If imitation is truly a form of admiration, then Friday the 13th was entitled to carry an ego the size of a Brazilian rain forest during the early eighties. The success of Sean Cunningham's opus led to an invasion of almost identically themed titles, which ranged from the good (Just Before Dawn) to the rancid (Don't go in the Woods). Interestingly enough, The Prey was generally thought of as yet another bandwagon jumper, but recent cast-member reports have suggested that actually it was shot in 1978, two years earlier than Friday, but was shelved for two years whilst finding a distributor. I find this hard to believe as it is CLEARLY borrowing from Halloween, which was released in October of that year. If I had to guess I would say early 1979. But that still pre-dates Sean Cunnigham's opus, so with a little better marketing and a quicker post-production this could have been the one with ten sequels and a remake under its belt. No, seriously!
After a muted release it rapidly disappeared under the landslide of negative media coverage that engulfed the genre during its heyday. Despite some impressive gore, Edwin Brown's effort didn't even manage to garner the cult status of an appearance on the UK's notorious video nasty list, which added vitality to many of its undeserving cousins. Still awaiting a second shot at recognition on DVD, it looks as if Brown's slasher has long since been forgotten and scrapped to the video graveyard.
The released version of the feature was missing huge chunks of footage that had been filmed from the original script but failed to make it to the final cut. This included a background story for the bogeyman's motives and some gratuitous extensions to the gore scenes. The reason for their exclusion remains unclear and I would be interested to see a director's cut.
After a murderous and appealing opening, we meet a van full of platitudes that are heading into the forest for a relaxing vacation. They are welcomed by the Park Sheriff who becomes a key player in the plot and a memorable figure in the film's poor reputation (more on that later). As they head deeper into the woodland, we are aware that they are not alone due to the constant heavy breathed point of view shots from the stalking maniac. After what seems like a lifetime, the killer finally gets to work on the youngsters and it's up to the lethargic sheriff to come to their rescue.
The Prey is among the most widely panned of the early eighties slashers, which is arguably the key reason why it hasn't yet been offered a stab at secondary acknowledgement on DVD. The first factor that the film's many critics set-upon is the unnecessary and bizarre use of wildlife stock footage, which digresses somewhat from the 'horror' structure of the plot. Although over emphasised, I actually felt that the footage worked well to build the backwoods surroundings of the storyline and I never found it as irritating as many viewers describe.
I said in my description that I would return to the Park Sheriff and rightly so, because he has become something of a cult figure in slasher cinema – unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. His self-confessed 'phoned-in' performance creates bad movie hysterics in a number of scenes, but he is most fondly remembered for three exceptional slices of rancid cinema. One bizarre piece of script writing sees him telling a rubbish joke to a faun in the midst of the forest, whilst another equally peculiar sequence has him playing a four-minute solo on an ukulele, which offers absolutely *nothing* to the storyline! The third and most bizarre of the trio allows him to share the spotlight with an elderly colleague as they discuss the benefits of his miniature sandwiches! I was left wondering whether the script-writer was hoping to get noticed for a career in comedy.
The inadvertent humour doesn't end there and the laughable slow-mo chase scene during the climax is pure slapstick that is all the more amusing as it was supposed to look rather creepy. And while we're talking of the climax, I cannot forget to mention final girl Nancy (Debbie Thureson)'s unforgettable contribution. The Prey, just like many of its brethren, boasts performances that would shame a nursery musical, but Thureson's portrayal of a woman awaiting her fate from the maniacal assassin sinks to new depths of banal dramatics.
Director Edwin Brown attempts to emulate Joe D'Amato's method of feature pacing, which to be fair is about as beneficial as a playboy using Eddie Murphy's methods of contraception. The film drags along at the speed of an eighty-year old Zimmer framed wing-back and if it weren't for the odd inter-cut shot of the heavy-breathed psycho you could be forgiven for forgetting that this is a horror film. The score is a jumbled mix of ear piercing keyboard jaunts that sounds like a 2 year old child discovering a Casio keyboard for the first time.
