympathetic. (Sieben’s reluctance to wholeheartedly flesh these people out ensures that they remain virtually interchangeable from start to finish.) And although the picture admittedly does boast a small handful of compelling sequences, including (and especially) the initial reveal of the aforementioned psychopath’s identity, Prey progresses into an increasingly tedious, spinning-its-wheels midsection that contains a whole host of lackluster elements and an emphasis on the heroes’ tiresome squabbling – which, when coupled with a wholly ineffective final stretch, cements the picture’s place as a disappointing misfire that ultimately pales in comparison to its like-minded brethren.

** out of ****

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