Redheads Reviews

If writer-director Danny Vendramini had invested his script with the same thought that he gives to his camera setups, DESPERATE PREY might have been at least interesting, instead of absurdly pointless. This Australian film concerns the emotional bond formed between juvenile delinquent Lucy (Claudia Karvan) and her idealistic public defender Diana (Catherine McClements). After videotaping the murder of Brewster (Mark Hembrow)--her lover and Diana's boss--at the hands of a mysterious biker in black, Lucy hides out in a low security detention center. But, when the biker tracks her down, the spunky punk is forced to confide in her attorney. Diana searches for the tape, which will reveal the killer's identity. The path leads them to a criminal conspiracy involving police and lawyers, including Diana's slimy boyfriend Simon (Alexander Petersons). Diana goes public with the charges of corruption in her department, which puts her and Lucy at even greater risk. Eventually Diana finds the tape and reaches the detention center just in time to save Lucy from the killer, Warden Zelda (Sally McKenzie), who committed the murder because she was jealous of the "attention" Brewster paid her young charges. Initially DESPERATE PREY promises to be an atmospheric, genre-bending actioner--MAD MAX with a sexy Bridget Fonda-type. When the slow story reaches the unsatisfying denouement, and the killer is revealed to be somebody unconnected to the plot, the effort required to cope with the accents, follow the scattershot story and care about the characters proves wasted. (Violence, profanity, sexual situations.)