Innocent Prey

"Innocent Prey" is a sleazy Australian slasher that was shelved for years.I managed to get the copy of this film and I can safely say that it's pretty good.Cathy(P.J.Soles)discovers that her husband Joe brutally murders a prostitute with a razor.She confronts her husband who violently turns on her.Cathy seeks refuge from her friend sheriff Virgil Baker(Martin Balsam).Joe is sent to the state hospital for the criminally insane.Cathy resumes her life but is shocked when she learns that her husband has escaped..."Innocent Prey" offers a nice amount of suspense and bloody violence.The murder of a hooker is surprisingly nasty and gruesome.The acting is decent and the direction is well-handled,unfortunately the climax is rather disappointing.Still the film is enjoyable enough to watch it few times.Recommended.

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.

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.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Innocent Prey; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 1.50 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 1.50 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.25

TOTAL: 6.75 out of 10.00.

This movie shows just how bad luck works. Regrettably, for Cathy Wills, her luck's about to take an utterly unlucky fall into the abyss of badness.

Cathy and her new husband appear to be doing substantially well. However, hubby Joe has a secret or three that he's failed to share with his new missus. The first is that he's a con man. The second is that while grifting, the marks made him: They threaten to ride him out of the city on a rail. Third, his terrible temper takes over, and he hires a prostitute on whom to take out his angst. And fourth, he's a cold-blooded psychotic murderer; who slashes the working girl into her afterlife. But bad luck isn't only Cathy's burden to bear. She's on her way home after dropping a friend off and witnesses hubby's car pulling into a motel. Believing there would be a logical reason, she continues her journey. But curiosity finally nags her into action, and away she goes to the no-tell motel. She arrives in the nick of time to watch Joe administer the killing blow. By the time Joe gets home to find wifey knows a couple of his dark secrets, she's had time to call the local coppers. Who, unlike the cavalry, arrives before he slices through her pretty white neck. But being incarcerated doesn't slow Joey down much, and he's soon jumped the barbed wire fence and is tracking her down. Cathy decides it's high time to put some miles between them, so fly's to her friend in Australia. Will Joe follow her down under? Can she trust her new friends and neighbours completely? Is there a psychopath around every city corner? Or is Cathy simply a psycho magnet? To find the answer to these and other questions, watch the film. Luckily for the audience, the screenplay writer offers up decent characterisations to go with the bustling storylines. And though a lot is happening in Innocent Prey, Ron McLean does an admirable job of keeping it smooth enough to follow. This easiness is achieved, by and large, by the logical structuring of the plots. Each flows into the next, and each is logical in form and reasoning. I'll have to hunt out a copy of the novel.

Colin Eggleston doesn't have to do much to keep the audience's attention because of the engaging narrative. So it came as a surprise that he didn't sit back on his laurels and let the tale do all the work. Eggleston uses a varied pace to turn the story into the rollercoaster ride it deserves. He is a master of timing. He utilises longer pauses to build suspicion, suspense, and characters. The quick cuts and close-ups accelerate the excitement and tension. And though he doesn't get over creative, Eggleston possesses a keen eye for composition, lighting, camera angles, and viewpoints.

The cast, though lacking in big-draw names - the only one who'd pull me towards this picture would be Martin Balsam, as I've always admired his work - is still a pleasure to watch. And though I disliked her portrayal of her character in Halloween, P J Soles, as the lead, Cathy does a commendable job of adding credibility to her. And I have to say, John Warnock as Philip is brilliant. Not only does he bring a spooky nervousness to him, but it appears Warnock can sweat on cue, which adds a tangible freakishness to the character.

If you love your crazy psychos slashing and stalking, then Innocent Prey is the movie for you. If you like elaborate, logical, and entertaining storylines, Innocent Prey is for you. And should you merely want a movie to kill an hour and a half...well, Innocent Prey wouldn't be an awful choice.

Cathy, I'm coming for you. You can't hide from me. I can see you wherever you are. So be a good girl and sit down and read my IMDb list - Killer Thriller Chillers to see where I rated Innocent Prey. And, when I get there, we'll have some real fun.

Take Care & Stay Well.

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!