Underplayed Gems
The whole movie catalogue

Films and series, searchable by what they are

← Back to the shop

Prey (1978)

Prey poster
Directed by
Norman J. Warren
Genre
horror film, science fiction film, monster film, LGBTQ-related film
Country
United Kingdom
Runtime
1h 18m
Rated
16
Rating
5.2 of 10 from 38 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb

How it feels

A carnivorous alien lands in the British countryside and befriends a lesbian couple. His true mission is to judge if humans are fit to eat.

unsettlingslow-burnclaustrophobictenseoddbizarreexperimentaleerie

What happens

Prey (titled Alien Prey in some markets) is a 1977 British science fiction horror film produced by Terry Marcel and directed by Norman J. Warren. The plot concerns a carnivorous alien (Barry Stokes) landing on Earth and befriending a lesbian couple (Sally Faulkner and Glory Annen) as part of his mission to evaluate humans as a source of food. It was filmed in ten days on a budget of about £50,000 (roughly £300,000 in 2025) using locations near Shepperton Studios in Surrey. It had a limited distribution on release. Critical response to the film has been mixed: verdicts range from "odd", "bizarre" or "eccentric" to "ambitious" and "experimental", while the film's "claustrophobic" atmosphere has drawn both praise and criticism. Prey has also received comment for its presentation of conflicting male and female sexuality, with some critics noting similarities to the plot of the D. H. Lawrence novella The Fox (1922). It has been compared to a vampire or zombie film and has been cited as an example of the exploitation (or sexploitation) genre. Plans for a sequel, Human Prey, were abandoned. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? Tell the Catbot what you feel like watching and it picks from the whole catalogue, or browse by genre, country and year.

Lists: Korean thrillers worth the evening · Anime films beyond Studio Ghibli · Slow films for a rainy night · Horror that unsettles instead of startling · Series you can finish in a weekend · Nordic crime worth the subtitles · Good films that end in under 90 minutes · Documentaries that play like thrillers

Loading movies…

What should I watch?