''Deadly Prey'' is a 1987

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

written and directed by David A. Prior. The film, a very loose adaptation of the short story "

The Most Dangerous Game "The Most Dangerous Game", also published as "The Hounds of Zaroff", is a short story by Richard Connell, first published in ''Collier's'' on January 19, 1924, with illustrations by Wilmot Emerton Heitland. The story features a big-game hunter ...

" by

Richard Connell Richard Edward Connell Jr. (October 17, 1893 – November 22, 1949) was an American author and journalist. He is most notable for his short story "The Most Dangerous Game" (1924). Connell was one of the most popular American short story writ ...

, stars Ted Prior, David's brother, as a former soldier who is kidnapped for participation in a human safari.

Plot

Colonel Hogan leads a group of

mercenaries A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...

. His current client is businessman Don Michaelson. A deal is struck, and Hogan recruits new troops. For training, Hogan orders his troops to kidnap innocent people, take them to the forest and hunt them. One of the people they kidnap, Mike Danton, is ambushed while taking out the trash. Taken to the forest, he is stripped to his shorts, greased up, and told to run. A team of mercenaries hunt Danton; however, Danton, a highly-skilled

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

veteran, picks off the troops one by one. The troops report this to Colonel Hogan, who sends a task force led by his best man, Lieutenant Thornton. Another member of the task force is Jack Cooper, a former comrade of Danton whose life Danton saved in combat. Recognizing each other, Cooper defects from the mercenaries and allies with Danton. With Cooper alongside him, Danton continues fighting off the mercenaries to return to his wife Jaimey. Hogan uses Danton's family against him, angering Danton. After storming the mercenaries' training camp, Danton kills all of the mercenaries, chops off Thornton's right arm, knocks him unconscious, and peels his scalp off, thus killing him. Danton then shows the scalp to Hogan, whom he half-strips and bids run away.

Cast

* Cameron Mitchell as Jamie's father *

Troy Donahue Troy Donahue (born Merle Johnson Jr., January 27, 1936 – September 2, 2001) was an American film and television actor, best known for his role as Johnny Hunter in the film '' A Summer Place''. He was a popular sex symbol in the 1950s and ...

as Don Michaelson * Ted Prior as Michael "Mike" Danton * Fritz Matthews as Lieutenant Thornton * David Campbell as Colonel Hogan * Leo Weltman as Hillbilly Will

Production

After The Winters Group helped finance David A. Prior's previous film '' Aerobicide'', Prior formed

Action International Pictures Action International Pictures (AIP), also known as West Side Studios, is a film production and distribution company founded in 1986. AIP was founded by David Winters, David A. Prior and Peter Yuval. It also provided video distribution for many ...

with executive producers David Winters and Bruce Lewin, and producer Peter Yuval. Their first projects were ''

Mankillers ''Mankillers'', also known as ''12 Wild Women'', is a 1987 action film written and directed by David A. Prior. Filmed in 1986 in and around Riverside, California, United States, it was shot back to back with '' Deadly Prey'' as part of the new ...

'' and ''Deadly Prey''. Both movies were shot back to back in and around

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

. Retired US Army soldier Don Michelson acted as a

technical advisor In film production, a technical advisor is someone who advises the director on the convincing portrayal of a subject. The advisor's expertise adds realism both to the acting and to the setting of a movie. Nipo T. Strongheart Nipo T. Stronghear ...

, with part of the film being shot in his American Military Museum outside

South El Monte, California South El Monte is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,567, down from 20,116 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 ce ...

, Troy Donahue's character used his name in the film.

Release

''Deadly Prey'' was first screened at the

American Film Market The American Film Market (AFM) is a film industry event held annually in early November. Historically, more than 7,000 people attend the eight-day annual event to network and to sell, finance, and acquire films. Participants come from more than 7 ...

in November 1987. In the Philippines, the film was released by

Solar Films Solar Films Inc Oy is a Finnish film production company, which was founded in 1995. Solar Films' productions have won a total of 41 Jussi Awards, and three Oscar nominations. Besides feature films and television drama, Solar Films have also pro ...

as ''Born to Kill'' on February 4, 1988.

Home media

The film was officially released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and Blu-ray in 2015.

Reception

The film review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

lists only one review, on the

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

alternative newspaper

Mountain Xpress The ''Mountain Xpress'' is an alternative newspaper covering news, arts, local politics, and events in Asheville and western North Carolina, US. Published each Wednesday in print and online, it has a print circulation of about 29,000. The Mountai ...

.Deadly Prey (R) review

, 2008-08-27 Reviewer Ken Hanke describes it as "yet another of the seemingly endless barrage of cinematic knockoffs of Richard Connell's short story, "

" also influenced by ''

First Blood ''First Blood'' is a 1982 American war action film starring Sylvester Stallone as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, the film was co-written by Michael Kozoll, William Sackheim, and Stallone, deriving from the 1972 no ...

'' (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.The Deadliest Prey Official
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References

External links

* * {{The Most Dangerous Game 1987 films 1987 action films American action films American chase films Films shot in California Films directed by David A. Prior 1980s English-language films 1980s American films Films based on The Most Dangerous Game English-language action films