Terror on the Prairie (2022) User Reviews

Boring film misusing cast

[siderite · 5/10 · 12 August 2022]

If you expected Gina Carano or Matthias Hues to kick ass or Nick Searcy to act, you will be sorely disappointed. Instead you will get Carano as a mother of two sitting in a lone house waiting for her husband when a band of sadistic ex soldiers come and attempt to capture her. I don't know how military service was back then, but five armed men should have done the job in five minutes. Instead, they try to wiggle themselves into the house, trick the woman, wait her out, convince her, etc.

That's the entire film. It feels more like a really bad date than a western. And poor Hues. How the mighty have fallen...

I wanted to like this

[andy-564-367996 · 5/10 · 16 June 2022]

I cant stand movies where things just don't make sense. When plot armor is used then common sense isn't used. Frustrating when things happen that just dont make sense. All signs of a poor director cant tell a story. Gina (and i like her) didnt put in the best performance. Just because I'm rooting for these daily wire movies doesnt mean we shouldn't hold them to a decent standard. Ive never seen so many bad shots or decisions not to shoot when anyone would shoot just because of plot.

I would say this is a very frustrating movie.

An incredibly dull western

[yermiyahu-47448 · 4/10 · 20 June 2022]

Lemme just say, I love that Daily Wire is getting into entertainment. I've been a subscriber for over a year, and I'm not leaving any time soon. However, this movie is not good.

I'll start with a few positives. The movie looks pretty good, and I think the decision to go with no score was a good one. There are some exciting moments, but overall, the movie really failed to excite me.

Now the bad. The characters here are so paper thin, that I find it hard to really care how things turn out for them. The arcs are so generic and predictable, that they might as well not even be there. The villain is very cliché, riding around spitting intimidating Bible verses and scalping people. However, he is probably the best thing in the movie.

The acting is competent, but fails to sell me on anything deeper than surface level emotions like fear or anger. The plot drags on for way too long, considering the fact that nothing really happens. On top of this, Spoiler Alert (though not really), we are treated to another feel-good ending where everything turns out perfectly for the characters without having to sacrifice anything, which is so frustrating.

Watching this movie made me realize the pattern that is forming with DailyWire movies. They all follow "strong, independent" female characters who either have to rescue the men who are incompetent, or defeat the men who are evil. If I want the feminist messaging, I can go to Hollywood, they have plenty of that. This is supposed to be DailyWire, a company that stands for traditional values and against the wokeness of Hollywood.

If it were one or two movies from them, I wouldn't have a problem. Hell, movies like Alien that follow strong female protagonists are some of my favorites of all time. I just want some variety from DW, especially in an era where masculine man are increasingly rarer and under attack.

We are four movies in with DailyWire and they are yet to make a movie that is particularly interesting. Shut In is still the high water mark for them, but even that was only ok. So yeah, strong 4/10, not good.

Embarrassing and Frustrating

[b_um_p · 3/10 · 20 June 2022]

I very much wanted to like this western from Hollywood outsiders Daily Wire and Gina Carano.

Unfortunately, the plot is irritatingly dumb. Every decision made by each and every character in Terror on the Prairie only makes sense if everyone in the film is an idiot.

It's frustrating and laughable, and you'll spend much of the runtime shouting at your screen: "Shoot him, you idiot!" Spoilers: She doesn't.

There is a simple enough story of Western style vengeance running underneath everything and driving the main action, but as it slowly unfolds we can hardly muster any will to care about it. A character will be dutifully reciting his requisite backstory, while all we can think is: "Someone should have shot you a long time ago."

I will continue to support Daily Wire and Carano in all their endeavors, but this is a terrible film.

Swing and a miss

[jerrycoliver · 4/10 · 20 June 2022]

This was...very slow. Very very slow. Even by 1970's western standards, it's slow. It seems to be the trend now for westerns to move at a snail's pace. If you compare it to "The Power of the Dog", they're about even though this movie has some action sequences, they both dwell on things a lot longer than they should. In "The Power of the Dog" they tried to be profound, and though they didn't achieve that goal, this movie wasn't even trying to be profound.

The lighting was shockingly bad. About as bad as the acting. Sound design and set dec was fine. Directing was lackluster. (For example, there are some shots that get punched in on with an insert to make sure you don't forget a key piece of exposition...and I do always prefer exposition that is shown rather than said, but at least work it into the shot you're using and for God's sake, don't return to the same shot once it's done.)

I mean, I guess if it's on in the background while you do something else, it's fine. Please don't ever give Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone lines in a movie ever again though.

