The Prey — The Prey(Blu Ray)
The Prey came out in 1983, though I believe it’s filming dates back to 1979/ 1980- so it stands as one of the early backwoods slashers. The film was the fifth film directed by Edwin Brown- whose other output seems to be mainly in the sexploitation/ adult film side of things with titles like 1982’s A Thousand & one Erotic Nights, 1983’s Naughty Girls Need Love Too, and 1994’s Sexual Outlaws. The Prey is filmed, produced & scoped well enough- though it’s clear from both the over use of nature footage, and lots of slow-mo shots that the film run much too short.
The film starts with two flashbacks- first, we get a forest fire footage from the 1940s, then we move forward to 1980’s finding a middle-aged husband & wife couple camping- they’ve just finished their evening supper, she’s cleaning the dishes in the river & he’s lighting his pipe. She comes back from fire find her decapitated husband, starts screaming then gets killed her self….so it starts off very promising indeed. Then we move into our main/lead characters- a group of six young & big-haired couples- who are going out into the woods for sex, hiking and rock climb- before they set off into the woods they meet-up with stubbly park warden Mark O'Brien(Jackson Bostwick).
The Prey unfolds at a very slow, considered & at times downright boring pace. This is mainly due to the overuse of stock nature footage- sure a little of this type of thing sets mood, but here it’s stretched to truly ridiculous levels- we get footage of bears, lizards, centipedes, snakes, spiders, frogs, birds & pretty much every animal that could live in the forest. Each of these segments last between half a minute, to several minutes- and more often than not they are jarringly placed with little or no reason or sense, and in one key campfire story scene they are very awkward & frustrating. The teens are likeable enough in their late 70’s/ early 80’s campiness, and the young warder & his older Sheriff boss are ok too- so when we do switch back to the story your interest is rekindled. The horror elements are effective & worthy when they do appear- we have the already mentioned decapitation with a blood spurting stump, a throat-ripping, and a few bloody neck breaks. The killer is not fully shown until the last ten or so minutes of the film- so we get some tense-to-creepy stalking scenes, and when the burnt ‘n’ big hand killer is revealed it really is quite unsettling. Been a big fan of the slasher genre, I’ve been aware of The Prey for more than a few years now- but due to lack of proper release I’ve never got to see it. So now finally seeing it, I find it a fascinating- yet- frustrating watching experience, with the good stuff often over weighed by the padding- so there is a great top shelve slasher trying to get out here, it’s just buried somewhat- so it’s depending on one patience/ tolerance on how much you’ll enjoy this…though I’m certainly glad I’ve seen it.
Moving onto this new reissue, and Arrow Video really have pulled out all the stops giving slasher fans a ultimate edition of this film- first off we have a 2k restoration of US theatrical print of the film, this looks great- with the lush greens & browns of the forest setting coming out well, as does the creepy night shots & often spurting gore-apparently the guys over at Vinegar Syndrome had something to with the print, so you know you going to get a classy job.
Moving onto the extras, and boy is this two-disc set truly packed-to-bursting…first off we get a new audio commentary, this is from Amanda Reyes- respected genre commentator & made for TV film expert, and Arrow Video’s Ewan Cant- who is a uber fan of the film- the tracks both chatty, informative & at times amusing. The pair start off discussing their personal history with the film, and why they like it- before moving onto discuss the cast and director Edwin Brown. Before moving onto comment on key scenes, the use of nature footage, and some of the films possible subtext- all told it’s a very enjoyable track.
Next on the first disc, we get four stand-alone on-camera interviews- these run between ten & nearing thirty minutes apiece, and these are with the films actors. We get an around hour-long audio-only interview with the film's director, and another hour & twenty-minute audio interview with the film's producer Summer Brown. We have a thirteen-minute featurette that sees Ewan Cant, with one of the actresses from the film, revisiting locations from the film today. We get an around twenty-minute Q&A from last years Texas Frightmare with the cast, audience reaction track from the films playing at Frightmare.
Next moving onto the second( I believe limited) disc in the set- this takes in 2K restoration of the International Cut-which features around twenty-five minutes of footage that was added in on the mid 1980’s- this focuses in on the gypsies who lived in the woodland, and got set fire to by local people. There's a fan Composite cut- that runs at one hour & forty-two-minutes- this takes in the elements from both the US & international cut. Lastly, we get forty-five minutes of outtakes. The finished version of the release apparently features an ltd booklet taking in a write up about the film from Ewan Cant- but as we were just sent screener discs I can’t comment on this. So all in all a very impressive, through & truly ultimate edition of the film from Arrow Video.
It’s great to see Arrow putting out The Prey- and no matter my personal feelings on the film, it’s an important part of slasher history. And really Mr. Cant, and everyone who worked on this disc for Arrow Video have done a splendid job on this two-disc set. If you're a fan of the slasher genre, and it's golden age - this really is a must have release!.