Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Misteraser Critics,are you kidding us

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Mr_Ectoplasma In the greatest of 1980s-backwoods slasher traditions, "The Prey" follows a group of youthful campers who are exploring the Colorado Rockies. Little do they know, their hiking destination is also the stomping ground for a deformed killer disfigured in a forest fire decades prior.Notorious for its convoluted production and release history (it seems little patent fact can be said in regard to either of these things; conflicting accounts from cast members abound, and director Edwin Scott, who made a name for himself in pornography, has never really commented on the film), "The Prey" is a film that I have affection for in spite of the fact that it's really quite badly put-together. The premise is very by-the-books so far as slashers are concerned, but the simplicity of it is strangely engaging. It's straightforward, no-frills, and good fun.The film opens with a textbook nighttime slashing of an older couple before cutting to the youthful campers who are venturing into the same woods. The mountainous settings are remarkably atmospheric, at times recalling the also-maligned "Don't Go in the Woods" and the masterful "Just Before Dawn" (the latter is a far better film than "The Prey"; the former, not so much). The cinematography helps this significantly, and there is a true sense of wildness and danger as the characters venture through the barren terrain. Where the film suffers quite remarkably is in its pacing, which is weighed down by repetitive, drawn-out stock footage of nature and wildlife. It's appropriate insofar as the "man vs. wild" theme is concerned here, but the director beats the audience over the head with it to the point of delirium. Given the film's brisk 80-minute runtime, it becomes clearer and clearer as the film plods along that the filmmakers really didn't know what they were doing, hence the proliferation of filler material. Also present is a flimsy storyline involving a park ranger and his boss (played by film legend Jackie Coogan) who relays the folktale about the killer and his origins.An extended version of the film which runs 96 minutes was released in international markets, and this cut included an elongated backstory charting the villain's origins in a gypsy commune that burned to the ground after an act of arson; this is merely alluded to in the most widely available cut. The extended prologue also features drawn-out soft-core sex scenes between the gypsy villagers that ostensibly recall the director's previous talents as an adult filmmaker. This cut eliminates most of the filler nature footage, but I'd argue the shoehorned backstory renders it an actually worse film.For all of its problems though, I do find "The Prey" to be worthwhile based merely on the last 20 minutes, which ramp up to be unspeakably tense. In a film that has managed to be so languorous and dull for its first hour, the final scenes achieve a sort of manic terror that is palpable and startling. The problem of course is that it takes an hour before any sort of tension really begins to come off the screen, but I'm not sure we could have one without the other-if the majority of the film wasn't as uneventful as it is, the finale likely wouldn't have the same impact it does by comparison.Overall, I understand the qualms people have with the film, and it is fundamentally bad, but I can't help myself from admiring it for its finale, which manages to explode into a state of anxiety and fear that is both unexpected and masterful. Oh, and did I mention the gleefully demented final shot? Stock filler and cheapjack production aside, "The Prey" has a good film somewhere in it, buried under missed opportunities and wasted time. 6/10.

Leofwine_draca An excruciatingly dull slasher yarn, one of the worst I've seen yet. This senseless, budget-free movie adheres to the familiar "teens go into the woods and are bumped off one at a time" plot which got severely overworked at around this period, when the slasher films were popular. The action, when it comes, is predictable and to make matters worse we get endless padding of wildlife scenes, repeated shots of trees (how interesting) and a flashback involving gypsies which lasts for over twenty minutes! The silly opening consists of a pair of boring middle-aged campers getting offed by an unseen foe (we also get a gratuitous shot of the guy's neck stump bleeding profusely). These are the only murders in the first hour. Sure enough a group of six obnoxious teenagers (half girls, half boys) turn up to make a din in the woods and entertain us with their dumb dialogue and bad acting. Sitting around a campfire, one of the boys decides to tell of the legend of the woods...it seems that thirty years previously, a gang of gypsies living out in the sticks were burnt alive by enraged townsfolk after one of their number slept with a woman from the town, who later claimed it was rape. Yep, all of the gypsies here are portrayed as slimy sex-mad creeps; pretty tough generalisation huh? Well, in normal films this would last all of five minutes but with THE PREY, it goes all the way into becoming a short film in itself, and incredibly the flashback itself is padded out with endless sex scenes which help to create a lethargic pacing.Once this is over, the film is halfway over already, although you may be forgiven for thinking that two hours have already passed. Night falls and the teenagers pass the time by making love - although somewhat bizarrely, the only two characters who didn't make it die later on in the film, which changes the rules of the genre somewhat (sex = death in most of these films). After more insufferable dialogue a hidden killer (whom we only see via p.o.v. shots - original huh?) emerges to suffocate the most obnoxious girl (thankfully) and messily rip the throat out of her boyfriend. Unconcerned, the rest of the group carry on into the mountains to take part in some swimming and abseiling activities.Meanwhile, the local Sheriff (played by Jackie Coogan, Uncle Fester from the original ADDAMS FAMILY television series) notices the disappearance of the middle-aged campers from the beginning of the film, and sends his "hunky" park ranger out to investigate. Sadly the ranger doesn't do much apart from act really badly and get his throat crushed by the killer. Meanwhile, one of the teens has his neck broken, another falls to his death from a cliff and a third girl stupidly steps into a jungle (sorry, woodland... too many Italian movies) trap and gets her head smashed against a tree. The killer is finally revealed to be a hideously scarred survivor of the forest fire.My synopsis above lists every moment of action in the movie, so be prepared for a slow-paced and very boring movie. The acting is pretty bad from the unknown cast, with the exception of the sandwich-eating Uncle Fester who appears to be slumming it. Somewhat coincidentally, the actor playing the killer, Carel Struycken, went on to play Lurch in the '90s ADDAMS FAMILY movies. Director Edwin Brown decides to film what little action there is in silly slow-motion which ruins credibility and excitement. The spooky soundtrack, which sometimes includes the sound of the killer's beating heart, is okay though. The gore effects are kept brief and are the work of John Carl Buechler, on one of his first assignments by the look of it. The killer's appearance is very similar to what Jason looks like in Friday the 13th Part 2 and may have been influenced by that film.So, what we have is another no-budget no-hope slasher movie made on an amateur level with little or no redeeming features. I would only recommend this to nature lovers who love to watch bees, spiders, millipedes, frogs, raccoons, eagles, vultures, butterflies, lizards, cricket, and snakes go about their daily business, because that's about as exciting as this slasher/wildlife documentary hybrid gets.