Could have been so much better

[notemanmusic · 4/10 · 16 June 2022]

I love westerns and wanted to love this one but, like the previous film Shut In, there are just far too many stupid choices and, in this case, bad shots, So many bullets fired, so few targets hit. Frustrating.

Eh

[ashandrewsen · 6/10 · 16 June 2022]

I wanted to give 10/10 so bad- love these people, but there was no family chemistry and it was too slow. It felt both over And under-acted at times. Do more, keep going, but this was a little bit of a let down.

Redundant and Poor Quality

[haddixboi · 1/10 · 11 January 2023]

If you want to be bored by this pitiful excuse for a movie then you will for sure love "Terror on the Prairie." This movie is devoid of anything that makes modern cinema any bit interesting. Horrible casting, dull and tired acting, and worst of all it isn't even a good western movie. I wouldn't even consider this a western movie because its so bad that i started watching Star Trek because it felt more like a western movie than this sorry excuse for a movie. Do not watch this movie if you value your money and sanity. To the studio and directors of this movie. Quit. If you want to be bored to death then go ahead and watch this movie, an alternative that is more exhilarating is watching oil paint dry.

How many times do I have to shout, "Just shoot them!"?

[ematt-cal · 7/10 · 15 June 2022]

Good as westerns go, but, seriously, way too many missed opportunities to just justifiably shoot them and no explanations or excuses not to.

I suppose that's standard for movies, but I keep hoping for better.

I was hoping for a lot more

[badcrc31337 · 4/10 · 21 June 2022]

This was looking good until Hattie couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a shotgun, then had several opportunities to shoot the bad guys and didn't. If you're gonna have a gun fight with guys standing still out in the open at 15-20 yards, someone usually gets hit unless everyone is blind. Those scenes are so flawed it's impossible to overlook. The McAllisters aren't interesting characters and after the shootouts with the bad guys I lost all interest in the movie. So far every Daily Wire movie I've seen has so many nonsensical actions by the main character it ruins the movie, and this one is no different. Hopefully they spend more money on writing next time and maybe hire a consultant that's actually fired a shotgun if you're gonna do a shotgun scene. The story could have been great, but the implementation was bad.

Call of the past

[Grey2black · 8/10 · 15 June 2022]

I got to say, I thought I had already outgrown and seen everything possible that could be done with this kind of genre of movie, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Terror on the Prairie is definitely not a movie for everyone. More now than a few years back. It's raw, it's simple, it feels real, it even sounds real because of the simple fact that there's barely any soundtrack at all.

If you're someone that judges movies based on the hundreds of millions of dollars in special effects, then this is definitely not a movie for you. This is a movie for those that want to feel the past. That same past that brought us to this point.

The performances were solid and the movie didn't rely on any single character. Mainly because it was aiming to feel and look real, and not some fantasy where some Mary Sue or Gary Stu can just take on everyone singlehandedly. Even the lack of soundtrack serves to put you in that mindset. The silence that accompanies the movie in the slowest scenes, is really to show viewers how were those times. How slow placed life could be when the shores were done, and there was nothing else to do.

The film does pick up the pace after some time, and after that it's a race to the finish line. But that race is correctly paced so the viewer is not overwhelmed, or loses important details.

It's a very good movie, that is showing the viewer a different time that our ancestors went through. And although it could've taken advantage of the obvious north and south division, to land some political message like Hollywood movies try to do in every single movie, it avoided that mistake making it clear that the events were about those people in that land, in that time.

It just isn't an excellent movie, because unfortunately sometimes the slow pace does numb you out a little bit. But considering it isn't a Hollywood movie with hundreds of millions of dollars in budget, it manages to deliver a more interesting overall result than many more recent movies.

I'm actually very satisfied to have seen this movie, and I'll definitely recommend it as a must watch to all those that want to have a taste of the past.

Another aspect that might drive some people away, is the very real raw brutality of it all. Remember that these were the frontier times, when the law was mostly decided by the gun, and what you had was many times things others would take without any hesitation or problems of conscience. So if you're expecting this movie to soften up what was the brutal reality of those times, you're going to find out just how good you have in these current times.

And there lies a lesson I think. Because nowadays too many people have grown so accustomed to fighting for nothing, they have to make up things to fight about. But in those times you didn't had to come up with things to fight about... Life was a daily fight. And people had no time to waste on pointless endeavors.

This movie will definitely go to my collection. And is one of the rare cinematic gems of 2022.

Some error on the prairie

[varunmirasdar · 6/10 · 22 August 2022]

Good thing - the movie has some nice cinematography even though the palette is a bit dull. The bad - plot holes and Gina cannot act.

