Bad movie fans, take note. Deadly Prey, one of the strangest low-budget oddities you’re ever likely to see, and is arriving on Blu-ray and DVD this week. Popular in the cult cinema circuit, this movie can only be described as perhaps the most lunk-headed Rambo knock-off ever conceived (and that’s really saying something). Somehow, it also manages to be oddly fascinating.
What’s it all about, you may ask? The wafer-thin story involves a gang of evil mercenaries led by Col. Hogan (David Campbell), who trains his men in a secret forest location 70 miles southeast of LA. Yes, those coordinates would actually put them somewhere in the desert (or maybe Temecula), but it’s not important. The men test their skills by kidnapping random strangers off of the street and hunting them for sport. But one morning, they grab Mike Danton (Ted Prior) while he’s taking his garbage out to the curb. The villains soon realize they’ve made an enormous mistake. As it turns out, their victim was once Hogan’s star pupil. Now, Mike has set his sights on wiping the mercenaries out.
Some of the most hilariously awkward fist fights and machine gun battles follow as the protagonist takes down one soldier after another. You can really see the influence that Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (1985) had on the project. Much like Stallone’s character, Mike appears from behind bushes and even pops up from under the dirt at various intervals to surprise his foes. It’s all ridiculously handled (sometimes the hero couldn’t be more visible to viewers if he tried). Even worse, his targets appear to stand around waiting to be finished off as the protagonist leaps out. Also amusing are the blunt and inane one-liners that precede the killings. Viewers will witness the lead clumsily muttering redundant comments like, “You’re dead!”
It’s all incredibly silly and becomes quite repetitive. It would all be tedious were it not for the extremely odd dialogue scenes in which Hogan expresses his anger and confusion at the situation he’s brought upon his team. Additionally, Danton’s wife calls her father (played by Cameron Mitchell) to help find Mike. This leads to an unexpected series of events in which a senior infiltrates the base. Not only does he deliver a nonsensical speech to a nasty merc financier, but follows it up by unloading a gun and killing the businessman at point blank range. Can’t say that I saw that one coming.
There’s also some pretty tasteless stuff (including an implied rape), but at least the bad acting and weird staging mutes its offensiveness. And I must give the filmmakers some credit for a brutally unexpected ending which comes as a jarring surprise. It’s a very eccentric final five minutes that is so out-of-left-field that it will definitely result in some big laughs with viewers.
A note about the picture quality on the Blu-ray. It isn’t very good, but it’s still stronger that you’ll likely ever see. This ultra-low-budget effort was made for the video market and the original elements are likely lost for good. As such, the transfer is from a professional PAL Beta SP tape (yep, you read that right). So, in some respects it actually has a Videotape-like appearance. While this is far from home theater demo material, it’s actually an appropriate presentation and may even add a sense of 80s nostalgia to the viewing experience. The disc also comes with a photo gallery, a dubbed version of a couple of scenes, some low quality video outtakes, a trailer and a lengthy interview with the man who created the movie’s minimal make-up effects.
If you’re a fan of the movie, you may also be interested in knowing that David A. Prior (the late director of the movie), completed a sequel in 2013. Anyone excited to see the recent follow-up action can also pick up that Blu-ray or DVD as well – both titles are released courtesy of Olive Films.
Deadly Prey definitely has its share of cult movie fans and I can understand why. It isn’t as absurdly enjoyable or as professionally produced as some of his other titles (1994’s Raw Justice leaps to mind), but one can see how its terribleness has translated itself into a bizarre and enjoyably bad movie experience. Anyone clamoring for a such a happening in their living room will certainly want to own this effort.