Prey Alone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Prey Alone | |
|---|---|
 A promotional film poster for Prey Alone. |
|
| Directed by | Stephen St. Leger James Mather |
| Produced by | John McDonnell |
| Written by | Stephen St. Leger James Mather |
| Starring | Ger Carey Andy Moore Kurt Savage |
| Music by | John Walsh |
| Cinematography | James Mather |
| Editing by | Janice Toomey |
| Distributed by | Network Ireland Television |
| Release date(s) | 2005 |
| Running time | 15 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Prey Alone (2005) is a short thriller film set in a city during the late 20th century. It starred Ger Carey, Andy Moore, and Kurt Savage. It was directed by Stephen St. Leger and James Mather and produced by John McDonnell. It is known for its impressive special effects, which were done on a render farm made up of several personal computers.
The film took four days to film in front of a green screen and three months to finish. The computer graphics were done by James Mather, Jonathan Ridge and Eddie Shearon.
Tagline: One Fugitive, One Question... One Answer
[edit] Plot
The film opens with an explosion at the far end of a subway. From the point of the explosion, we see a black car speeding towards the screen; it stops as the camera circles to show the route has been cut off by police vehicles. Out of breath, the silhouetted man takes off his dog tag and looks at a black gun lying in the passenger seat beside him. The screen fades to the title.
After the introduction the movie opens with NSA Special Agent Darris Cain (Ger Carey) in an elevator that is going to "Level One" of a military prison as radio chatter says "...we think it's starting again, have we got an inmate down there by the name of Dean Ellis?". Cain is there to interrogate the reluctant and taunting witness with a mouth injury, Dean Ellis (Andy Moore). Evidence gathered through surveillance shows Ellis meeting with an elusive fugitive (Kurt Savage) whom Cain has been tracking around the world. The only lead is Ellis and a notebook with the words "Prey Alone" written in it, which was in Ellis's personal effects. Cain tries to extract information about the fugitive, only to be stymied by Ellis's laugh and taunts. Ellis prods Cain to think about what is happening, and hints that this event is happening over and over, like a déjà vu event. Soon, Cain realizes "Prey Alone" is actually a phone number and leaves to coordinate an attempt to capture the fugitive.
The phone number is tracked to a cell phone located in a room in a nondescript building in the city and forces are mobilized. A watch on both the fugitive and Cain's wrists start counting down from 10:00 minutes. As a SWAT team is about to break into the room, the fugitive sets off an explosive that was placed on the door by the SWAT team. All of the team except for one member is killed or rendered harmless. The fugitive escapes the room after the explosion and shoots the last one in the back of the head.
A second SWAT team stands by at the elevator of the building. They see the floor numbers counting down and ready their automatic weapons. The elevator opens and nobody seems to be inside. The team enters the elevator and peers up, only to see a hole in the roof and a grenade coming down that hole. The grenade explodes and the team is incapacitated.
The rest of the force attempts to seal the building, but the fugitive escapes in a black car. He sets off in a high-speed chase down the highway with the police in multiple cars and a helicopter chasing after him. He shoots one police car and disables it, which blocks the highway for the rest of the cars. Then, the fugitive shoots at the helicopter and kills the pilots. Some military personnel that are present in the control room where Cain is located urge Cain to back off. He declines and orders a technician to call up a nearby Andrews Air Force Base and tell them to send in two aircraft to chase the car.
Cain reenters the interrogation room where Ellis is still being held. Ellis laughs at Cain, and gets punched in the mouth. Cain tries to get Ellis to tell him where the fugitive is running to, but Ellis indicates that the fugitive is not running. Again, Ellis prods Cain to think, and Cain finally realizes this is a recurring event. He connects the pain in Ellis's mouth to the punch that he just delivered. With this piece of information, Cain realizes that he knows where the fugitive is going because it is all happening again.
The fugitive is heading to an incomplete subway. Cain tries to get the aircraft to pull out, but it is too late and they disappear off the radar screen. Cain pulls up a map of the subway and orders reinforcements to seal off certain tunnels.
The aircraft have entered into the tunnel, which is the reason why they disappeared off the radar screen. One of the jets is hit and is forced to fly off the main tunnel and into another one. It eventually crashes into a wall. The second airplane is able to arm and lock a missile. The fugitive attempts evasive maneuvers in his car to try to throw the missile off and is successful. The missile continues flying and tries to reacquire a target. It does so, but it targets the second jet. The jet is hit and destroyed.
The fugitive begins to exit the tunnel, but stops abruptly when he sees a police force blocking his way. It becomes clear that the fugitive was the silhouetted man at the beginning, and is once again trapped in the tunnel. Cain shows up in a helicopter with a line of other SWAT officers and they tell the fugitive to surrender. The fugitive speeds towards the SWAT officers but stops when the open fire.
Cain and the officers walk over to the car only to find dog tags that say "Player One." On the ground is a traffic marker that says "End of Level One." Cain looks at his watch and as the seconds count down to 0:00, Cain realizes that this is all a game.
At 0:00, the words "Game Over" flash momentarily on the screen.
Once again we see Cain in an elevator as the voices over the radio say "we think it's starting again". The movie ends as Cain walks by the same sign from the beginning stating "You are now entering...Level One."
[edit] Interesting tidbits
- "Prey Alone" is an anagram of "Player One."
