Prey of the Chameleon (1992)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Fleming B. Fuller

Writers:

April Campbell Jones (written by) and
Fleming B. Fuller (written by) ...

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

She loves you. She kills you. She becomes you.

Plot:

J.D. returns to his small Texas hometown where four years ago he left Carrie at the altar. She's now a deputy sheriff...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | FBI Agent | Bank Robbery | Female Nudity | Police

Cast

Daphne Zuniga	...	Patricia / Elizabeth Burrows
James Wilder	...	J.D
Alexandra Paul	...	Carrie
Don Harvey	...	Resnick
Red West	...	Pritchard
Michelle McBride	...	Leslie
Patricia Place	...	May
Kelly Gwinn	...	Cecil
Julie St. Claire	...	Barmaid
David Powledge	...	Babcock
Bob Larkin	...	Dr. Crowell
Paul Whitthorne	...	Billy
David Wells	...	Campbell
Jerry Holland	...	Bank Guard
Helene Scott Fernandez	...	Bank Teller

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:18 | USA:R

Company:

Prism Entertainment Corporation

Soundtrack:

We Can't Lose

A very interesting idea that just could've been a little better executed

Movies with female serial killers has never been to familiar. Not even the recent 'Monster' that was successful in many ways seems to have changed that. I kinda understand that it is a lot more difficult to create a convincing homicidal drive to a woman than it would be to a man. Therefor it is always interesting when someone takes the risk and try. Even without an authentic story to work on like it is the case with the little known 'Prey of The Chameleon'. I have to say that I love the tagline: "She loves you. She kills you. She becomes you." Daphne Zuniga (scream-queen from 80's slashers like 'The Initiation') is the titular "chameleon" known as Patricia Harper. She escapes from an insane asylum where she ended up years back for the killing of her own mother. Her mother usually molested her and she is suffering from her dark memories which makes her leave a nasty trail of corpses on her way without any target. Her style is rather unusual though as she perfectly knows how to dress and imitate the women she kills and therefor has hidden under several different identities within a short time. Totally unaware of Patricia Harper, the young drifter J.D (James Wilder) drive through the rain in his pick-up truck hand discovers a woman standing alone at the roadside who he bring along to the nearest diner as the helpful gentleman he is. The woman who calls herself Elizabeth seems very shy and nervous and claims she is on the run from a abusive husband. But her character change shape rather quickly and after saving J.D. from some angry truckers she bring him to a motel and let him sleep with her. The following days they are cruising together and makes sweet love while Elizabeth also begin smoking, drinking, wearing J.D.'s clothes and shows the gun in his luggage a huge interest. It is easy to conclude that "Elizabeth" in reality is Patricia and it now seems like J.D. is working together with her on her crimes! Or might it just be an imitating? 'Prey of The Chameleon' unfortunately never appears as thought provoking as it obviously was supposed to be. Surprisingly we are, unlike the characters in the movie, never really lead to be confused about the actual identity Patricia is hiding in! We are always fully aware about who she is so it all turn out rather unspectacular. Even further some huge plot holes near the climax damage it too. The idea is overall better than the execution. Director/writer Fleming Fuller should had put a little more effort into the script. It sometimes seems like he was too busy making it all sound cool that he almost forgot to make it convincing too! And forgot the opportunities for a movie that should have been a) more mysterious like David Lynch or b) more over the top like Russ Meyer. But besides it's flaws 'Prey of The Chameleon' still is a fairly competent and for the most part entertaining thriller. Mostly due to Daphne Zuniga and her presence of a tormented killer that is scary, tragic and strongly erotic at once. Who can resist a line as: "Mind if I wear you clothes? Mind if I take it off?"? At one point she even convince as a male! This is also one the few movies where it is possible to really sympathize with the killer. For that matter alone it is worth checking out.