Hunter Prey

Shot on a shoestring budget in the Mexican desert, Hunter Prey is a science fiction tale of commandos escorting a mysterious prisoner named Jericho when their ship crash-lands on a barren planet. Now the team must hunt down their charge and recapture him before their rescue ship arrives.

As the commandos are picked off one by one, the story begins to hint at larger ramifications if Jericho evades capture. There’s some clever work here, and the film does a good job of dividing your loyalties between both hunter and prey, while never making you fully comfortable rooting for either side. The events that take place suggest a broader science fiction canvas, from which Collora is pulling the story, and it would be interesting to see where he’d take this universe if a studio slapped a decent-sized budget on the table.

It’s clear early on that Collora has an eye for shot composition, making great use of the stunning natural scenery in which he places his characters. It’s also apparent that he isn’t afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve in relation to his filmmaking influences. Stark desert landscapes and one particular scene involving a huge, real whale skeleton are eerily reminiscent of A New Hope, and the armour sported by the team of commandos seems to have been culled from the spring/summer ’83 Fett fashions collection.