Une proie pour la mort

Australia's addition to the 80s psychotic slasher market, "Innocent Prey" is a surprisingly modest foray by writer / director Colin Eggleston. Who'd be remembered for his eco-horror; "Long Weekend" (1978) and then two years later after prey he gave us the highly stylish supernatural slasher "Cassandra" (1986). It's as customary as you can get, but its selling point would be that of American actress P.J Soles (Halloween, Carrie) taking on the heroine role. For most part of the movie she looks bemused in the face (that's when your eyes are not distracted by her permed hair), but it's no wonder why, as she has two… yep not one but two psychotic nut-jobs that are seeking her attention. These two aren't working together either! One is the perfect husband with a real dark side and the other is a wealthy, loner weirdo who likes to watch.

Living in Dallas Cathy is happily married, well that's how it seems but one night she curiously discovers her husband murdering a prostitute while peeking through a motel window. She aids the police in his arrest, where he's taken to a prison for the criminally insane. Soon he escapes and goes back after her, but after another encounter she decides to move in with her best friend in Australia, Sydney. But here in her new place, might just be another threat in the shape of her new landlord.

The low-budget production is sturdily presentable, as there's nothing too flashy if some professionally expressive camera-work. Other than that it's quite plain, but even during its slow progression Eggleston delivers moments of tension grabbing jolts, more so in the first half and there's no hiding its quite unpleasant in its details. Far from graphic, but it's still sleazy, voyeuristic and suitably uneasy. This tone can be attributed a lot to the creepy performances of Kit Taylor and particularly the sly turn by John Warnock (who has an inventive way to knock some one off) as the psychos. It was an interesting if overblown set-up, especially how it dresses things up before twisting and turning upon itself with the dangers that Soles' character faces and then a smarting closing frame to end on. The soapy hysterics remain elaborately amusing; as it seems to get a lot darker, tighter and even trashier the further it goes along. Some questionable actions shoot up (in regards to Cathy), and the dialogues can be awkwardly goofy. The thing that disappointed me more than anything was Brain May's inconsistently overwrought music score, which simply seemed to be going through the motions.

Soles is simply sub-par in the lead, as her beady character is not all that sympathetic despite the ordeals she finds herself in. The support features some familiar faces; Martin Balsam is likable as the town sheriff and Debi Sue Voorhees as an unlucky prostitute. Also there's decent show-ins by the locals Grigor Taylor, Susan Stenmark and Richard Morgan.

A conventional, but endearing Aussie slasher.

Apparently this little piece of adorable Aussie trash remained shelved for years and only got released in the early nineties; no less than seven years after it was filmed! I honestly don't understand why because, especially in comparison to loads of other 80's slasher duds that I've struggled myself through, "Innocent Prey" really isn't so bad at all. In fact, I can shamelessly admit that I tremendously enjoyed this (semi-)Ozploitation gem and I would recommend fellow slasher/exploitation fanatics to seek it out. The plot is totally bonkers, far-fetched and unrealistic, but that's arguably the main reason why "Innocent Prey" is so easily digestible and amusing! It's more similar to a bad TV soap opera than to a grim contemporary 80's slasher, and it's just that what makes it unique. Dig this: on her way back from dropping her friend at the airport, Dallas girl Cathy Wills spots her husband's convertible at a sleazy roadside motel. She sneaks around the back and glazes through the bathroom window, just in time to witness him slicing the throat of a voluptuous prostitute. Together with the local Sheriff, Cathy sets a trap to apprehend him. But Crazy Joe quickly escapes from the penitentiary and comes back for his treacherous wife. When she narrowly survives another assault, Cathy decides to go live with her friend Gwen in Australia. Not only does her psychopath husband follow her, Cathy also attracts the Down Under lunatics when she gets there. Surely the script is full of holes and improbabilities, but I personally wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Joe all too easily escapes from jail and effortlessly manages to reach Australia, but all these little "defaults" are actually in favor of the movie's fast pacing and brainless entertainment value. The first murder, the throat slicing of the luscious wench Deborah Voorhees, is truly sick and gruesome, but the rest of the film – sadly – isn't very violent and some very important murders even occur off-screen. The twists near the end are ingenious and tongue-in-cheek, but I think they still could have been worked out more effectively. "Innocent Prey" was written and directed by Colin Eggleston, who will certainly be more remembered for his modest eco-horror classic "Long Weekend" (which received a remake in 2008) than for this light-headed slasher adventure.

Tip for cult fanatics: "Innocent Prey" would make a terrific double- feature with Michael Winner's "Scream for Help"; - also from 1984. Both films are trashy, unscrupulous and outrageously amusing soap- opera thrillers that undeservedly ended up in oblivion.

P. J. Soles, so often cast as the second bad girl in films, finally lands a leading role in this wildly over-plotted Australian thriller about the Texas wife of an incarcerated prostitute-killer who flees to Sydney to stay with her girlfriend, only to be followed by her psychotic husband--and that's just the start of it! Brainless straight-to-tape slasher flick is so stupid, one can have a fairly good time laughing at it. Soles (sporting a disconcerting poof 'do that causes her to look matronly) is too lightweight a presence here. The actress is intrinsically good-natured, and in joshing spirits, but she's a scream queen by default. * from ****

Would you believe P.J.Sole's luck, not just starring in this stinker of a film, but with the men she falls in love with. She doesn't give a half bad performance (remember, she was one of those bitches from Carrie) as a Dallas girl, whose Aussie man, murders prostitutes. This insane Aussie guy, a successful oil worker, as I remember, is arrested, put in a hospital for the criminally insane, but escapes. A scared Soles flees to New Zealand, falls for a new guy, Mr Perfect (Grigor Taylor) who at the end, also turns out to be a nut, as is the young and little backward handy man, who works on this wealthy guys estate. If you can believe it, the only good thing to come out of this is Soles, not a major American import, but without her quite impressive performance, as a naive young lass, who's taste in men, is obviously terrible, this could of sunk much lower. An inane ridiculous film, honestly, although Taylor's last line of dialogue, serves as a classic and humorous one liner. Apart from that. PHOOOOOR!

Scream queen Soles features in a rare lead role (although still a victim) in this Australian film no less, playing the wife of a sadistic serial killer who emigrates down under after he escapes from the mental hospital.

Top-notch cast features locally well-known Australian TV actors Kit and Grigor Taylor (no relation) and Americans Balsam as a sheriff and Thurman in a small role as an oil investor early in the first act. Warnock is an interesting one, I was never certain whether he was sympathetic or sinister suffice to say the film doesn't leave you in limbo.

Cliched but intriguing, this rampaging Ozploitation thriller has a decent plot, taut suspense and is violent and gory just the way nature intended such films, an odd mix of southern slasher meets voyeuristic thriller that's better than you might expect.

Probably could've succeeded with a local cast/location, although the commercial benefits of Soles (and to a lesser extent Balsam) should've been bulletproof in 1983, which makes the fact it wasn't released until 1990 all the more confounding. Soles demonstrates she's more than a supporting ingenue, able to carry a film with two distinct plot lines (across two continents) and despite her character's suffering, still exudes a wholesome, cheery disposition potentially the result of enjoying herself on what was her maiden voyage to Australia (according to her on-screen interview in the Umbrella DVD extras, where she also speculates on the film's long gestation period prior to its belated release). Worthy viewing for slasher or Ozploitation fans.