Fera Assassina

The secret to fully enjoying this film, is not to take it too seriously. Let's face it, nothing here is believable or realistic and is purely for fun and effect.

And fun it was! This is a very enjoyable horror comedy in a similar style to the 2006 Australian film 'Black Sheep', just not as satirical. 'Prey' was more suspenseful with nail-biting moments and quite a lot of gore. As for the humor, it was actually really funny and worked well. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and their back stories and Sophie van Winden was a likable lead.

The film has a great climax with a stunning twist ending. As I said, don't take it too seriously and you will have fun with this little film. (If you prefer a serious lion film, rather watch 'The Ghost and the Darkness'.)

Would I watch it again? Yes!

I've been waiting for this one to come to the States for a while. Originally released in 2016 and originally entitled ProoI a.k.a Prey. This Dutch creature feature has finally hit us and has been retitled Uncaged. It's a fairly generic title but its promise of satisfactory killer cat thrills is quite successful. The setup is simple as a killer lion attacks Amsterdam with a cast of quirky characters to try and help. The film is fun and gory but not overdone in any way. It's best watched with subtitles because the dubbing is a bit wonky. Although it never strives to be more than what it is, its definitely fun.

3.75/5

In case you live in The Netherlands (or the Flemish speaking part of Belgium, like yours truly does) and you're an avid fan of eccentric horror/cult cinema, well then you simply have to be an admirer of Dick Maas. He's pretty much the only writer/director of the entire Dutch region who dares to be different and even a tad bit crazy. After all, Maas is the hero who – during the glorious eighties' decade – brought us the phenomenal horror flicks "De Lift" (about a murderous elevator) and "Amsterdamned" (about a vicious murderer hiding out in the canal system), as well as the legendary black comedy "Flodder" (about an utterly demented dysfunctional family). More recently, in 2010, he also saddled up thousands of little Dutch children with incurable traumas by portraying Saint Nicholas (the local Santa) as a relentless monster. But the ideas behind his newest feature are perhaps the most grotesque and craziest ones of his entire career…

In "Prey", Dick Maas unleashes a male lion – evidently an exceptionally large and unusually aggressive species – in the city center of Amsterdam; to my recollection still one of the busiest and least rural capitals of Europe. One could go for the so-called "suspension of disbelief" in case the script attempted to explain that the animal escaped from the local zoo or from the private collection of a foolish millionaire or something, but no… The lion simply shows up in Amsterdam and damned if we ever find out who or what brought him there. The closest we ever come to a clarification is a dumb piece of dialogue: "In Eastern countries people still keep lions as pets, and when they escape they don't report it to the police!" Yeah sure…

But hey, let's at least try to forget for a moment that absolutely nothing in the script of "Prey" makes any sense. If you manage that, you're left with a completely over-the-top but entertaining creature-feature with a massive body count, tons of blood & gore, ridiculous slapstick comedy, a complete cast of imbecilic characters and a handful of cynical observations about the Dutch society. Throughout the opening sequences, Maas still attempts to pay tribute to "Jaws" and creates a moody atmosphere with ominous POV-shots and sinister music, but then he goes straight for trashy and mindless splatter fun. The lion munches his way through the crowded city without being spotted, so naturally the dumb cop and the cute zoo veterinarian have a difficult time alarming the press and the public. And yet, even when it's made abundantly clear there's a dangerous predator at large in town – that, by the way, already killed at least a dozen of people by then – the public still doesn't seem to be too panicky, as they cheerfully continue to walk their dogs at night, go to restaurants and hang around in the central park! Numerous sequences and plot twists are almost too ludicrous to describe, like when the lion gets on board of a city tram or when a crazy wannabe hunter and his retarded son are hired to ambush the animal in the park. The cute veterinarian eventually has to bring in her former lover, who used to be notorious hunter in Africa. A romance between a veterinarian and a hunter … Can it get any crazier? Of course it can, because the "fearsome" hunter turns out to be a driveling alcoholic Brit in a wheelchair!

"Prey" is a pretty bad but immensely entertaining B-movie in every sense of the term! The acting performances are already terrible when the cast speaks in Dutch, but when they switch to English they become downright atrocious. The gore and make-up effects are decent, but look a little too "digital" and – like the case in most traditional creature features – the lion is most menacing when it remains off-screen. I genuinely hope that Dick Maas stays as stubborn and eccentric as he ever was, and that he continues with making these insane movies. It's not because "Prey" gets a low rating (I just don't have another choice) that I don't love and respect this man tremendously!

A veterinarian (Sophie Van Widen) finds the tracks left by an animal that kills people result to be of a huge lion . As an enormous lion carries out a criminal spree in Netherlands . Then a wheelchair bound disabled man (Mark Frost) is asked for hunting it . He is a world-class hunter , competing several times in African hunts, however , long time ago , a lion injured him. Later on , a merciless wild hunt takes place . The beautiful veterinarian , her boyfriend (Looman) and the crippled hunter get caught in a dangerous adventure while the lion terrifying the Dutch capital of Amsterdam. As the giant lion roaming and lurking victims for a tasty meal . As three protagonists leading the city-wide hunt and confronting themselves one of nature's most fearsome predators which savagely attacking its preys , innocen humans .

Creepy and eerie film with chills , thrills , scary attacks and lots of blood and gore. Furthermore , adding some brief touches of black comedy .The enormous lion delivers the goods with hair-raising chills, full of scares when the huge creature shows up and suddenly attacks .The lion images are made by a mix of digital special effects , C.G. and was also built animatronic for the close-up frames, creating a well-made manually operated lion. While the scenes appearing running and attacking in full were made by computer generator such as the pursuit set piece through Amsterdam when the monstrous lion chases the delivery boy on the scooter by the river .

It contains colorful and brilliant cinematography . As well as atmospheric musical score by Dick Maas himself , as he regularly scores his own films , because not hiring an external composer allows him to save money for additional days of shooting . This grisly motion picture was professionally directed by Dick Maas . However , being his lowest grossing film as if 2016, though in China it got a big boxoffice . As Maas made a name for himself in far flung China as he sold his rights to a Chinese distributor , making in an over night hit in mainland China. Maas is considered to be one of the best Dutch filmmakers . His movies have high production values for Netherlands standards , usually including spectacular pursuits , blow up , known stars and uneven other Dutch directors his pictures are aimed at the international market. His first great success was the claustrophobic and tense The Lift , following Amsterdammned , Do not disturb , Quiz , Down , Saint , among others . And other successes in Flodder comedies as The Flodder in America , Flodder 3 and Flodder TV series . Rating 6/10 , acceptable passable and entertaining .

Also how the lion gets inside a moving tram is beyond my understanding. The film has moments of tension, lots of kills, one pretty disturbing scene regarding a small kid n cool effects.

In my opinion i feel the director Dick Maas (i have enjoyed his The Lift) is very underrated.