Well, this one had some imaginative plotting for a cable movie. Though there were some good-sized holes in it. Such as Resnick going about in a leather jacket and no tie, something FBI agents NEVER do. Daphne Zuniga did a good job with her character(s) here, even if hardly anyone else did. She was awfully pretty, too. Red West is the only other cast member I can compliment. James Wilder wasn't terrible, but not very good either. Don Harvey was awful, and Michell McBride OK in a very small part. Alexandra Paul wasn't very good in this one. This surprised me, because I think she's done some good work elsewhere. I guess she got too involved trying to pull off the hick Texas accent and manner, and I think she missed it by a wide margin. This movie had some promise, but it wasn't really kept. Grade: C-
4 Reviews
Nothing special, but satisfactorily entertaining
I_Ailurophile30 July 2022
Antagonist Patricia is forward and headstrong, and would seem to dance around her words to find a lie that fits in the moment. The writing is kind of the same, as there's a directness to dialogue, scene writing, and plot development that pairs with tropes and a minor sense of contrived movie magic to tie it all together. These elements are as noteworthy as the minimal prior experience that director Fleming B. Fuller or co-writer April Campbell Jones would seem to have. None of this is any specific indicator of quality, of course, though apart from the previous credits or lack thereof of the filmmakers, I'll also say that much else about this movie makes a particular impression. On the one hand, with heartier violence and more explicit sex this would easily be described as an erotic thriller. On the other hand, with a strong female protagonist, a male lover that jilted her, and an antagonist who is noted as having a history of mental illness, the only thing keeping it from being a Lifetime original movie is that Alexandra Paul isn't given still more time in the spotlight. 'Prey of the chameleon' isn't the most remarkable or essential movie you could watch, but it's still decent and suitably enjoyable.
The writing is imperfect, but the biggest weakness I see is any particular lack of feeling. A thriller should carry tension, suspension, or some baseline level of urgency as the course of events develop. Even at the climax, however, and even through whatever heightened emotions the actors may impart, this feature just doesn't have the same fire. That's not to say that it's altogether humdrum or lacking, but from start to finish it Simply Is, and the ending (including the song over the end credits) comes across as an indifferent resolution to hastily wrap up production. Still, it's well made in a broad sense. It's always nice to see Paul - again, were that she were emphasized still more - and Daphne Zuniga, too. The narrative is complete and engaging, if not especially compelling, and the scene writing ably moves things along. I appreciate the work of the crew behind the scenes, and Fuller's direction is fine. And so on.
Do I sound nonplussed? I suppose that's fair. I liked this well enough - I just don't have any specific feelings about it. Whether good or bad, movies should inspire a reaction, or make us think, and 'Prey of the chameleon' just sort of exists and hangs in the air. Everyone does their job well, and I think this is a fair way to spend 90 minutes on a lazy day. Unless you're a huge fan of Paul or Zuniga, however, there's no one reason to seek this out over other titles. Watch it, enjoy it, move on with your day - there are other critical, must-see flicks to take priority, but this is good enough, too.
The writing is imperfect, but the biggest weakness I see is any particular lack of feeling. A thriller should carry tension, suspension, or some baseline level of urgency as the course of events develop. Even at the climax, however, and even through whatever heightened emotions the actors may impart, this feature just doesn't have the same fire. That's not to say that it's altogether humdrum or lacking, but from start to finish it Simply Is, and the ending (including the song over the end credits) comes across as an indifferent resolution to hastily wrap up production. Still, it's well made in a broad sense. It's always nice to see Paul - again, were that she were emphasized still more - and Daphne Zuniga, too. The narrative is complete and engaging, if not especially compelling, and the scene writing ably moves things along. I appreciate the work of the crew behind the scenes, and Fuller's direction is fine. And so on.
Do I sound nonplussed? I suppose that's fair. I liked this well enough - I just don't have any specific feelings about it. Whether good or bad, movies should inspire a reaction, or make us think, and 'Prey of the chameleon' just sort of exists and hangs in the air. Everyone does their job well, and I think this is a fair way to spend 90 minutes on a lazy day. Unless you're a huge fan of Paul or Zuniga, however, there's no one reason to seek this out over other titles. Watch it, enjoy it, move on with your day - there are other critical, must-see flicks to take priority, but this is good enough, too.
An excellent, involving and unfairly overlooked early 90's female psycho thriller sleeper
Woodyanders16 August 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Female psycho movies -- "The Witch Who Came from the Sea," "Silent Scream," "The Babysitter," et al . -- tend to possess an uncommon and therefor refreshing sensitivity, going out of their way to depict their troubled, murderous protagonists as people who were cruelly victimized early in life and hence themselves have become spiteful, vengeful victimizers. This eerie, unfairly overlooked sleeper, one of the few distaff serial killer entries in the largely male dominated 90's psycho movie genre, rates highly as a sterling addition to this unusual and intriguing cycle.
Daphne Zuniga, who began her film career with appearances in the college-set 80's slasher items "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" and "The Intitiation," delivers a striking, fantastic, scarily believable performance as an extremely pliant and puzzled, but still quite cunning and dangerous asylum escapee who assumes the personality of everyone she kills. James Wilder is solid and engaging as the feckless, irresponsible, swaggering cowboy loner who becomes Zuniga's latest victim. Willful, no-nonsense small country town deputy Alexandra Paul (who's also Wilder's understandably bitter former girlfriend and jilted would-be wife) and helpful nice guy FBI agent Don Harvey track Zuniga down, desperately trying to catch her before she racks up a hefty corpse tally.
