DEADLY PREY (1987) ****

Deadly Prey is basically The Most Dangerous Game Meets Rambo.  The key difference is that instead of having a billionaire villain who hunts humans for sport, it’s Col. Hogan (David Campbell) who trains his army of mercenary soldiers by having them hunt and kill ordinary citizens.  His goons pick the wrong man when they kidnap Mike Danton (Ted Prior) and use him for their latest mission of human target practice.  Little do they know Danton is a one-man army who quickly makes mincemeat out of the would-be mercenaries.  Hogan, who trained Danton to kill in Vietnam, then has his wife (Dawn Abraham) kidnapped, which sends Danton into a violent rage, and he wages war on Hogan and his men.

For Rambo on a budget, Deadly Prey is hard to beat.  Hell, there are even some moments that manage to out-Rambo Rambo.  Remember in First Blood when Col. Trautman said, “He’s been trained to eat things that would make a billy goat puke”?  Well, we actually get to see Danton ingest said disgusting material.  You didn’t see Stallone do that!

No sir, only a guy like Ted Prior could manage that.  He’s kind of like the missing link between Sylvester Stallone and Miles O’Keeffe in this movie.  Before he dons his more Ramboesque attire in the finale, Prior spends most of his time running around the woods in little white short shorts that look very reminiscent of O’Keeffe’s loincloth in Tarzan.  You have to love the way he throws himself into the role and marvel at his ingenuity as he kills his enemies with clubs, spears, and even twigs.  Soldiers.  Tanks.  Helicopters.  They’re no match for Ted Prior.

Just when you think it can’t get any better, Cameron Mitchell shows up as Ted’s father in-law.  He gets a particularly great scene where he chews out Troy Donahue, who plays the mercenaries’ mysterious benefactor.  I can’t say the film is exactly lightning paced, but when it does occasionally downshift, it’s full of scenes of Mitchell doing what he does best.  This is the kind of padding I enjoy in a movie.

For as low as the budget was, you have to give major kudos to director David A. Prior.  He really got the most bang for his buck and never runs out of inventive ways to kill people.  The scenes of action carnage Prior concocted will live forever in my mind’s eye.  He even manages to give his brother Ted a couple of impressive hero shots, including the unforgettable final image.  

26 years later, the team of Prior and Prior teamed up once again for a sequel, Deadliest Prey.