I was on eBay late last year and noticed this costume that reminded me greatly of characters from the Star Wars universe. It was one of the actual screen used costumes from the movie Hunter Prey.
I had not seen the movie at that time, but thought the costume/armor was very cool. I ended up winning the auction and only realized it was being sold by the director Sandy Collora as we exchanged emails.
When the costume/armor finally arrived, I was absolutely blown away by the level of detail from the unique under-suit to the battle damaged/worn armor.
I have many replica costumes including a signature edition Boba Fett helmet by Master Replicas.
The Boba Fett Master Replicas helmet, especially for a "mass produced" item was very well done including the paint job. At the time I thought this was a great helmet. But the Hunter Prey helmet worn by the character Croyer blows the Boba Fett helmet away with its great battle damage/weathering. To be fair, Master Replicas did an outstanding job on the Boba Fett helmet, but being mass produced it just can't compete with a one-of-a-kind where great care was take in the weathering and battle damage look including the deep scrapes and cracks.
After seeing this suit in person, I knew I wanted more. Luckily Sandy was willing to part with the Commander Karzar suit/armor and later the armor for a landing party officer.
Commander Karzar came with a non-functioning Clea prop and with his screen used handgun/knife.
I have read of some people criticizing the weapons for being based on Nerf guns but you have to remember Sandy and his crew had a very small budget to work with and thus needed the do whatever they could to cut down costs.
For example, the custom under-suits were not cheap to make. Although in the film there are at least 6 armored characters, only three complete under-suits for the armor existed used since all the characters, especially the landing party, did not appear with the earlier shown characters.
I have two of the full under-suits, and found adequate gloves/boots/pants/jacket to complete the landing party outfit for Halloween. The Landing party helmet also states "Logan and landing party officer" so it may have been used for more than one character.
I have compared the handgun to the original Nerf gun used and the modifications to the gun is extreme. My favourite mod to the gun are the dip-switches at the bottom of the gun that can be flipped to illuminate a colored meter on the left side of the gun to indicate how much ammo is left. The handgun is again, like the armor, very well painted/weathered.
I also purchased the one available rifle which is huge and goes great with the costumes. The handgun is still my favorite for the paint job/weathering, but the large rifle with its additional clip is impressive too. This is the gun that gets damaged by the prisoner.
I would have loved to have had the other rifle used in the movie but according to Sandy it was lost in the desert during the final day of shooting.
The Commander Karzar helmet is my favorite of the 3 with the very nice battle damaged, especially with the "laser" burn that runs along one side of the visor.
Hats off the the talented folks at Hanger 18 Studios for their superb work on all the armor and movie props.
As for the film, Sandy kindly included a DVD copy of it with the landing party armor.
Although I found some of the dialogue at the very start of the movie to be a little hard to hear, after a minute or two I had no problems with the sound. Visually, this movie is a treat to look at for the quality of the video. I found the movie held my interest to the end, but as some have mentioned would have preferred an ending that wrapped up the story. The ending does beg for a sequel and I hope some day Sandy will do one. I enjoyed the movie very much and would recommend it to anyone that is a fan of 1970 Sci Fi movies.
I do hope Sandy can get work on bigger productions where he has the freedom to do his magic on a larger scale, like what he did on this "small" production. Nothing came across as "small" when I watched the movie though. The effects were well done, the costumes/makeup were excellent and I personally thought the acting was more than adequate. I really enjoyed Clark Bartram's performance as Orin Jericho.
I find it interesting that some people compare the Hunter Prey costumes to Bob Fett. Sure there are similarities such as the gauntlets, and cape. But the helmet, suit and other armor look very different to me. If anything, the upper chest/back/shoulder armor reminds me of the Stormtroopers armor. I am sure the Hunter Prey outfits were in part a homage to the Star Wars costumes too. I think I read somewhere the Boba Fett helmet was influenced by Roman helmets and I can seen this influence in the Hunter Prey helmets too.
Another thing I liked about the costumes in the movie for the main armored characters who pursued the prisoner was their uniqueness. Although based on the same cast for armor, they have slight differences in their helmets/suits/weapons and color schemes to make them unique. This helped make them come across as unique characters in the move too instead of just clones of each other.
