#theprey

Re-evaluating 1983's The Prey, I've realized I was far too generous when I gave 1 out of 5 stars in 2012. Throw this movie in the trash, then dump your used cat litter on it. It could only improve the aroma that emanates from this horror film when you hit "play".

Three couples go into the wilderness for a weekend of swimming, camping, rock climbing, and frolicking. Too bad there’s a killer after them! Joel (Steve Bond), Nancy (Debbie Thureson), Bobbie (Lori Lethin), Skip (Robert Wald), Greg (Philip Wenckus), Gail (Gayle Gannes), and forest ranger Mark (Jackson Bostwick) are in for a weekend they’ll never forget… if they make it out alive at all!

The acting is ok, at best. When we actually see blood spilled, the effects are alright - I suppose. The monster looks pretty good. That’s all I can credit the fil for. I would praise the cinematography for its nice expanses of wilderness, but it's all clearly stock footage. The idea must've been to show how cutthroat nature can be by showing animals preying on each other - what fate awaits these people then? - but it isn't successful at all. Instead, you’ll only be distracted, trying to guess how many documentaries this film pulled images from. I counted footage of 20 different animals! You’d rather watch those animals than a long scene in which Ranger Mark plays his banjo though, I don’t know what that was about.

Even going in with low expectations won't save you from disappointment. The film's characters are just so dumb. Either that or the tagline of this film should be “In the forest, no one can hear you scream”. When they’re not wandering around wondering where their friends have disappeared to in the middle of the night, these half-wits are tripping over themselves sitting paralyzed on the ground while the killer (who they try and sell as some kind of forest monster/yeti creature but is obviously isn't) walks up to them.

Look at that cover. What do you see? “It’s not human, and it’s got an axe!” above a nice monochromatic illustration of a hatchet embedded into a… tree? It doesn't matter, as the whole thing is a lie. See, the film's killer IS human, and saying that it “has an axe” is basically a lie too, since it only uses an axe twice, both times off-screen, and as a weapon of opportunity!

You can’t even enjoy The Prey ironically. While, it gets a little sleazy in that fun horror movie way with a bit of nudity and a couple of dead people killed in somewhat humorous ways (one person gets their head twisted all the way around) but all that enjoyment is soured at the end. We have mystery slasher films (Friday the 13th, Sleepaway Camp). We have supernatural slasher films (Nightmare on Elm Street, It Follows). This falls into another sub-genre, the “Mountain Man” slasher films. Not quite the "Backwoods Killer Hillbilly" story, these always end with the male monster saving the final girl so they can breed and continue its unholy lineage. If you want to employ the fear of sexual assault, that’s ok, but don’t toss it in willy nilly!

All this to say The Prey is a waste of time. I don’t recommend it. I’d even say I hate it. Even more for the fact that I’ve now seen it twice and spent that much more effort giving it a proper review. The characters are just so stupid, the movie so cheap, the imagination so blatantly absent, and the ending is an insult. It's the equivalent of a prankster that sneaks into your room and leaves piles of soiled underwear for your mom to find on laundry day. It deserves a grudge be held against it. (On VHS, November 21, 2015)