- R
- 100 min
- Directed by
-
- Dan Trachtenberg
- Story
- Patrick Aison
- Premiered
- August 2, 2022
- Language
-
- English
- Status
- Released
- Budget
- $65,000,000.00
- Awards
-
- Won 1 Primetime Emmy. 12 wins
- 44 nominations total
- Country
-
- United States of America
Prey
- Production
-
- 20th Century Studios
- Davis Entertainment
- Lawrence Gordon Productions
Synopsis
When danger threatens her camp, the fierce and highly skilled Comanche warrior Naru sets out to protect her people. But the prey she stalks turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal.
In 1719, in the Great Plains, Naru, a young Comanche woman trained as a healer, dreams of becoming a great hunter like her brother Taabe. While tracking deer she witnesses strange lights in the sky, which she believes to be a thunderbird and a sign she is ready to become a hunter, but is actually the dropship for an alien hunter. Later, Puhi, a tribe warrior, is taken by a cougar. Naru accompanies the search party, which tracks and finds Puhi near death. She tends Puhi's wounds and gives him an orange totsiyaa herb, which lowers his body temperature to slow his bleeding. Naru returns with the search party and Puhi while Taabe stays behind to hunt the cougar. Finding large, unusual tracks and a skinned rattlesnake, Naru circles back with Paaka and reunites with Taabe. The three set a trap for the cougar, but the cougar kills Paaka.
Naru faces off with the cougar but is knocked unconscious when she is distracted by a loud roar and lights in the distance. She awakens at home, having been carried back by Taabe. He later returns to the village carrying the animal, earning him the title of War Chief. Convinced of a greater threat in the woods, Naru departs with her dog Sarii. She stumbles into a bog pit and narrowly escapes before being attacked by a grizzly bear, which corners her but is then killed by the alien hunter, giving Naru time to escape before running into a group of Comanche sent to find her. The hunter, which Naru dubs a "Mupitsi" after Pia Mupitsi ('Mother owl'), a monster in Comanche folklore, ambushes and kills the men in combat, while Naru is caught in a foothold trap.
French voyageurs find and cage Naru and Sarii. Their interpreter, Raphael Adolini, questions Naru about the Mupitsi, whom the Frenchmen have encountered before. When she refuses to talk, the lead voyageur reveals that he has Taabe captive and tortures him before using both siblings as bait for the Mupitsi, which the French are intent on capturing. The Mupitsi kills most of the Frenchmen while Taabe and Naru escape. Naru rescues Sarii from the camp and stumbles across a dying Raphael, who teaches her how to use his flintlock pistol[a] in exchange for treatment for his severed foot. Naru gives him the orange totsiyaa, which staunches his bleeding and lowers his body temperature. When the Mupitsi arrives, Raphael plays dead. Naru realizes that the Mupitsi cannot see him due to his reduced heat, but the Mupitsi accidentally steps on Raphael's severed foot; when Raphael screams, the Mupitsi kills him.
Taabe arrives on horseback to save Naru. Together, they weaken the Mupitsi, who kills Taabe. Naru flees and finds the surviving lead voyageur, whom she captures and uses as bait. Consuming the orange totsiyaa to hide her body heat, she uses Raphael's pistol to ambush the Mupitsi after he has beheaded the voyager, knocking off its mask, which she knows is used to direct his spear gun. She steals the device and lures the Mupitsi into the bog, where she positions the mask to face the pit. She battles the Mupitsi, who becomes mired in the bog. He fires the spear gun at Naru and misses; the mask guides the projectile back to the Mupitsi and bursts through his skull, killing him. Naru severs his head and paints her face with its glowing green blood. She returns with his head and Raphael's flintlock to her village, where she is declared the new War Chief. Naru informs her tribe that it is time for them to move.
During the beginning of the closing credits, the narrative is summarized in a series of ledger art paintings that ends with a depiction of three of the hunter's brethren's alien vessels descending towards the tribe.
Top Billed Cast
Core Crew
Posters
Backdrops
