Lionsgate Home Entertainment released Prey on DVD on 30 January 2007. It premiered a couple of months earlier at the American Film Market. Otherwise, it had no theatrical release in the US.

People hate this film! But it isn’t for the usual nonsense reasons. Overall, critics found it pat. It tells the story of a family visiting South Africa. Dad has to work so the rest of the family go on a wildlife tour and things go horribly wrong. It’s kind of like Cujo.

I think the film is fine. But the critics are not wrong. The screenplay is shockingly generic. It could have been made in the 1930s without changing anything. But is this a problem?

I love when a script surprises me. The reveal at the end of The Power of the Dog blew me away. But this is rare. I learned one thing from my misspent youth. I guess plots very well. As a result, I don’t expect clever plots. And I’ve come to the conclusion that audiences don’t need them as much as they think they do in order to enjoy a film.

I wrote about this recently, Scanners and Great Movie Endings. There just aren’t many great plot ideas. We enjoy the journey, not the destination.

Each year, Hollywood releases roughly 500 films into US movie theaters. If you consider the world and all venues, the number jumps close to 10,000. And this is in an environment in which there are roughly half a million films ever made! We would all have more than enough filmed entertainment for the rest of our lives with no new films.

I’m not saying Prey is a great film. It isn’t even a particularly good film. I especially hate the angry daughter trope. But it tells a compelling story. It is engaging. Many people would enjoy it if critics didn’t tell them they wouldn’t.

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Prey (2007) poster via Wikpedia under Fair Use.