Story is simple the protagonists are simple though some may argue she unnecessarily provoked the fight alone instead of waiting for husband. In her defense it was revealed during the fight that the baddies were after her husband. The movie had some tense moments but quickly fell in the heroes favor. Overall a slow burner with built up suspense until it collapsed faster than expected.

But DW honestly needs to think about Gina's acting she was wooden almost the whole time. She is a genuine strong woman with genuine MMA skills and hence they need to cast her as such and not for her acting skills which need to improve by a lot. (She did exhibit the strength needed but was unconvincing since it was not played to her real strength)

One time watch but wishing DW luck. And oh...please tone down a bit on the christian themes and values...nothing wrong in it but I am part of a diverse audience who are in the fight against woke but not a christian myself.

Worst Western Ever, 2 hours wasted.

[freddiemiles-77147 · 1/10 · 9 August 2022]

I dont know who wrote the plot but damn.... Spoiler alert !!!!

So... the father and "hero" in the story is actually an ex "military sniper", (but cannot shoot a few wanted criminals at 10 yards, rifle or revolver in hand).

The wife decides she can definitely do better and yup...she takes out the whole bunch, takes her time though, teaches her son how to make a good Starbucks Americano during the whole shootout !

Sits around talking good ole days while the bad guys sits outside in the barn munching away at Betsie (they're only cow).

Never seen before footage.. Bad Guys playing Firemen (for the "bad lady" shooting at them, because of they're moral ethics).

The "bad" mom runs to the hills, decides it's better to leave her only begotten son and newborn daughter in the wild, close to the river (just so they can at least eat fish should they need to).

Run Forrest... The Sniper shows up.... Hearing the sound of his horse's gallop 🤣(for what seems like eternity) he jumps of his horse, flying through the air like...well...Batman I pressume ?

Straight into battle...and nope, no luck, captured, tied up, shot, almost raped (well they just as well could have)🤣.

To make a long (waste of time) movie short, the sniper suddenly remembers how to aim at the end and gets his man at 60 yards.

I cannot help but wonder how many stray dogs was killed accidentally by bad shooting ! 🤣 Come on guys.....waste of good money !

So bad it hurt

[degrees-33365 · 1/10 · 1 July 2022]

This was a truly terrible movie.

There's a thin plot and almost zero chemistry/connection between the characters.

It also doesn't help that it has Gina Carano that is such a horrible actress that has two facial expressions she can use. Might be 2 stars without her but here we go: 1 star.

I've seen this before, just not this bad

[luptoneous · 1/10 · 15 January 2023]

This is a terrible movie, one that drags along very slowly, one that just doesn't work. The characters are not relatable and often make odd decisions that no one in their right mind would make. The plot is tied and worn out, one that we've seen a bunch of times already. This movie is almost like someone really, really, really wanted to make a blockbuster but tried too hard and failed. Carano's acting, if you want to call it that, was amateurish, at best. The antagonists were nothing short of clownish, getting in the way of themselves in their feeble attempt to do what they had come to do. If you want to see a movie really bad, then this is a really bad movie. Don't waste your time on this.

Please Don't Waste Your Time On This

[artlaz-27209 · 1/10 · 21 April 2023]

Watching this now, it is absolute garbage, stupid plot, pathetic excuse for acting. Whoever told Gina and Cowboy they could act needs to do 5 rounds with Bobes Jones. It's without a doubt the worst western I've ever seen, OMG it is rubbish. Don't waste your time, cause you'll never get that back. Please, please never make another movie ever again, spare us the pain. Life is already challenging enough. Without a doubt the Mandalorian was the best thing she ever did, cause it was infantile and at the level of her acting ability. Haywire was a stretch and relied on her fight skills, which when she was fit and half the size she is now we're good for that time in MMA.

Solid direction, but the writing is a mixed bag.

[benjaminskylerhill · 7/10 · 17 June 2022]

From the opening scene, I was surprised at how well-directed this film is. Both dramatic and action-heavy scenes are well-framed and the actions and reactions of the characters are always the focus of the visual storytelling. It makes for an exciting watch!

Additionally, the performances are all quite great. Gina Cyrano probably gives her best performance, and she definitely carries this film with heart and grit.

The writing is much more hit-and-miss. The character introductions are very well-handled and set both the central family and the villains up as tangible people with clear-cut desires, struggles, and goals. Unfortunately, from there, these things are very rarely, if ever, mentioned again.

