Presa Mortal

I first heard about this film 6 years ago. One of my friends told me about how good it was and how he used to own a VHS copy but that it sadly went missing. That was 6 years ago... 6 years later he found a copy on ebay. I try to avoid using clichés but it really *was* worth the wait! I haven't laughed so much in all those 6 years!

I've seen a lot of funny bad movies in my time, but this is definitely the one that stands out above the rest! In fact it's so good that it's made me write my very first IMDb review! Everything about this movie, the acting, the plot, the continuity...it's just so good, i mean bad, or do i mean good? This film deserves repeated viewings, i'm going to play it to all my friends as it should be compulsory viewing for all! Try and track down a copy!

Back in the 80's there were lots of these, Rambo has a tremendous amount to answer for. What I mean by "These" is cheesy, testosterone fueled moronic gung-ho action flicks.

The cover says it all here, if you're looking for anything even remotely intelligent look elsewhere. This is literally 90 minutes of an ultra buff dude running around a jungle in his underwear being badass.

The "Plot" is a mercenary force who train their troops by kidnapping people off the streets, setting them off into the jungle, then hunting them. But I'm sure you see where I'm going with this, on this occasion they picked the wrong person *Insert dramatic music here*. That's right our lead is a former special forces something something, you know like they always are in every straight to VHS/DVD action movie.

The acting is dreadful, the plot is generic, it looks a combination of ugly and unintentionally hilarious and the whole movie is cringe inducing.

One for cheesy action fanatics only.

The Good:

Cheesy 80's action movie soundtrack

The Bad:

Some of the action is plain silly

Dreadful acting

SFX are laughable

Since there were a fair amount of cost-cutter Rambo rip-offs, finding the ripest one isn't as easy as it would seem, but no doubt DEADLY PREY is a prime choice. It's a one-man-army saga made on the ranch in L.A., with mini muscle-dude, Ted Prior, stripped to his cutoffs and hunted for sport by a bunch of p***ed-off militia dudes. As misguided and inept a macho potboiler as one could imagine. Give me librium or give me meth!!!

Fellow bad movie lovers, gather round my brethren for here there be a classic!

This is the story of evil Colonal Hogan who is utilising kidnapped innocent civilians as big game in order to train his bloodthirsty group of mercenaries. All is going fine in this cruel pursuit to until that is one day his men make the BIG mistake of kidnapping one Mike Danton who turns out to have been formally trained by Hogan and who furthermore makes Rambo look like a wimp!

Armed only with a pair of cut off shorts, his mightily muscled frame, his wits and a rather fetching mullet our man now proceeds to wipe out every single one of his hunters in a myriad of wild and wacky ways including breaking their backs against trees, impaling them with twigs(!) spearing them and setting them up in some decidedly grisly traps!

Highlights in this? Damn, so many to choose from but check out our hero's girlfriend for a start who must surely rank as one of the most outrageously stupid women in film history! After seeing her beloved knocked over the head and driven away at speed in a truck does she ring the police as any normal, intelligent person would do? No, she instead rings her dad! OK so he was an ex police officer but really! To be fair her father doesn't seem much brighter either! Does he get back up? No, he goes to the military training camp all on his own!!! In fact this film is absolutely riddled with such daft plot contrivances as to render one utterly speechless! Take for instance the fact that whenever our man kills one of the bad guys he never picks up their guns(?!?!?!?) Oh well, he was so damn macho I suppose he didn't feel he needed them until the end!

Back to cool scenes again now though and you'll simply marvel at a plethora of utterly terrible fight choreography, a Styrofoam boulder attack(!), a thoroughly appetising scene of delicious worm chomping(!) our man hiding up a tree with no foliage about three feet above his pursuers and them not spotting him (this dumbfoundingly daft scene just has to be seen to be believed!) and my very favourite bit at the end when our hero slices off an opponents arm with his machete before beating the guy to death with his own severed limb!!! To top it all off our man then scalps him!!!

Simply ridiculous stuff and all the more hilarious for it!!! If you have any shred of self respect then you simply must get hold of this film by any means possible!

Beefcake "actor" Ted Prior (brother of writer & director David A. Prior) stars as Mike Danton, a former Marine, in this B level gem. It's about as far as you can get from high art, with a whole lot of completely inept action sequences and hilariously lame performances. Obviously owing a heavy debt to that familiar old plot of "The Most Dangerous Game", it's also clearly inspired by "First Blood" and its sequels, as well as "Commando".

Colonel John Hogan (David Campbell) leads a group of mercenaries. They're hired for a gig by an unscrupulous "businessman" named Michaelson (Troy Donahue). The thing about these guys, though, is that they like to have thorough training sessions before the actual missions. So they abduct guys like Mike, and chase them through the California woods. But they've made an extremely dumb move in selecting Mike this time around, and he's going to give them what-for in a major way.

Top billed Cameron Mitchell, who plays a former cop and the father to Mikes' wife Jaimy (Suzanne Tara), is very much just here for his name value. He has little to add to the plot. Instead, the action focuses on the studly Ted P., who for much of the running time darts around in short shorts. Ted may not be Olivier, but his emoting near the end still needs to be seen to be believed. Campbell is amusing as the money hungry villain, as is Fritz Matthews as Lieutenant Thornton, his main henchman.

"Deadly Prey" can boast a steady supply of violence and a respectably high body count, but it might not be gory enough to suit some tastes.

The absolute best moment of this epic occurs between Mike and Thornton. You'll know it when you see it, and may howl with appreciative laughter.

"Deadly Prey" is deliciously daft nonsense, with an ultra corny theme song to serve as perfect accompaniment.

Seven out of 10.