The Prey/Fun Facts

• When the film was purchased for distribution by New World Pictures 15 minutes of footage was edited for the release. New World rarely released films that were longer than 80 minutes fearing that audiences would lose interest the longer the film ran. Among the scenes cut from The Prey was an opening sequence showing the gypsy village being destroyed by the forest fire.

• The Prey was shot in 1978, but didn't see a release until 1984 when New World Pictures finally picked it up.

• Jackie Coogan's last project.

• Star Jackson Bostwick ad-libbed his dialog during the scene where he's telling the wide-mouth-frog joke to the deer.

• Jackie Coogan is best known for playing Uncle Fester on the classic sitcom The Addams Family (1964). Costar Carel Struycken went on to play Lurch in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993).

• The film was shot over the course of two weeks.

• The Prey originally ran longer that it's 80 minute length and included a nearly 25 minute act recounting the backstory of the disfigured gypsy character. Told in a flashback by Steve Bond's character it included scenes establishing the gypsy village, an affair between a gypsy and a local, and the resulting backlash and burning of the gypsy village by the locals. The Prey had a hard time finding distribution though. Years after being filmed New World pictures made an offer, based of the recent success of slasher films, on the basis that the film be re-cut to a shorter length. The 25 minute backstory sequences were cut, which left the film significantly short. Additional scenes were shot and added to "pad" out the film's length to 80 minutes. Among those added were lots of wildlife footage, more dialogue between actors, and the memorable tangent where star Jackson Bostwick tells the "wide-mouth frog" story to the fawn.