Mike Danton (Ted Prior) is a Vietnam veteran living an ordinary life in suburbia. That life is up-ended when he is kidnapped on his doorstep by a group of sadistic mercenaries led by his former CO, Hogan (David Campbell).
Hogan believes in training his men using live targets, and Danton is soon the fight of his life to kill his hunters and exact his vengeance on Hogan.
"Who am I? A little man who's spent 27 years of his life as a cop trying to put big shots like you away. 27 years in the filth and dirt of the streets and there ain't no music down there. You watch the people on the streets, killing, raping each other, pumping dope through their veins, while big men like you sit in the fancy penthouses. And yet the poor slobs rot in hell. I know about you. As long as it puts money in your pocket. Today the nobodies who made you rich are gonna win. Die you son of a bitch.”
Everyone has a special bad movie in their back pocket. This one was mine.
Emphasis on was.
About a decade ago, I heard about this movie. Shortly thereafter, I found a crappy transfer on YouTube and laughed the whole way through. I thought it was unintentional genius as a comedy.
Recently, a group of friends had been putting on a series of bad movie nights - we had watched some of the usual suspects: we had watched a Neil Breen opus and The Room.
Deadly Prey was my contribution - once again, it was posted for free online which made the decision easier.
Novelty made its clumsy handling of genre and cinematic language feel fresh - watching it again, my feelings have cooled a smidge.
The film wants to be an escapist fantasy, but the filmmakers also have pretensions of depth. And their idea of depth lessens the fun:
The film tries to lean into darker territory with Danton’s wife, which is unnecessary and manipulative. In this subplot. the movie ends up feeling like an unintentional critique of what the filmmakers think the key elements of the genre are.
The film still packs some solid gold laughs - Danton’s various ambushes are inspired (the deaths by tree, twig and, uh, hand are worthy of Zucker Abrams Zucker). Former teen heartthrob Troy Donahue manages to outshine the rest of the cast with a performance so wooden it elevates their performances.
However, the real comic highlight is Cameron Mitchell performance as Danton's father-in-law. He recites the monologue I included at the beginning of this review. He is so earnest in his delivery of that word salad, it reminded me of Leslie Nielsen - it is not that good, because this movie was not intended as parody, but it is in the same vein.
Earnestness is a big part of Deadly Prey. The film works because the people behind it are completely sincere about making an action movie: The awkward action posing, editing and soundtrack are aiming so clearly for familiar iconography, but they are often funny just for how close they get to the real thing.
One thing that really stuck out this time was that I did not realise how much of this movie’s power came from the fact that its leading man is wearing jorts. Danton’s mullet, muscles and jean shorts is such a distinctive look that it weirdly helps the movie. There is something unique about having a hero with a mullet and jorts, and it adds to the naivete of the movie that shields it from just being mediocre.
Sadly, in the third act Danton gets into generic combat fatigues for the final showdown(s), and the movie feels like a generic eighties action film.
Deadly Prey is worth a look, but make sure it is with a crowd - that way you can talk through the dead spots. Otherwise, I would recommend watching clips of the highlights.
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