Rating: E
Dir: Terry Spears
Star: Taja Brittaney, Marlon Ladd, Justin Russell, Bryce Barfield
The year isn’t yet over, but I suspect we can announce the 2024 champion in the “Biggest gap between synopsis and reality” contest. The envelope, please… And the winner is… A Dangerous Prey! The IMDb synopsis here reads, “Keisha flees urban gentrification for a fresh start, only to be targeted by racists in her new home. She fights to survive as she turns the tables on her predators in a battle for survival as she herself becomes a dangerous prey.” On the basis of this, I was expecting something along the lines of Straw Dogs. Except, the entire second sentence takes up, literally, less than five minutes. Rednecks break in. Keisha shoots them. The end. Oh, spoilers. #SorryNotSorry
The rest of it is whiny relationship drama, with a large side-order of racism everywhere, completely sunk by the least sympathetic central character I’ve seen in a very long time. For Keisha (Brittaney) is entitled, egotistical and self-absorbed. Her first conversation is no more than a list of demands from her husband, Aiden (Ladd): “Buy me a house! Get me a car! Pay for my manicure!” I would suggest she find employment and contribute to the house herself, but we see more of her abrasive personality when she asks about a job in a coffee-shop, and won’t take no for an answer. Little wonder Aiden spends a lot of time on the road in his salesman’s job. I wouldn’t want to be around Keisha either.
He is, however, the only reason this avoids the dreaded F. Aiden is a much more measured and thoughtful character, but on the road, mugs the local drug dealers in whatever city he finds himself, for fun and profit. Naturally, these actions come to the attention of those further up the crime chain. This could have made for an interesting story. Instead, however, the film focuses on the lazy Keisha, whose idea of a traumatic day is dealing with milk which has gone past its sell-by date (top). Quite why Aiden stays with her is completely inexplicable. The film makes no attempt at all to build their relationship or give them chemistry together. I can only conclude Keisha possesses a twat made of platinum.
Then she cheats on him, with a fellow student at the college she appears to be attending meandering around aimlessly. By the time the finale showed up, I was almost cheering for the rednecks, crude stereotypical caricatures as they were. The film is more concerned about delivering its social message, but isn’t able even to do that competently, persistently getting in its own way. For instance, Keisha complains about “gentrification”, but is shocked and appalled to witness an armed robbery of the local liquor store. Reality check: guess what areas that kind of thing happens in? I should have restrained my expectations, this coming from the director of the fairly dire Agent Jade Black. But Spears has somehow managed to dig even closer to the bottom of the barrel.