To be fair when the murders do occur they do provide some decent suspense and John Carl Buechler's gore effects outshine the minuscule budget. But with that aside, I guess that whether you like The Prey or not really depends on what you're looking for from a slasher movie. If you want to be scared, then cross this off your shopping list. However if you're looking for some of that laughable retro nostalgia that only these types of feature can provide, then The Prey could be right up your street. It's not as bad as its reputation would have you believe
After a muted release it rapidly disappeared under the landslide of negative media coverage that engulfed the genre during its heyday. Despite some impressive gore, Edwin Brown's effort didn't even manage to garner the cult status of an appearance on the UK's notorious video nasty list, which added vitality to many of its undeserving cousins. Still awaiting a second shot at recognition on DVD, it looks as if Brown's slasher has long since been forgotten and scrapped to the video graveyard.
The released version of the feature was missing huge chunks of footage that had been filmed from the original script but failed to make it to the final cut. This included a background story for the bogeyman's motives and some gratuitous extensions to the gore scenes. The reason for their exclusion remains unclear and I would be interested to see a director's cut.
After a murderous and appealing opening, we meet a van full of platitudes that are heading into the forest for a relaxing vacation. They are welcomed by the Park Sheriff who becomes a key player in the plot and a memorable figure in the film's poor reputation (more on that later). As they head deeper into the woodland, we are aware that they are not alone due to the constant heavy breathed point of view shots from the stalking maniac. After what seems like a lifetime, the killer finally gets to work on the youngsters and it's up to the lethargic sheriff to come to their rescue.
The Prey is among the most widely panned of the early eighties slashers, which is arguably the key reason why it hasn't yet been offered a stab at secondary acknowledgement on DVD. The first factor that the film's many critics set-upon is the unnecessary and bizarre use of wildlife stock footage, which digresses somewhat from the 'horror' structure of the plot. Although over emphasised, I actually felt that the footage worked well to build the backwoods surroundings of the storyline and I never found it as irritating as many viewers describe.
I said in my description that I would return to the Park Sheriff and rightly so, because he has become something of a cult figure in slasher cinema – unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. His self-confessed 'phoned-in' performance creates bad movie hysterics in a number of scenes, but he is most fondly remembered for three exceptional slices of rancid cinema. One bizarre piece of script writing sees him telling a rubbish joke to a faun in the midst of the forest, whilst another equally peculiar sequence has him playing a four-minute solo on an ukulele, which offers absolutely *nothing* to the storyline! The third and most bizarre of the trio allows him to share the spotlight with an elderly colleague as they discuss the benefits of his miniature sandwiches! I was left wondering whether the script-writer was hoping to get noticed for a career in comedy.
The inadvertent humour doesn't end there and the laughable slow-mo chase scene during the climax is pure slapstick that is all the more amusing as it was supposed to look rather creepy. And while we're talking of the climax, I cannot forget to mention final girl Nancy (Debbie Thureson)'s unforgettable contribution. The Prey, just like many of its brethren, boasts performances that would shame a nursery musical, but Thureson's portrayal of a woman awaiting her fate from the maniacal assassin sinks to new depths of banal dramatics.
Director Edwin Brown attempts to emulate Joe D'Amato's method of feature pacing, which to be fair is about as beneficial as a playboy using Eddie Murphy's methods of contraception. The film drags along at the speed of an eighty-year old Zimmer framed wing-back and if it weren't for the odd inter-cut shot of the heavy-breathed psycho you could be forgiven for forgetting that this is a horror film. The score is a jumbled mix of ear piercing keyboard jaunts that sounds like a 2 year old child discovering a Casio keyboard for the first time.
To be fair when the murders do occur they do provide some decent suspense and John Carl Buechler's gore effects outshine the minuscule budget. But with that aside, I guess that whether you like The Prey or not really depends on what you're looking for from a slasher movie. If you want to be scared, then cross this off your shopping list. However if you're looking for some of that laughable retro nostalgia that only these types of feature can provide, then The Prey could be right up your street. It's not as bad as its reputation would have you believe