''Prophet's Prey'' is a 2015 American documentary directed and written by

Amy J. Berg Amy J. Berg is an American filmmaker. Her 2006 documentary '' Deliver Us from Evil'' (2006), about sex abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church, was nominated for an Academy Award and won Berg the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documenta ...

. The film follows Warren Jeffs, the president of the

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church) is a religious sect of the fundamentalist Mormon denominations whose members practice polygamy. The fundamentalist Mormon movement emerged in the early 20th century, ...

, who is now running the religion from the confines of the Texas state prison, serving out a life sentence, for the rape of young girls. The film is an adaption of the 2011 book of the same name by Sam Brower, who also serves as a producer on the film. Ron Howard serves as an executive producer under his Imagine Entertainment banner. The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 26, 2015. It was released in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on September 18, 2015, followed by broadcast on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

on October 10, 2015.

Background

Berg was approached by Sam Brower and Jon Krakauer with the idea for the film. Both Brower and Krakauer are heavily featured as witnesses—the film argues they played a major role in Jeffs's capture—and the men take consulting producer and executive producer credits respectively. The two make engaging if contrasting guides through the complex story, with Krakauer coming across as the wisecracking, cerebral counterpoint to Brower's burly man-of-action.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on January 26, 2015. It also screened at AFI Docs on June 18, 2015. The film was released in a

on September 18, 2015, followed by a broadcast on

on October 10, 2015.

Reception

Critical reception

''Prophet's Prey'' received positive reviews from film critics. It holds a 93% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 27 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.00/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Prophet's Prey finds documentarian Amy Berg striking again at evil masquerading as righteousness -- and, as she did with Deliver Us from Evil, hitting her targets with impressive precision." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 77 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Awards

* Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay - Nominated

References

External links

* * * 2015 documentary films 2015 films American documentary films Documentary films critical of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Films directed by Amy J. Berg Films scored by Nick Cave Films scored by Warren Ellis (musician) Showtime (TV network) documentary films Imagine Entertainment films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films {{reli-documentary-film-stub