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THE
PREY
PLOT
After the killings of an old couple, three teenage couples head off
into the wilderness, for a weekends camping. Unaware the kids are
in so much danger the Forest Ranger sets out to find the old couple.
As the kids start to get killed, it's left up to the beautiful Nancy and
Bobbie to escape from the killer...as the film reaches it's frenzied
finally.
REVIEW
Beneath all the minutes of wildlife footage shown in this film, there
is a good little backwoods slasher, waiting to show off some good deaths,
decent acting, above average camerawork, a fun little story, and a great
ending.
My only bad-point for this movie is the amount of nature footage shown.
From snakes crawling under logs, to spiders catching stuff in their webs,
not all of it is really needed...but with the film only lasting a short 80 mins
the makers probably needed it to give it a decent running time. The shots
of the vultures are creepy though (how ugly can birds get), and give the film
a slight sense of doom, and death (of course)
The acting is pretty good, for a backwoods slasher (not half as bad as the
atrocities shown in Don't Go In The Woods...Alone), and the girls manage
way better then the lads. Debbie Thureson makes for a pretty lead, and
decent final girl, and almost Scream queen Lori Lethin (graduatng the final
girldom in Bloody Birthday and Return To Horror High) makes for a good, if
a tad hysterical friend. Out of the guys their is no-one special to note, except
for Carel Struycken (Lurch from the Addams Family movies) who has a almost
cameo as the killer.
The killer (or The Monster) is highly creepy, and for most of the film all that's
seen is it's deformed hands. When the killer is finally seen, he's a tall, badly
burned freak, which adds a couple of quite scary scenes to the finally. The
backstory for the killer is quite original, and the sudden bursts of flashbacks (to
burning woods) are a neat touch. But it is the final end twist which gives the film
most of it's credit, being very original, and extremely creepy...if not quite sick as
well.
The editing done on the film, especially in the really good final chase scenes,
make the film seem extremely frenzied, and shows of the hysterical nature of
the characters...it also makes the scenes quite scary...with the girls running, cut
in with really fast point-of-view shots (like the ones seen in Evil Dead). Also slow
-motion is used to the films credit. The woodlands the film is set in, get an added
degree of atmosphere by the huge mountains overlooking them, and with the
ending of the film being set in daylight (as opposed to the usual night-time), the
makers still manage to keep the creepiness of the surroundings.
While the film does move quite slow (after the first murders), a menace is always
kept, by the constant showing (in point of view) of the stalking killer. But the final 20
mins are extremely good.
GORE
The gore presented in this film is very good, and quite graphic, thanx to the make
-up effects of one John Carl Buechler. Presented within the film is a gory decapitation
by axe, a gorey throat ripping, a head twisting (complete with spurt of blood), someone
falling down a cliff, a throat crushing, and a non-gory sleeping bag suffocation (complete
with after view of the girls body, once the vultures have had their share). My favourite death
is that of Miss Lethin...who during the final chase scene, has her foot caught in a rope...
gets lifted up and slammed (face first) in to a tree. Very sudden, and shows a mean streak
idden throughout the film (mainly in the death scenes).
SOUNDTRACK
What do you expect from the guy who did the score for Hills Have Eyes...Don Peake
presents the film with a great little score...which definately adds to the creepiness
of the stalk scenes, and the frenzy of the finale.
BOTTOM LINE
This film is an extremely fun little backwoods slasher, that has it's heart in the right
place (even through the nature footage). While it's not the best of it's subgenre (e.g.
Rituals, Just Before Dawn), it tries it's best, and is miles above the crappiness of turds
like The Forest (though some people think it's worse).
Have a watch, have some fun...and be marvelled by the coolness of the final twist (Euch).
Also expect a DVD release of this by Anchor Bay, sometime in the middle of next year (a
definate buy for this guy).
Review
By: Schizo
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