Prey

 



Director - Norman J. Warren (Bloody New Year, Satan's Slave)
Starring - Barry Stokes (Enemy Mine, Hawk the Slayer), Glory Annen (Supergirl, Spaced Out), and Sally Faulkner (Vampyres, Confessions of a Driving Instructor)
Release Date - 1977
Genre - Sci-Fi/Horror
Tagline - "A terrifying encounter with the unknown"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

      I've been on a good run lately with some awesome movies that I've reviewed.  Usually a good run is hit with at least three shitty flicks.  It's a trend I've noticed for sometime now.  I recently reviewed Star Time from Vinegar Syndrome and Ash vs. Evil Dead Season 3.  I needed to get back in Vin Syn's good graces after taking some time off when my laptop crashed so I decided to have a little movie marathon of their releases sent my way for review.  The next flick I tossed on the chopping block is the 1977 sci-fi horror flick Prey which was originally released under the name Alien Prey.  Thank you Vin Syn for sending this one my way!

     The film follows a lesbian couple who find a man trespassing on their property one evening.  Josephine, or Jo for short, attempts to force him to leave but her girlfriend Jessica-Anne convinces her to let him stay.  He is an unusual man who seems confused about everything so they bring him in to help him but what they don't know is that he is actually an alien that has taken the form of the man he recently killed.  He was sent to Earth to find a suitable food for his race of aliens and it looks like humans will work just fine.

     When I posted a picture to Instagram that I was watching Star Time I was hit with several people telling me the movie was too weird and slow to enjoy.  However, after watching it I can safely say they are dead wrong.  When I posted a picture of Prey to Instagram I was then told that this film was amazing and one of the best flicks in Vin Syn's catalogue.  I strongly disagree with this.  Vin Syn has several titles that are so much better than this one.  Prey isn't a bad film but it is a bit of a struggle to finish.  The acting in this one is decent.  Stokes does a solid job at portraying a clueless man who is learning everything for the first time.  His character then switches gears and becomes a deadly predator.  He does a great job in both aspects.  With that being said, the true stars of the film are Glory Annen and Sally Faulkner.  Their performance was very intense at times and very demanding.  They both did a fantastic job and make the film very enjoyable.  The story for this one is stretched way too thin for the running time we are given.  The film moves at a painfully slow pace before actually getting to the meat of the story.  I don't know if they had to cut something due to budget constraints or what but the running time is just too long.  I like the story but there isn't enough meat on the bone for a feature length running time.  Finally, the film does have a few deaths scenes but they are easily forgotten.  They have no originality and the effects are minimal.  The blood is the bright red 3m blood that makes the kills even more forgettable.  Overall, Prey is not a film I would put on a list of my favorite movies but I can't deny how much fun I had watching it.  The story is predictable but I liked the cast and the look of the film.  It is a little too long for the story we get but it still deserves a watch.  Check it out.