Instead, we get decisions that are made just to move the story along and give us new situations to watch. Given the villains' goals, what they do over the course of the story doesn't make sense. They seem to be actively trying to make things harder on themselves.

Not to say that the script is bad. The dialogue is often engaging and the pacing is pretty strong. It's just that it feels so contrived and inorganic that it's hard to get as wrapped up in it as the filmmakers wanted me to.

It's a solid western, and there's a shortage of good modern ones. That's about all I wanted.

A Daily wire, Cowboy Cerrone, Gina Carano Western

[lehman-94-760319 · 2/10 · 16 September 2022]

What could go wrong?? Movie is about 107 minutes and not one punch or kick are thrown by either Cowboy or Gina. Also there is basically a complete lack of any story. Did anyone whoever shot a gun oversee this movie? A shotgun does not miss everything from 15 feet. I would give it a 1 but that is reserved for movies that are somehow worse. There is absolutely no redeeming value to this film and anyone who gave it a higher score is insane. It's a waste of any amount of time but luckily I skipped ahead 15 seconds at a time just to see if any fighting would happen. I mean what's the point of casting these two if they aren't going to throw down? The Daily Wire isn't going to add any subs with quality like this. You have $, spend it properly and do better.

Good Movie, Few Plot Issues

[iwfcyb · 7/10 · 18 June 2022]

It was good seeing an old school turn your brain off shootem up western again, but like a lot of movies these days, there were coincidences that had they not occured, the plot couldn't have happened.

Better that 90% of current movies, but not without it's flaws.

Wut in tarnation? Chewin gravel onto tumbleweed rolling in molasses is more exiting than this lick and a promise bag of nails prairie coal.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 3/10 · 1 August 2022]

Probably the worst Western I've seen in my life, and I'm retired. Has writer Josiah Nelson ever even seen a Western? The Three Stooges would've made better outlaws. The entire show-down shoot-out was utter nonsense to the point of cringeworthy. Everyone was shooting when they weren't supposed to, and not shooting when they should've been. And for being in any sort of army/war ranks, these bozos had zero tactical skills. As if four Wanted Gangsters couldn't surround and take over a house with only a woman and child guarding it - within minutes, let alone days. And I'm not sure what was worse, casting an annoying constantly crying baby, or Nick Searcy as the Captain with his constant lame biblical quotes. The writing was the biggest joke, a bad joke, that dragged on and on for almost 2 hours, of which felt over 3 hours long with the ridiculously long dragged out scenes and snail-pacing. It was convoluted, bland, lacked continuity, riddled with plot and technical issues, and had zero logic to it; why would Gina Carano's character all of a sudden pull out only a double-barreled shotgun on four heavily armed men, with a baby and her son in the home? They were almost done eating... let them leave, then barricade yourself without them knowing you're onto them and gain the upper hand - instead of risking a gunfight from the get-go when you're outnumbered and have a baby and young boy within arms reach. Complete nonsense. A fifth-grader could've written a more convincing screenplay.

The directing by experienced filmmaker Michael Polish wasn't any better. Even with a sloppy script, he could've easily filmed scenes much better. The film starts off on a sunny summer day, then shifts to a cold snowy season, next day it's all of a sudden summer, then a storm's approaching that never arrives... make up your mind and set a singular tone for the scenes. Then there's when Dad takes off in a slow carriage (for whatever reason), but only has a horse when he's in town, of which, towards the end, we hear that horse approaching, Cowboy Cerrone's character gets off his horse, everyone can clearly see him, yet is able to do a WWE jump off the ropes onto one of the guys so easy like it was such a stealth sneak attack? That was amateur hour directing. Was this film even edited? At least 30-40 mins needed to end up on the cutting room floor. And did someone forget a movie needs to have some sort of score?

As for casting and performances, only Nick Searcy as the Captain held his own. Polish failed miserably in directing his cast, especially Gina Carano, who was unconvincing and the worst of all the cast. She was monotonic with zero facial expressions for the most part, and it seemed like this was her first acting role. At least UFC's Cowboy Cerrone's character was passable.

I get that this is a low budget indie film, and I can usually look past rookie mistakes, but this entire production felt like it was intentionally made as a film-school study on what Not to Do. Yes, it was that bad. The only redeeming qualities were the fairly decent cinematography, and the gruesome special effects and prosthetics. It's a very generous 3/10 from me.

Makes me realise why my grandaddy liked the Westerns

[jdblakeborough · 9/10 · 15 June 2022]

Whilst staying true to genre, it's really not your typical Western. What the film lacks in special effects, it makes up for in slowly unwinding dread and suspense.

