Rent Prey (1977)

‘High in protein and easy prey.’ Minor spoilers. - Prey review by NP

Directed by the mighty Norman J. Warren, this cut-price sci-fi horror piece involves two young women: softie Jessica (Glory Annen) and her sulky, male-hating lover Josephine (Sally Faulkner). In the midst of a row, they stumble across a man who calls himself Anderson (Barry Stokes). I’m hoping the awkward atmosphere is to blame for the fact that neither of the girls immediately notice that the man is clearly not normal – if I didn’t believe that, then they would appear very foolish, especially Jess, who makes polite conversation while Anders takes every opportunity to display his oddness. Perhaps Jo is blinkered by her own dark secrets …

The music is provided by Ivor Slaney, and has a definite BBC Radiophonic Workshop aura about it, bringing back warm memories of teatime children’s sci-fi series from many years ago. In fact, elements of this could almost be a movie-length edition of ‘The Tomorrow People’, ‘Sky’ or suchlike - apart from attention paid to the girls’ relationship and some of the more overt violence, or the bizarre ritual of dressing Anders up in drag, of course. Strangely, the sight of the bewildered gentleman in dress and make-up stimulates a strange fascination in Jo. It’s all a bit odd, but of course such is Mr J Warren’s effective way of ensuring audience attention doesn’t wander.

The film was shot in ten days, with the cast and crew living in the mansion used as the location. It looks similar to the house in the previous year’s ‘Satan’s Slave/Evil Heritage’, also directed by Warren. Much of the script was written during shooting. The resulting film, I found greatly enjoyable, with some terrifically enthusiastic performances and a wonderfully gory ending, where Anders’ true nature is revealed. My score is 7 out of 10.