Lizzy (Sophie van Winden) is a veterinarian at the Amsterdam zoo, juggling her demanding job and her rocky relationship with her boyfriend Dave (Julian Looman), who works as a videographer for the local TV news. A strange slate of deaths occurs that appear to be animal attacks, and since she has a past history of working with the police, she is called in to examine the bodies. Lizzy determines they were attacked by a lion, as impossible as it may seem, and a manhunt is begun to locate this loose King of the Jungle, before it kills again. They are too late, of course, and too inept. The lion is killing at will in the streets of Amsterdam and they can’t seem to find and stop it. Lizzy brings in her old lover and friend, irascible Jack (Mark Frost), who breezes into the story, a sort of drunken Doctor Who in a wheelchair. The fun begins as they try and trap the beast and kill it. Things go awry, of course, and more people die. Can this threesome stop the lion before it finds a way to kill them?
Uncaged (Prey in its original titling) is a fun little adventure/horror film directed by genre veteran Dick Maas. It is populated with great characters and actors, and their stories, more than anything else, carry the movie. Lizzy is a vibrant, strong woman, juggling her career and her rakish boyfriend Dave. They have an instant, charming chemistry. You kind of hate Dave for being such an idiot but the same time, you see why Lizzy takes him back time and again. He’s young, good-looking, and has a good heart. When Jack enters the picture, you might expect there to be the whole love-triangle thing, but this movie wisely avoids that with humor and wit. Jack is a breath of fresh air, a reckless and yet cunning man, still in love with Lizzy but long given up on those notions, he’s simply there to be a friend, and to help. The lion attacks range from suspenseful to vicious to silly. I understand that they really had no choice but to use a CGI lion, but sometimes it is very distracting because it looks so unreal. If you can put that aside you’ll enjoy the movie a lot more. There’s a particularly terrific attack scene on a street train that is gory and effective. Also of note is the humor in the film. It really carries the day at certain points.
Uncaged plays like a big-budget Hollywood movie from the late 90s. It has that kind of breezy feel, populated with fun, humorous characters and horror situations that can be intense but never really get darker than a thrill-ride experience. Ultimately, it’s the characters that carry this feature, and not the creature, but that’s okay. Uncaged is a harmless, fairly light flick that entertains with laughs and thrills. It won’t change the rules of the game, but it will entertain the hell out of you for a while. Now streaming on Shudder.
★★★☆
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