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PREY (Antoine Blossier/France)An Antoine Blossier filmScreenplay : Antoine Blossier & Erich VogelCast: Bérénice Bejo, Grégoire Colin, François Levantal, Joseph Malerba, Fred Ulysse, Isabelle RenauldRunning time : 80 min.Nathan is visiting his fiancée Claire at her familys estate. When mutilatedanimals are found on the terrain, Claires grandfather, her father and herbrother decide to form a hunting party. They set of into the woods with futureson-in-law Nathan trudging along. A wild boar seems to be the main suspectfor the carnage, but theres something far more dangerous afoot. The familyalso owns a chemical factory and a leak in a tank with an experimental type offertilizer has infected the surrounding wildlife. The pollution has started amutation in the local population of boars, who aggressively attack anything thatbreathes, including themselves. The family members start bickering with eachother, poor Nathan is stuck in between and the boars have tasted blood.Prey is another fine addition to the subgenre of wildlife gone mad. Illustriousexamples like Razorback, Black Sheep and Tremors show what fun you canhave with this when its done right. And with Prey, young debuting directorAntoine Bloissier has done the right thing indeed ! This is one very stylishly filmed horror trip. The foamingbeasties steal the show, but the ones who tear each other apart the most are those animals walking on twolegs. So it gives you lots of pleasure to see how these not very sympathetic characters end us mangled andmutilated in boar stomachs.RED NIGHTS (Julien Carbon & Laurent Courtiaud/France-Hong Kong)A Julien Carbon & Laurent Courtiaud filmScreenplay: Julien Carbon & Laurent CourtiaudFrédérique Bel, Carrie Ng, Carole Brana, Stephen Wong Cheung-Hing, Kotone Amamiya, Maria Chen, Jack KaoRunning time: 98 min.It looks strangely like a lethal version of the US game show Deal or no Deal :everybody wants to know what’s in the box. There is also a large sum of money atstake but, on the other hand, the contestants have a lot to lose. Basically, if youlose, you die. The contestants of this game are as honest as a leaky condom andwon’t stop giving each other a hard time through the streets of Hong Kong. Thestory goes like this : After she betrays her lover for the box, the mysteriousCatherine gets double-crossed by Sandrine and Flora, who fall into the hands ofCarrie; an S&M art dealer and a Chinese Freddy Krueger look-alike. ButCatherine, who has more than one betrayal up her sleeve, is going to useSandrine to get rid of Carrie, even if it means betraying Mister Ko, the real ownerof the box. Not too hard to follow ? Now, there’s just one question left : what’s inthat goddamn box ?It’s no coincidence that Julien Carbon and Laurant Courtiaud were attracted to thestreets of Hong Kong for their long feature directing debut. The twosome are skilled screenwriters, havingdelivered scripts for Asian action masters like Johnnie To (Running Out Of Time), Tsui Hark (Black Mask 2)and Peter Pau (The Touch). Their Asian giallo contains some torture scenes that could have come straightout of Takashi Miike’s twisted mind. Regarding casting, there’s finally something new for Frédérique Bel (AVery Long Engagement), who plays a lethal vamp and there’s the comeback of the venomous Carrie Ng(Sex and Zen, Naked Killer). And with a soundtrack by Seppuku Paradigm – guilty for Martyrs and Eden Log– one thing is certain : it’s going to be a very bloody night…23