Deadly Prey (1987)

A group of sadistic mercenaries kidnap people off the streets and set them loose on the grounds of their secret camp, so the "students" at the camp can learn how to track down and kill their prey.

Director:

David A. Prior

Writer:

David A. Prior (screenplay)

Stars:

Cameron Mitchell, Troy Donahue, Ted Prior

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cameron Mitchell	...	Jaimy's Father
Troy Donahue	...	Don Michaelson
Ted Prior	...	Michael 'Mike' Danton
Fritz Matthews	...	Lt. Thornton
David Campbell	...	Col. John Hogan
Dawn Abraham	...	Sybil
William Zipp	...	Jack Cooper
Suzanne Tara	...	Jaimy
Thomas Baldwin	...	Hillbillie
Leo Weltman	...	Hillbillie Will (as Leonard Weltman)
Peter Aston	...	Soldier
Charles Venniro	...	Soldier
Timothy Elwell	...	Soldier (as Jimi Elwell)
Jasper Collins	...	Soldier
Brian O'Connor	...	Soldier

Storyline

Colonel Hogan is a ruthless former military officer who trains a large group of former U.S. Servicement as mercenaries by having them hunt down and kill people they abduct off the streets of Los Angeles. Hogan's greedy financier Michaelson threatens Hogan to speed up the mens training or he will pull the plug on Hogan's training camp. However, Hogan and his men meet their match when their latest kidnap victim turns out to be a tough gung-ho marine named Mike Danton who despite being unarmed and hunted, he manages to decimate Hogan's men in detail. Frustrated Hogan, his tough right-hand man Thornton and personal assistant Sybil kidnap Danton's wife Jaimy to force him in the open, while Jaimy's retired police detective father tries to track down her and Danton who finds an unlikely ally in the form of a former marine buddy named Cooper who wants to help him take on all of Hogan's men.

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Plot Keywords:

mercenary | special forces | machine gun | hand grenade | revenge | 

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Taglines:

In Vietnam, he was the best... He still is!

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 November 1987 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

O Caçador de Mercenários

Filming Locations:

Riverside, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Action International Pictures (AIP)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Don Michaelson: You're supposed to be the best at what you do. Do it better.

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Connections

Version of Bloodlust! (1961)

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Soundtracks

"Never Say Die"
Written by Steve McClintock and Tim James
Sung by Steve McClintock

User Reviews

A Great Sunday Morning's Entertainment!!

Wow, this an oddity, make no mistake about it. It's typical: One minute you're at your house with your lovely lady wife taking the trash outside, next you're knocked senseless by a pipe to the back of your skull. Before you know it, you're being forced to run topless and shoeless through a forest pursued by a bunch of mercenaries in a private army who are using you as training practise. Fortunately, you're more resilient than most, being an ex-military guy yourself and in an elite faction, at that. So, with your 80's blonde mullet and your abs the size of Canada, you decide to turn the tables on your pursuers by setting up all kinds of homemade traps that anyone who hasn't seen Rambo would fall into. Will you ever get out of there alive? Can you find the person responsible for your kidnap and beat seven bells out of the scumbag? And is there a way to make worms and rats over a campfire taste any better? All will be revealed (Well apart from the last one perhaps..)

Where do I start with a movie as bizarre as this? What could have been a run of the mill action film, is transformed into something else entirely thanks to the increasingly strange proceedings. Considering these are supposed to be trained soldiers, don't they get dragged into bushes and stumble over tripwires rather easily? And why the hell is the Commander sending his men to their deaths for the sake of catching just one guy? Also, what is the point in the role of the ex-police chief father-in-law of the hero? I could also bring up the unlimited supply of bullets, and the hilariously fake explosions, but that isn't what caught my attention.

No, what I want to talk about is the ending, which features much sadism and has more than one surprise death. This sudden bloodshed is combined with a wholly inappropriate love song over the credits, which makes it a very surreal experience indeed. In fact, there is almost enough weirdness here for it to qualify as a parody, if it didn't take itself so seriously.

However, in spite of all that it manages to entertain despite itself by giving us lots of juicy scenes of shootings and maimings. The death toll is extremely high too, so expect non-stop action involving everything from knives to missile-launchers. When it had finished, I didn't feel I had wasted my time, and even admired it in a way for concluding in such an uncompromising and unpredictable fashion. 5/10 from me, and certainly worth seeing..