Ever since the 1924 short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell introduced the idea that “the most dangerous prey is man,” filmmakers have been finding new ways to bring that concept to life. With Apex hitting Netflix this weekend as the latest spin on the idea, here are our picks for our five favorites.
5. The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
The most directly adapted from the original 1924 short story, 1932’s The Most Dangerous Game features many of the team who would film King Kong the following year, and it actually used the same jungle sets built for that film, filming at night when they were not in use. Leslie Banks plays Count Zaroff, who causes shipwrecks and forces the survivors to be “prey” for hunts on his private island. At just over an hour, it’s a lean and effective adaptation with a great villain in Banks and a smart, capable hero in Joel McCrea, and it set the bar for everything that came afterward.
4. Deadly Prey (1987)
Easily the most insane entry on this list, Deadly Prey is a legendary cult classic that sits alongside movies like Miami Connection for its over-the-top, B-movie action. Mike Danton (Ted Prior) is kidnapped and forced into being the prey in a training exercise for a group of mercenaries. Unfortunately for the mercenaries, Danton is a John Rambo-level soldier who, despite only having a pair of jorts, manages to brutally pick them off one by one. With scenes like Danton beating someone to death with their own dismembered arms, Deadly Prey is a fever dream of low-budget, B-movie 80s action.
3. Surviving the Game (1994)
Ice-T was the prey in this solid 90s spin on The Most Dangerous Game. Ice-T plays Mason Cole, a homeless man who is hired as a guide for a hunting party but discovers he’s actually been selected to be hunted. Rutger Hauer is fantastic as always as the hunt’s ringleader, and there’s a murderer’s row of character actors, including John C. McGinley, Charles S. Dutton, F. Murray Abraham, and Gary Busey, who gives arguably the most insane monologue of his career in one of the movie’s most memorable scenes. There’s solid action throughout, along with brutal kills done with practical effects, and solid stunt work, making this an underrated 90s action gem.
2. The Running Man (1987)
Putting the “Game” in Most Dangerous Game, Arnold Schwarzenegger is forced into a game show where a group of hunters, aka Stalkers, hunt down and kill the contestants to the amusement of the audience in The Running Man. Between a brilliantly despicable Richard Dawson and the cartoonish stalkers, who are basically deadly American Gladiators or pro wrestlers, the movie isn’t lacking in memorable villains, and it’s peak Arnold, who is almost constantly dropping one-liners after dispatching the stalkers. While the Glen Powell movie last year may have been closer to the original Stephen King novella, it didn’t even come close to the ridiculously awesome 80s cheese of the original.
1. Hard Target (1993)
John Woo took The Most Dangerous Game concept to action–packed extreme with his US film debut, which is still one of his best movies. Rocking arguably the greatest mullet in cinema history and a gunslinger duster, Jean-Claude Van Damme is a homeless former Force Recon marine, Chance Boudreaux, who helps a woman named Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler) find out what happened to her father. The pair uncovers a nefarious business run by business partners (life partners?) Emil Fouchon (Lance Henrikksen) and Pik Van Cleef (Arnold Vosloo) arrange hunts of human prey for wealthy hunters. Full of Woo’s operatic slow-motion and insane action set pieces, Hard Target is one of the best 90s action movies and, in our opinion, the best movie inspired by The Most Dangerous Game.
