Deadly Prey

Deadly Prey
VHS cover
Directed by	David A. Prior
Produced by	Peter Yuval
Written by	David A. Prior Story Richard Connell
Starring	Cameron Mitchell Troy Donahue Ted Prior
Music by	Tim Heintz Tim James Steven McClintock
Cinematography	Stephen Ashley Blake
Edited by	Brian Evans
Production company	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Action International Pictures
Distributed by	Action International Pictures
Release dates	November 2, 1987 (1987-11-02)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Deadly Prey^[1] is a 1986 film that was first screened in the United States in March 1987 at that year's American Film Market. After The Winters Group helped finance David A. Prior's previous film, Aerobicide, Prior, along with executive producers David Winters and Bruce Lewin, and producer Peter Yuval formed Action International Pictures and their first projects were Mankillers and Deadly Prey. Both shot back to back in and around Riverside, California, Deadly Prey tells the story of a former Marine (played by Prior's brother Ted) who is kidnapped for participation in a human safari. This film, which has some resemblance to the action film First Blood (1982) starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, has never been officially released on DVD, making it "hard to find".^[2]

Plot

Colonel Hogan rents his mercenaries out to anyone with the right price. This time it's businessman Michaelson. A deal is struck, and Hogan recruits new troops. For training, he orders his troops to kidnap innocent people, take them to the forest and hunt them. Unfortunately this time, they picked the wrong guy, Mike Danton. Danton, a Vietnam veteran, is ambushed while taking out the trash. Taken to the forest, he is stripped to his shorts, greased up and told to run. The mercenaries hunt Danton, but are meticulously picked off one by one. The troops report this to Colonel Hogan, who sends a task force with his best man, Lieutenant Thornton. One of this elite combat unit is Jack Cooper. Cooper and Danton realize who each other are while trying to kill each other. Cooper has not seen Danton since he took a bullet for him in 'Nam. With his new-found friend, Danton continues to punish the mercenaries, and get back to his wife Jaimey. Like all good villains, Hogan uses Danton's family against him, but this angers Danton. After storming the military training camp Danton arms himself up, and destroys all traces of Hogan's mercenaries.

Cast

• Cameron Mitchell as Jamie's father
• Troy Donahue as Don Michaelson
• Ted Prior as Michael "Mike" Danton
• Fritz Matthews as Lieutenant Thornton
• David Campbell as Colonel Hogan

Reception

The film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes lists only one review, on the North Carolina alternative newspaper Mountain Xpress.^[3] Reviewer Ken Hanke describes it as "yet another of the seemingly endless barrage of cinematic knockoffs of Richard Connell's short story, "The Most Dangerous Game" also influenced by First Blood (1982), and concludes that it is "all quite ridiculous, but might be good for a laugh if you’re in the mood for ineptitude on an unbelievable scale".

Sequel

A sequel entitled The Deadliest Prey was released on November 1, 2013.^[4]

References