Fleming B. Fuller's direction completely hits the bull's eye: a goodly amount of tension is deftly created and maintained, the steady pace never slackens, the characters are credibly drawn (the strained, regretful relationship between Wilder and Paul rings especially true), the lean, strong and compelling narrative doesn't overstay its welcome, the acting is uniformly top-notch (Harvey, who's usually cast as hateful sadistic villains, does a rare pleasant and appealing turn in an atypical decent dude part), the bleak, parched desert locations are nicely taken advantage of, and the occasional outbursts of violence are properly brutal and genuinely startling (the opening sequence in which Zuniga throttles a nurse with a wire coat hanger is particularly jolting). Zuniga's amazing, complicated, even pitiable and unexpectedly moving portrayal of the emotionally unstable and mercurial killer clinches the whole deal: she's alternately demure and sexy, fearsome and lethal, vulnerable and impenetrable, lucid and confused, a dizzying array of contrasting moods which makes her character in equal degrees frightfully unpredictable and wholly fascinating. More importantly, like the classic truly memorable and oddly affecting horror movie monsters of yore, Zuniga at heart is almost as much of a victim as the people she preys on, a tragic person who has to take on other people's identities because she can't live with the shame and the guilt she feels as herself after having killed her own abusive mother at a young, tender age. This latter element adds a stunningly effective dash of deeply poignant pathos which elevates this chillingly dead-on picture to the status of a surefire winner.
Daphne Zuniga, who began her film career with appearances in the college-set 80's slasher items "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" and "The Intitiation," delivers a striking, fantastic, scarily believable performance as an extremely pliant and puzzled, but still quite cunning and dangerous asylum escapee who assumes the personality of everyone she kills. James Wilder is solid and engaging as the feckless, irresponsible, swaggering cowboy loner who becomes Zuniga's latest victim. Willful, no-nonsense small country town deputy Alexandra Paul (who's also Wilder's understandably bitter former girlfriend and jilted would-be wife) and helpful nice guy FBI agent Don Harvey track Zuniga down, desperately trying to catch her before she racks up a hefty corpse tally.
Fleming B. Fuller's direction completely hits the bull's eye: a goodly amount of tension is deftly created and maintained, the steady pace never slackens, the characters are credibly drawn (the strained, regretful relationship between Wilder and Paul rings especially true), the lean, strong and compelling narrative doesn't overstay its welcome, the acting is uniformly top-notch (Harvey, who's usually cast as hateful sadistic villains, does a rare pleasant and appealing turn in an atypical decent dude part), the bleak, parched desert locations are nicely taken advantage of, and the occasional outbursts of violence are properly brutal and genuinely startling (the opening sequence in which Zuniga throttles a nurse with a wire coat hanger is particularly jolting). Zuniga's amazing, complicated, even pitiable and unexpectedly moving portrayal of the emotionally unstable and mercurial killer clinches the whole deal: she's alternately demure and sexy, fearsome and lethal, vulnerable and impenetrable, lucid and confused, a dizzying array of contrasting moods which makes her character in equal degrees frightfully unpredictable and wholly fascinating. More importantly, like the classic truly memorable and oddly affecting horror movie monsters of yore, Zuniga at heart is almost as much of a victim as the people she preys on, a tragic person who has to take on other people's identities because she can't live with the shame and the guilt she feels as herself after having killed her own abusive mother at a young, tender age. This latter element adds a stunningly effective dash of deeply poignant pathos which elevates this chillingly dead-on picture to the status of a surefire winner.
Not Science Fiction
Sam-28530 September 2002
For some reason I thought this was science fiction and that the chameleon exchanged bodies, but that is not what the movie is.
For what it is, this is a good movie; I do not know if it would be as good without Daphne Zuniga but with her and Alexandra Paul, who are both great actresses and beautiful women, it is certainly worth watching for those of us that appreciate them. There are parts that I did not understand, but probably I was confused about which body belonged to the killer or the victom. It would help to know that the killer is just one body that only changes in personality.
Alexandra Paul plays a sheriff whose former fiancee returns after a few years. He had left her on their wedding day and had never provided an explanation or any other communication prior to returning. Daphne Zuniga is the chameleon and the movie is about the sheriff's investigation of murders occurring in the small town and the search for the murderer. The details are somewhat predictable but the movie is entertaining. The movie is also a romance about the former fiancee's involvement with the sheriff and the chameleon.
For what it is, this is a good movie; I do not know if it would be as good without Daphne Zuniga but with her and Alexandra Paul, who are both great actresses and beautiful women, it is certainly worth watching for those of us that appreciate them. There are parts that I did not understand, but probably I was confused about which body belonged to the killer or the victom. It would help to know that the killer is just one body that only changes in personality.
Alexandra Paul plays a sheriff whose former fiancee returns after a few years. He had left her on their wedding day and had never provided an explanation or any other communication prior to returning. Daphne Zuniga is the chameleon and the movie is about the sheriff's investigation of murders occurring in the small town and the search for the murderer. The details are somewhat predictable but the movie is entertaining. The movie is also a romance about the former fiancee's involvement with the sheriff and the chameleon.
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