It’s the circle of life…that kills us all in Dick Maas’ Netherlands-region horror film, Uncaged. Originally released as Prooi (Prey) in 2016, this monster lion movie is being re-released as Uncaged. I admire the film’s bravery in what kinds of people (and how many) this super cat is allowed to kill off, and though the film is otherwise light on scare-factor, it makes up for it in having likable characters and a good sense of dark humor.

As bodies and sightings begin to mount, the city of Amsterdam is gripped with fear after a zoo veterinarian, Lizzy (Sophie Van Winden), finds that the killings look to be the work of an East African lion. As luck would have it, Lizzy’s ex-boyfriend Jack (Mark Frost) is a British hunter who has had close encounters with man-eating lions before, and when he is brought to the city, he promises to rid them of their feline peril. The task proves to be more than expected, as the lion evades their traps and overcomes their weapons, seemingly, having multiple lives.

Uncaged stars Dutch actors Mark Frost, Julian Looman, and Sophie van Winden. Mark Frost gave a rousing performance as the man-eating lion expert, Jack, whose wheelchair-bound character came of as a Sam Quint from Jaws knockoff. However, Frost’s portrayal offered a cool, differently-abled character to the film by him playing up the half-man/half-machine aspect to almost a superpower. At times, the ensemble seemed to be overacting, but this overacting created the bulk of the humor in this darkly comedic beast-vs-man flick. Though the movie is generic and predictable, it is a fun romp following a murderous lion that never slows down on the excitement and often times is hilarious.

I am a big fan of practical effects, and this movie is a case in point as its monster was hardly terrifying in CGI and hearing nary a peep out of him. The monster-lion would have been a far more imposing figure had it solely been done using animatronics — in the end, the big cat reminded me of Asland from the children’s film, The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe (2005). A trail of bloody gore towards the end offered well done practical effects that added some horror to the film, but Uncaged was missing that ‘menacing monster’ element. Though King Kong, Jaws, and other creature classics created a great deal of tension and terror with framing and musical score, Uncaged doesn’t quite have that quality of longevity. What Uncaged does have, though, is an undeniable level of fun and charm that makes for a simply entertaining movie.

I feel that fans of Deep Blue Sea (1999) would enjoy a movie like Uncaged — the surf and turf creature-feature pairing writes itself. Like Deep Blue Sea, Uncaged is more action than horror, but my god does Uncaged get bloody in its last gaps of runtime. This movie is just begging for a bloodier, girthier, more governmentally critical, and more narratively fleshed out American remake, preferably starring Nicolas Cage. In the beginning, it looked like it would be a promising attempt at a horrifying monster film, but in the end, it is cheesy — but of course, that is okay too! For fans of campy B-horror, Uncaged is released to US audiences on March 17th to DVD and VOD platforms.

MOVIE RATING — 6 out of 10 ☠️