Synopsis
It's not human, and it's got an axe!
Three couples go on a camping trip in the woods of southern California during the summer, where a deformed man is stalking their camp.
1983 Directed by Edwin Brown
Three couples go on a camping trip in the woods of southern California during the summer, where a deformed man is stalking their camp.
... und der Tod wartet schon, Und der Tod wartet schon, O Depredador, Depredador, 猎物
Horror, the undead and monster classics Monsters, aliens, sci-fi and the apocalypse Intense violence and sexual transgression Gory, gruesome, and slasher horror Extreme gory horror and cannibalism Sci-fi horror, creatures, and aliens Gothic and eerie haunting horror Survival horror and zombie carnage Show All…
When I was younger I thought this movie was insufferable, all the nature footage and animal/insect closeup padding really turned me off... but Fast forward many years later to me watching this on a late spring afternoon in 2021 and I... really dug it? I vibed with the languorous pacing of this Rocky Mountain backwoods slasher and the man vs nature juxtaposition of the wildlife footage featured throughout—I dunno I’m a weirdo for that stuff now. I liked Carel Struycken as the disfigured assailant but his makeup was so-so—luckily the solid John Carl Buechler gore kinda made up for it with some decent kills and a final 20 minutes that made it worthwhile for me.
Filmed in 1979 and not released…
I went in with incredibly low expectations and this turned out to be better than I anticipated so make of that what you will. It’s a blatant blatant rip-off of Friday the 13th but it has its moments.
There are waaaaayyyyyy too many stock footage nature shots in between the actual story, but they didn’t annoy me as much as I would have thought. The wooded mountainside location has some good atmosphere and the killer is neat looking even if he is basically just a more grotesque version of Jason without his mask.
I remember this VHS cover vividly from back in the day because there were no actual pictures from the movie on the back and that just made it all seem that much scarier (and enticing) to kid me. Like a beautiful forbidden box...good thing I didn’t have Pandora’s job huh. Definitely would like to see a cleaned up version of this.
What’s up with Arrow releasing 80s slashers that have the best plots, for instance... six campers are stalked and killed off one by one by a ghoulish man looking for alittle love... (aren’t we all dude) it sounds like the usual slasher we all get hyped up for, but the movie is flat as a board and needs a screw.
I should have watched Sleepaway Camp for the 50th time.
Was the relentless boredom this inspired worth it for the truly bleak and unearned misogyny of its final moments? Who cares?
Three decades after a tragic forest fire claimed the lives of several families of gypsies in a national wilderness park, three young couples arrive on the scene to enjoy a blissful getaway, complete with hiking, mountain climbing, swimming, and romance. Oblivious to the fact that others have recently disappeared in the area, these six well-prepared friends take off into the remote and rugged wilderness, leaving the safety of city life behind for a mountain landscape that does not forgive carelessness. They will soon realize that they are not alone in the woods.
The Prey, which was filmed in 1979 and 1980 by director Edwin Brown, but not released until 1984, was a fixture in VHS rental stores, but fell off…
Unhurried, unassuming little slasher that was shot toward the tail end of 79, but not released until 83. It’s pretty languorous and largely uneventful, but it weirdly has a lot going for it. Primarily its gorgeous wildlife preserve shooting location in the mountains of Idyllwild, California. But it also sports copious amounts of competently integrated animal stock footage, a creepy score, an appealing, attractive cast and of course Jackie Coogan eating a cucumber sandwich.
It’s unexpectedly edited really interestingly and shot surprisingly well. This is a much better looking film than you’d expect considering its low budget and non-existent cultural footprint. Interesting choice to not show the deformed killer until the very end, and then in unforgiving daylight. Bizarrely, it…
Outdoors setting mixing horror/slasher vibes with footage of wildlife into a pretty insane movie. Three couples on a backpacking trip give it an obvious body count, but I thought each of them became more than just victims we wouldn't care about. Just enough character development was used that blends with the POV shots of the killer lurking about while wildlife footage is spliced in, it's almost like I was there. It's a cheap movie that I thought deserved better than the average sub 2 star rating, respecting of course everyone's opinions. But what more could you possibly want? This thing kind of kicks ass.
This mega F13th ripoff isn’t half bad, actually. It’s not good, either. And that actor playing the park ranger put in a lot of work to learn how to play that banjo. If you are in the mood for schlocky stand there petrified watching yourself get killed without making any effort to run, this flick should be in your arsenal. I’m going to roll with cult classic.
“Well, enjoy yourself. Watch out for the bears.”
A hiking in jeans horror film. An early kids-in-the-woods, fire-trauma slasher from two real life porn peddlers (the husband and wife team that brought us A Thousand and One Erotic Nights), padded to hell with macro insect photography and hardly any actual smut. Lots of campfire stories, though! It’s a treat to see the woods around Idyllwild, with even some footage of top roping down Suicide Rock (or in that general vicinity).
I’m guessing the performers were chosen more for their skills at banjo pickin’ and climbing than acting, but this did win me over a bit with its mean-spirited, downer ending. Someone really needed to give Gail a shakedown before hitting the trail. A compact mirror and full size hair brush on a backpacking trip? She deserved the first death.
It's more like a Nat Geo nature show with people doing mundane camping stuff and having indistinct conversations. The extended cut adds way too much extra footage of the gypsy backstory. The spliced in animal footage is a bit much. Who the hell is the random guy sitting in his living room playing the banjo that is cut in between scenes for no reason. There's a couple scenes of gore (the effects look pretty good), and the film also has some mild sex scenes and brief nudity. This is your typical "maniac in the woods" movie that I'm pretty sure was still original back then, but we today have seen done dozens of times. It's a pretty decent horror movie for what it's worth: it has good build-up of suspense, the acting is ok, a few jump scares, and some good practical effects.