Having had a fantastic public premier at MCM Expo London on Saturday, the guys and girls behind Predator: Dark Ages have now posted the Predator fan film online for everyone’s viewing pleasure! The short film has a runtime of just under half an hour and sees the Predator setting moved to the times during the Crusades.
“Set during the Crusades, the faith & fighting skills of a group of Templar Knights is put to the test when they encounter the Predator. Their battle is the thing Myths and Legends are born from.
Starring Adrian Bouchet, Amed Hashimi, Sabine Crossen, Ben loyd-Holmes, Jon Campling, Joe Egan and Philip Lane.
Written and directed by James Bushe.
Director of Photography – Simon Rowling.”
This Predator fan film is very much in the same vein as the original Predator film, returning to the woodland environment. It stars numerous professional actors – the film’s lead, Adrian Bouchet featured in Aliens vs. Predator – and is, in my opinion, the best Predator fan film that this community has seen. I recommend giving it a view! Make sure you leave your thoughts below! We’ll be having a chat with James and Simon soon so keep checking back.
That's actually a pretty neat idea, Predator: Concrete Jungle (video game) follows on that idea somewhat and it did rather well.
But in and of itself, Dark Ages was a triumph – I really really enjoyed it and more was impressed by the quality on so little money. A top
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Also, the "limitations" of the suit could be edited around a little more. One shot of the Predator looking like a guy stepping carefully can undo all the good work that came before it. While I think of it (not en editing thing) it would have been cool if the Predator had been shot to fake a greater height compared to the humans. Not a big deal, just a thought.
Such as? All feedback helps these guys.
For backers, yes.
I feel this is a little unfair as the suit wasn't built for the film. It was an existing suit from a cosplayer. And besides, we've seen "ancient" Predators before and they didn't look particularly different either. And like Gates said, the sword was a trophy from a previous hunt. Not a Predator sword.
Don't think the Predator was revealed too early - it was a short film. I found the pacing of the film pretty perfect for the length of the film. Had no issues with how the story played out. At all.
Fair point. We don't see it bleed here. However, his whole reason for being involved in the film was because he'd had experience in Jerusalem. It probably occurred there. It could have been made a little clearer but that's what I took from that.
1. The sword was a trophy from a previous kill.
2. I thought historical accuracy was spot-on. What did you find off?
Cinematography: Looked excellent. That's what really sold this. It looked wonderfully cinematic.
Acting: Hit-and-miss. Good in some parts, but not in others (mainly in line delivery). This, unfortunately, made it feel more like a direct-to-DVD thing, rather than completely professional.
Predator: Great costume, but suffered from the period of time! Surely, it should have been a less advanced, primal-looking Predator? I was expecting to see homeages to the elder from the second movie: Alien-looking sword instead of wrist-blades (which would have suited taking on its historical opponents) and laser on the gun, itself. Instead, it was modern. The actual workmanship which went into creating the suit was great. Didn't quite buy the sword fight at the end, mind you... Felt too human. Should have had a noticeably different combat technique - more brutal. Also thought that it was revealed too early.
Continuity: A few strange moments. The above weirdness of a modern Predator in ancient times, for instance and the Middle Eastern character saying they had noticed it bleed, even though we saw no neon green (including after arrow penetration).
Writing: Relatively well done. Could have done with some improvements and more historical research, but it did the job. Would have benefitted from things like extra dialogue for the small group of heroes to show what kind of adventures/experiences they've had, because there wasn't much characterisation for them and they came off feeling a bit too 'red shirt'-like. They were like Dutch's team, but without any of the stuff which made you feel much for them.
So, definitely one of the better efforts out there, but could have benefitted from some extra scripting and better directing. Not sure if that was because of the shooting schedule, of course.
It was largely the same. The Predator had some dialogue but James spoke to me at the weekend about that. They dropped the Predator dialogue which would have been recorded and replayed like in the films because they couldn't get it to sound right. The fight was also different - much shorter. Worked out far better in the finished piece.
Here's what I got from it:
The Predator of this film is leaving the planet because of our primitive nature. We pose no serious challenge, therefore we are not ready to be hunted. Zaeed's honor convinced the Predator to back off, refraining from killing a surrendered foe and sparing both of their lives.
Like it? I don't like this movie... I LOVE IT!!!
Even had a librarian come up to me to keep me hushed when I shouted when that one Templar had been eviscerated and his spinal column torn out!
I ACCEPT THIS MOVIE AS 100% CANON!!
I was waiting to see your opinion. Glad you like it.
I thought he said it was another £10k at the Q&A. They also commented on the woods being private land at the premier. I thought Simon did a pretty nice job making that English countryside look more threatening.
Here's an interview with director James Bushe: http://www.killerhorrorcastfromouterspace.com/features/exclusive-interview-with-james-bushe-director-of-predator-dark-ages
He says he got another £7K from a private investor in addition to the £5K from the kickstarter and the cast and crew worked for free. The film was shot in a place called Newbury outside of London.
Ah - none of that bothered me as it wasn't a straight rip. It was changed subtly enough to not be intrusive and fit within the scenes, rather than the scene around the homage. I can't stand forced re-used dialogue - looking at your AvPs and Predators!
They were variants rather than straight cribs, but they played on the
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I must stress though, that it really was a minor quibble. Overall I thought it was grand.
The only thing better would be a pred film set during the Viet war, with a SOG group hunting for their prey...and being hunted in return.
This is normally a massive annoyance to me and I only noticed the one. Did you catch more than one?