Desperate to provide a future for her young daughter, undocumented immigrant Nina (Karyna Kudzina) takes on a job as a caretaker for an old man (Chris LaPanta) at his rural home. It’s not long before Luther begins exhibiting worrying behaviour: sneaking off with Nina’s daughter, growing jealous of hunky interloper Andres (Monte Bezell) and letting his weird white friends make weird white comments all over the place. Get out, Nina!
It won’t take switched-on genre fans long to figure out what Luther and his creepy clan are up to, but this slow-burn thriller prolongs the build-up regardless. It’s unfortunate for directors Karyna Kudzina and Michael Vaynberg that Silence of the Prey comes in such close vicinity to the thematically similar Raging Grace – lacking, as it does, that film’s vitality and, uh, grace.
Instead, what we have here is a fairly predictable psychological thriller, enlivened by some vicious gore and a deliciously discomforting rich white people party. Unfortunately, implausibly weak rope work and a Texas Chain Saw Massacre-inspired dinner sequence fail to keep the mood up, and Kudzina’s performance isn’t quite strong enough to support the whole thing either, even if horned masks and gory imagery do distract from the film’s flaws.
It’s a justifiably miffed work of contemporary horror with plenty to say, but it fumbles the execution.
