De prooi

Having just watched this, it's fresh in my mind. So to preface this, De Pooi (or Death in the Shadows) was included in a box set I have of mostly 30s and 40s crime thrillers. Having been made in 1985, it's the newest movie in the whole set.

As someone who loves mystery stories, I rather enjoyed this little Dutch Neo-Noir movie. I just wish I could have watched it with the original Dutch audio (that's one star knocked off). The English dub isn't outright horrible, it's pretty decent. I imagine it's a lot better in Dutch. Maayke Bouten is very pretty to look at, and she brings some good emotionality to the screen. On the other hand, her boyfriend (Erik de Vries), is very wooden, and the English dub for him really adds to it (that's another star knocked off).

The pacing may feel a little slow, but remember it's a murder mystery. We're mostly seeing through the eyes of Valerie, so as she's learning who she is, who her mother is, who her real parents are, and who the killer is, it's all unfolding as we follow Valerie. Murder mysteries tend to have the killer revealed at the very end, so it wouldn't be very interesting to learn who the killer is right away.

I do have to mention the soundtrack. It has to be the wierdest soundtrack to a movie I've ever heard. It has a bit of that 80s flair to it, but it also has what sounds like a strong Polka sound to it. It's distracting and it kind of takes you out of it. It's an extremely quirky soundtrack that doesn't really fit with the seriousness of what's going on in the movie (that's another star knocked off).

I'm honestly glad I watched this, as this is the first Dutch movie I've ever seen, and for me it's a big plus because I'm part-Dutch. I would have never watched this otherwise because physical copies of this movie are scarce.

7/10.