alien prey

Things aren’t always as they seem.

Jessica lost her parents, living alone on an idyllic estate in the English countryside outside a village with her possessive *guardian*, Jo (obsessed with keeping Jessica all too herself), and Alien Prey documents their dynamic’s deterioration when an “intruder” shows up (an alien inhabiting the form of a male victim it kills) on their property. His name is Anderson and he has a wounded leg; Jessica is all too keen on helping her new visitor, while Jo sees, accurately, that trouble could be on the horizon. Jo seems to call the shots, while Jessica shows signs of restlessness and longing for other experiences “outside the nest” of her palatial grounds.
**

Jo hates men. I mean, REALLY hates men. Awkward alien Anderson trying to adjust to the role he’s currently inhabiting produces negative results; when it is discovered by Jessica he might have killed Simon, a visitor/friend of hers, it seems the jig is up. Or maybe not. Jo often makes sure Anderson knows how she feels about men and their gross, animalistic habits/behavior. Jo lets Anderson know they are vegetarian and lovers. All over dinner. It seems Anderson’s alien metabolism cannot tolerate vegetation, reacting as if  allergic when eating some leaves on the plate. Speaking of Simon, there's an interesting twist that leads to an openly dug grave, intended by Jo out of pure rage and an inability to let go of the girl she loves even if drastic measures are taken to conceal a secret, adds a level of sociopathy to her character. Obsessive needs outweigh acceptance that no matter how hard you try to keep someone you feel is a possession of yours in the fold fails, this all adds to the emotional toll taken on the girls; this film isn't just about an alien predator preying upon easy targets, but also touches on psychological aspects. What is indeed rather fascinating to me is how this whole film seemed to have been thrown together without much of a script in about a week and some change! A definite indie cheapie.

You have the basic “alien colonization” subplot occupying a little of the film with a great deal of importance applied to the love triangle. Jo and Jessica have a passionate lesbian encounter while Anderson momentarily peeps, at times communicating to his superiors on his progress and the details of his time on our planet. Anderson has no personality whatsoever and is essentially biding his time before killing the women and reporting back that colonization is assured, that humans are “easy prey.”

Jo is a bit “emotionally high strung”, aggressively hostile and defensive, and combative. Jessica is more or less a bit of a child needing tending to, while servicing Jo’s sexual desires and wanton needs, and has probably never been able to have an independent thought or make an independent decision. Jo has just slid into the parental  role, while also expecting to be sexually fulfilled and emotionally satisfied. Anderson will just ruin their lives further. But, before he does turn their “domestic bliss” upside down, Anderson tries to function among them. A fox killing the livestock creating the eggs is found and taken out by Anderson so he can please an infuriated Jo who herself was unable to shoot it. Because of their joy at such a feat, Jo has Anderson, not well pleased and more than a bit perturbed, dress like a woman, in dress and make-up, properly “one of them”.

There’s some sort of cross breed of horror (when in his most vicious state, Anderson’s face takes on a wolf-pug-nose, piranha teeth, and red eyes, and he tears into two cops, and others that pose a threat to his race’s colonization plot), science fiction (he’s an alien, and there’s some talk back and forth with his race from inside a little building located near Jessica’s family estate, using a “portable transmitter” device), and soapy melodrama (the tension of the trio’s time together is palpable; the rivalry for Jessica’s affections noticeable).

Not sure I necessarily liked it, mainly because the characters got on my nerves, but it was different than the norm in regards to the alien invasion angle; the sexual politics that emerge adds a little sauciness to the formula. The gore involved is sparse but effective (torn throats and mangled bodies), two sex scenes (Jessica with Jo, as already mentioned, and eventually Jessica makes the move on Anderson which doesn’t end well for her) have a bit of eroticism (I did find the lesbian sex rather arousing myself personally), and the bleak ending which didn’t spell well for the human race’s chances of a bright future comes after a rather disturbing display of just what Anderson is capable of (if he’s so savage, what does this say for the rest of us upon his race’s emergence?): Norman J Warren’s Alien Prey (or, in some prints, simply “Prey”) might actually work for some folks because it doesn’t necessarily function and end as typical of sci-fi horror. Warren has never been a conventional filmmaker anyway, so his resulting film doesn’t necessarily operate by the usual standards.

To say Sally Faulkner’s performance was at times manic would be a bit of an understatement. Her character flies into an emotional frenzy that is a detriment to her relationship with Glory Annen’s Jessica. What fuels the eventual aftermath of violence is the order of not having his identity exposed. When searching for “flaws in his character”, Jo finds he hasn’t been eating anything because he feeds on the meat in the nearby forest. He’s always depicted as a predator. Predator a two-fold description implying that Anderson’s alien species is a hunter of flesh (high protein content) and on the human race as a whole to have our planet.