Filmed in 1978, not released till '1984...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prey_(1984_film)
A-ha! I thought the actors' clothes and hair looked more 70's than mid-80's.
I find that hard to believe. Clearly inspired by Friday the 13th. My guess would be 1980.
shareIt doesn't remind me of Friday the 13th at all. It had more of a Just Before Dawn vibe if anything.
shareStructurally it is much closer to Just Before Dawn, or even Don't Go In the Woods.
What I meant was, Friday the 13th was a huge hit which inspired the glut of 80's camp/woods slashers, of which The Prey is one.
Unless it really was filmed in 1978. A guy on another thread says he was there when some of this was filmed. He said it was 79, 80, or 81.
Interesting.
shareNew World Pictures opened this theatrically in limited release on October 7, 1983. It was more widely seen in 1984, but not for the first time. And I'm only saying it was New World's first release because I honestly have no clue what Essex Distributing did with it prior to that. They had it rated by the MPAA in December, 1980 and they didn't sell it to NWP until June, 1982. It's certainly possible they had it in theatres themselves in between those dates.
Unless it really was filmed in 1978. A guy on another thread says he was there when some of this was filmed. He said it was 79, 80, or 81.
Well, that really narrows it down, doesn't it? The person on the other thread said he or she was there for the gypsy porno. Which was clearly some other picture that presumably was never completed and that Essex shoved into the international version to get some mileage out of it, using Steve Bond to do ADR narration to tie it all together. I strongly suspect it was something Cowboy Productions were behind (go watch their trash classics 'Kate & The Indians' and 'Country Comfort' and you'll see what I mean), as Essex acquired their library for distribution in 1983. Those scenes aren't done in Essex's usual style, nor do they look like the rest of this film. As for what year 'The Prey' was shot, I don't know, but it's worth noting that while Bostwick says it was 1978, Lethin says she didn't start her acting career until 1979 in a 'Charlie's Angels' episode that first aired in February of that year. So one of them is a year off.
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Memory's an inexact science, but for a no-budget movie in that era it wouldn't be unusual if it was in production for a couple years.
It never even occurred to me that the gypsy sequence could've been from an abandoned project (backstories on the movie are vague and conflicting) but you're right, it doesn't have the look or feel of the rest of the film. If that's the case though, you've gotta give them props for being creative.
Memory's an inexact science, but for a no-budget movie in that era it wouldn't be unusual if it was in production for a couple years.
That it isn't. I mean, you'd think one of them would have a script lying around with a dated shooting schedule attached, but I suppose that's too much to ask. I've been taking Bostwick's word for it that it was shot in '78 and had some kind of post-production issues (say, lack of finishing funds) that would cause a picture that took 2 weeks to shoot 2 years to complete.
It never even occurred to me that the gypsy sequence could've been from an abandoned project (backstories on the movie are vague and conflicting) but you're right, it doesn't have the look or feel of the rest of the film. If that's the case though, you've gotta give them props for being creative.
I've seen a handful of the Browns' pornos for Essex from that era, including a couple of their "historical epics." The scenes in "The Prey" look absolutely nothing like them. There's no way they shot those scenes. They DO look like "Country Comfort." One wonders if the Browns even knew about their inclusion. It could have been the Steinmans who put them in there. One of these days I hope we find out the backstory behind this. And why some of the shots were filmed in sepia tone. share