It's reminiscent to me of "True Grit" which is the last good Western I saw, there's less about winning in here and more about staying in the game.

Carano's character is incredible. She just about manages to keep on top of vulnerability and impossible odds by remaining intelligent, adaptable and daring. She's the most genuine "strong female" character I've seen in years.

Searcy makes a great job of being a holier than thou but nevertheless bitter and evil villain. I'd have almost understood his anger if I didn't dislike him so much.

My perception of what I was watching changed three times throughout. There's no real twists in the story, but things change as more information comes to light. There's a lot of story development in the film, though things stay very focussed so there's no getting lost.

A criticism from me is that characters lacked urgency in places. Some scenes looked calm, bordering on happy whilst devastation is one bad move away. I think it may have been portraying confident stupidity on one side and staying intelligent in the face of danger on the other, though this aspect translated less than others.

On the whole, I think "Terror on the Prairie" is a better and more honest attempt of filmmaking than most of what I've recently seen. I'll be watching it again once my moonshine's ready.

Gritty

[reddiemurf81 · 7/10 · 17 June 2022]

First off, I'm not a western fan. I am a great movie fan,, and some of them happen to be westerns (like Tombstone, McClintock, etc).

I never loved the western genre as a whole though.

This movie takes place in the vast prarie of Montana, where Hattie & Jeb McAllister are trying to build a homestead with their children Will & Bess. Having moved to Montana from St. Louis, Missouri, life is a daily struggle for the McAllister family. Hattie wants the family to move back home, but Jeb is deadset on making their lives work there.

One day, while Jeb traveled to the nearest town for supplies, a group of 4 men ride up on the McAllister homestead, asking for some water from their well. Trying to be hospitable, Hattie offers to feed the men before they set back out on their horses,, but something about these men doesn't seem quite right. Then, while gathering some eggs from their chicken coop, Hattie discovers an alarming sight (a trophy of sorts) hanging off the side of the leaders horse.

Will Hattie be able to protect her children from these men (who obviously want mote than just water and food)?

As I said before,, I am not a western guy. I am a big fan of what the daily wire has done, and is trying to do (really liked Shut In, and loved What is a Woman), so I will happily watch whatever they come out with. This movie is not great by any means,, but it's in no way bad either. Gina Carano (luv her!!!) has come a long way since her mma days, and while I don't see her winning an academy award (who'd want to be associated with them nowadays?) as an actress, she did really great in this. The Captain actor is good as well. The supporting cast is more than adequate. Now,, the pace of the movie, the direction, and the lack of a soundtrack up until the last few minutes really is the primary things I didn't like about this picture. I understand that may be part of the "old western" type of movie that they were going for here,, but for me it just really needed a soundtrack to help build tension, add some relief, etc. IMO, a movie's soundtrack is just as important as what's happening in front of the camera. The music carries so much of the emotion that the audience should be feeling in each scene (of course, that's just my opinion). Overall,, I can't give it more than an even 7 rating. Perfectly worth watching, but not perfect.

Slow & Boring

[Ckn48 · 3/10 · 28 July 2022]

Homestead under attack by lawless cowboys when the native americans treated the homesteaders with respect. There is not much to this movie and it never gets going.

The Plot is a Little Thin The sound is ok The Photography is ok The Acting is ok

I wouldn't recommend it 👎

Not much terror here

[piratesinc · 3/10 · 23 June 2022]

Going in to this movie I was rooting for the Daily Wire. In the hopes of seeing what is still a recognizable podcast and twitter personalities expand their talent into a tough nut to crack profession. And for that, I wish them well. This movie, which I had some higher hopes for, yet quite abated since the cast was not one known for good western movies, will not help them cracking that professional nut. Don't it wrong I like Gina Carano and she did a good job, Daniel Day-Lewis son in the movie did and excellent job. And I'm glad to see it film in Montana. But a couple of good actors and majestic scenery does not maketh a movie. The story meandered for a few minutes, then got confusing, it got really strange when missed opportunities were ignored, and at the point of climax it all sputtered in a heap of a wet burlap bag. This is not the rebel movie of How Hollywood Should Make Westerns because if that was a title it would have read "How Hollywood Should Not Make Westerns." You can get through it; I got through it; the genuine criticism that is out and is taken into consideration can make a fine wester from the Daily Wire-- I'm quite positive of it. If you are really having a western itch that stunned me in quality and story then do yourself a favor and see "Old Henry" with Tim Blake Nelson. This is the one that TDW should have in its sights and are aiming for. I'd always be up for another try from them.