Dagon Finding ways to marshal in a clueless group of younglings into a new environment has always been a challenge for Slasher films. Fans expect their cattle to saunter off into new and refreshing locations so, somehow, the death sequences (undoubtedly the focal point) will be heightened; resulting in a conventional Slasher fare that's frequented and re-packaged as per request by money-hungry higher-ups. The Prey is not too far off the mark of what one should expect when a group of young people face a psychopath in the woods.The film takes us to a remote area in which immediate help is unavailable. The story hones in on a group of 6 impressionable youths that are eager to trek upon the grounds of North Point; a vast reserve of land that's well known for its rural locale and disengagement from civilization. When two kids go missing the local police Sgt. senses something amiss and tracks their location. Armed with a tranquilizer gun and knowledge of an event that occurred in North Point 37 years prior, he plans to resolve the disappearance and the mystery of the location.The Prey was shot over the course of two weeks in Utah in 1978 but was not distributed until 1984. It should not be within one's practice to criticize a film based on the amount of time used to create it; luckily we can perform a sound critique anyway. The actors are rather "green" in this affair but thankfully not laughably bad – at least not to the low standards I've set for actors and actresses alike (look at my review for Lucker the Necrophagous or The Nail Gun Massacre for proof of this). The initial aspect that audiences will be faced with during a viewing of The Prey is the lengthy build-up that's meant to establish a basis for character development. Allotting 40 minutes out of an 80 minute run-time is a ludicrous and drawn-out plot embellishment for a sub-genre that doesn't demand such frivolous details. Let's face it; apart from more sophisticated and intelligent endeavors, film-goers don't watch Slasher movies for the purposes of a character study. Fixating on these particulars, when compounded with a sub-level feature, removes any hope of excitement from the viewing audience. It's a sad day in history when a horror film fails to deliver and manages to produce an image of boredom to whomever crosses its path. Preferences exist between different individuals on what is deemed "horrific" but The Prey wastes half of its duration padding the length until something provocative happens. The majority of the dialog is pointless and holds no bearing on the film's outcome and several scenes serve no purpose whatsoever! The amount of time wasted on executing this nonsense is unreal; nearly unfathomable if I hadn't witnessed it personally. One question I'd love to ask the creators of this project would be: If you do not have enough material to immerse the audience in the experience you're providing then why are you making a film? I simply don't get it. The experience can only be likened to a child's failed science experiment on the most basic and primitive level. Does an advanced government program exist that allows primates to operate video equipment? I didn't think so until now.In conjunction with the oh-so generous time spent on filler are stock segments of animal and insect footage – I've seen this sly maneuver before in Italian exploitation films – it's the epitome of laziness and more practically, lack of a budget. Apparently the director thought it would be fancy to include images of snakes, lizards, owls, and various insects – even including footage of an armored centipede and huge tarantula. It's such a silly concept to envision the latter existing in the United States since these creatures are indigenous to rain forests. Who were they trying to fool? I'm not a nature expert but I know enough to establish certain wild-life habitats. Any fond memories that you've shared as a child will be taken-aback after you've witnessed the film's finale. I suppose for trivia enthusiasts I should mention that Carel Struycken plays the role of the monster/psychopath. For those of you who've seen the three Addams Family films from the 1990's he played the role of Lurch. So, what kind of pay- off should viewers expect from The Prey? None. Zero. Anyone caught defending this film with the amount of shameful distractions contained within should seriously re-evaluate things. Then again, quite a few titles in my treasured collection some might consider atrocious as well. It all depends on what you can handle but speaking from experience and the high volume of horror I consume on a regular basis I speak with confidence when I say that casual audiences will detest this feature. I'm so obsessed with horror films that I'm a step below being medicated for it and even I hate The Prey. I haven't earned this merit badge for nothing'!

Soup Kitchen Supercraptastic slasher fare, which feels overly long at 80 minutes. Years ago, a bunch of "gypsies" who lived in the caves of a mountain, were burned up in a forest fire. Years later, campers are going missing from the area of the fire. A bunch of horny kids are, of course, en route to this area for a debaucherous camping trip of there own. Despite an ominous welcome from the forest ranger (Jackson Bostwick) the kids troop up to the mountain any way. Before long, the kids start to get picked off by the monster, who remains unseen to the very end of the movie, probably because the makeup was so embarrassingly bad. No surprises to speak of: they get killed in the exact order that the formula for these movies dictates, leaving the "final girl" to fend for herself, although in a refreshingly downbeat denouement, the final girl ends up imprisoned and impregnated by the monster.The story itself couldn't hold the weight of feature length, so it was padded out by seemingly endless shots of wildlife and insects, which were obviously shot for another film and inserted here haphazardously as a means of making the movie long enough for a video release. On the plus side, the wildlife footage is rather nice. Also among the highlights are Bostwick talking to a baby deer, a decent rock-climbing death sequence, OK gore, and the Great Jackie Coogan in his final film role, as the bumbling local sheriff. This is a far cry from Charlie Chaplin, but it was still nice to see him. This is for slasher completists only.