Deadly Prey

"He was the best in Vietnam. He still is."

Deadly Prey is a 1987 action film directed by David A. Prior and starring his brother Ted Prior as the protagonist, Mike Danton. Danton is an ex-Special Forces soldier who is abducted from his home one day by a group of thugs and forced to take part in a lethal training exercise for mercenaries lead by his former mentor, Colonel Tom Hogan. Mike then proceeds to kick tremendous amounts of ass in his quest to stop Hogan and prevent the deaths of any more innocents. Meanwhile, Mike's wife Jaimy enlists the aid of her father, a retired police officer, in order to find him.

Although not very well known, Deadly Prey has a degree of notoriety in certain circles for its less-than-stellar acting and selective applications of reality. Although it has never had an official DVD release, it can still be found online via methods of questionable legality. A version also exists on YouTube with the entire soundtrack replaced.

Oh, and Prior is apparently raising funds for a sequel, to be called The Deadliest Prey. Seriously.


 * As You Know: "I haven't seen you since the time you took a bullet trying to save my life!"
 * Award Bait Song: Never Say Die by Steve McClintock.
 * Bad Boss: Lieutenant Thorton executes his underlings for failure, showing weakness, or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
 * Blood Knight: Jack Cooper.
 * The Combat Pragmatist: The first half of the movie is composed of Mike taking out Mooks silently from behind, and drawing them further into the forest where he has the advantage. Subverted when he doesn't bother to equip himself with some better weaponry or, y'know, some boots to protect his feet. Justified by him being made of iron, as discussed below.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Don Michaelson.
 * Dramatic Gun Cock: Taken to absurd levels in the opening credits.
 * Downer Ending: Mike gets his revenge but everyone he cares about is dead.
 * Elites Are More Glamorous: Danton and Hogan used to be in the Army Special Forces.
 * Five-Bad Band: Hogan, Thorton, Michaelson, Sybil and whatever random mook happens to have Danton in a chokehold at the time.
 * Foe Yay: Quite a bit from Hogan. Danton is not amused.
 * Grievous Harm with a Body: In his rematch, Mike cuts off Thorton's arm (hehe...Mike Thorton) and beats him unconscious with it before scalping him.
 * Guns Do Not Work That Way: No, having a grenade go off next to your foot does not mean you can still get up and keep running for 3 more minutes.
 * Heel Face Turn: Jack.
 * Hunting the Most Dangerous Game
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: To hurt Danton more than he could ever hurt Hogan.
 * Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Seriously.
 * Ironic Echo: In the end, Hogan is forced to run while Danton hunts him.
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: Deadly Prey was never released on DVD, so the only way to view it is through tapes, or the internet.
 * Made of Iron: Mike. Seriously, a tank shell goes off near him and he doesn't seem to feel it much.
 * Made of Plasticine: All the mooks. Danton is able to kill several of them with sticks and have them die instantly from a stab to the heart.
 * Mood Whiplash: The film ends with Danton's anguished scream before cutting to a beautiful ballad about never giving up.
 * My Greatest Failure: Inverted - Hogan sees Mike as his greatest student and the only person who ever lived up to his standards while participating in non-lethal training exercises.
 * Only in It For the Money: The whole reason Hogan decided to form a mercenary group was to hire himself out to Third World dictators for lots and lots of cash.
 * Private Military Contractors
 * Rape as Drama
 * Recurring Riff: The same three-note jingle keeps popping up throughout the film, sometimes at inappropriate times.
 * Say My Name: DANTOOOOOOOOOOOON!
 * Sinister Shades: Thorton's trademark.
 * Skyward Scream
 * So Bad It's Good
 * The Spartan Way: Hogan doesn't believe in the standard training exercises because, according to him, they don't prepare soldiers in the same way as fighting real enemies.
 * Start of Darkness: For Hogan, when he was discharged from the Army and put on a crummy $600 pension. Also, they ignored his advice regarding the training of elite soldiers, which essentially amounted to war crimes.
 * Tanks, But No Tanks: See above.
 * The Vietnam War: Serves as a backstory and is invoked by the box art.
 * Villainous Breakdown: When Hogan realises most of his men are dead he becomes more and more frantic, and by the time he captures Jamie his screams sound more like an Anguished Declaration of Love for Mike.
 * Visible Invisibility: After Hogan decides to deal with things personally, he moves into the woods. Little does he know that Mike is watching him...from a tree some two feet off the ground. DUN DUN DUN.
 * We Can Rule Together
 * You Have Failed Me: Hogan and Thorton really love those summary executions.