SYNOPSIS:
When a gang enforcer crosses paths with a cerebral killer, a body count ensues setting off a chain of events leading a trail of blood, death, mystery, and questioned alliances that will force one man to take on the ultimate evil in a brutal fight to the finish.
The Prodigy is another hidden gem that I got to see on cable a long time ago. I remember the first time streaming the trailer for it on Twitchfilm when they had one of their old formats up. And all I knew was that looked like a pretty good crime thriller with a horror twist to it, and I looked forward to it. So I finally got around to seeing it on TV, though I couldn’t finish it because I was at the day job and had to miss more than half of it. In the days after, I got to see the rest of it. And I can certainly conclude that THE PRODIGY is worth the purchase of a DVD/Blu-Ray, topped with every upward review you could possibly find online.
It has actually been several years since I saw the film, but I remember how good it was. The film happens to be one of the most underrated and lesser-known action/horror classics of our generation. I dug the story and performances from some of the cast, and I was very impressed by lead actor and co-writer/producer Holt Boggs held himself very well in his first major role up against the lead villain, played by Glen Vorhis. Moreover, Ron Balicki (seen pictured below on the left of Holt) did a brilliant job training, coordinating and choreographing these fights for Boggs’s character versus that of Vorhis’s, pitting a former boxer and a brawler against a methodical killer specially trained in hand to hand combat. Read the following brief exchange from a recent interview over at The Action Elite in which Boggs shares some interesting details about the film and the action scenes:
THE ACTION ELITE: There is an amazing knife fight scene in The Prodigy. Did you do any special training for this?
Holt Boggs: No, and that was intentional. The back story on my character was he was an ex-boxer, where the assassin was a polished technician. We wanted the fighting to be almost clumsy at times, like a real fight. Working with Ron Balicki (fight choreographer), Will and I wanted the dynamics to be kind of like a bulldog vs. a panther. Ron is a skilled knife fighter, and we used a razor sharp knife during the fight, so as soon as he pulls it, I’m legitimately scared. We worked through the choreography, but as soon as the cameras were rolling, I just tried to avoid the blade and hit my marks.
Personally, I’m very glad that this film came up in recent weeks while I was pondering my next Film Of The Week entry. While there are plenty of titles to choose from, I really wanted to talk about this movie at some point, because it was worth discussing, and it is still worth viewing for anyone who loves a good action horror flick, exemplary of one with low budget but a great vision to help ascertain a promising action film for fans and viewers alike. THE PRODIGY is a great work of action on film and writer/producer/director William Kaufman, as well as the cast and crew, deserve every bit of praise they get for it, and then some.
Writer Anjanette Hutto-Large’s interview with Holt Boggs, along with her review of the film are available online at The Action Elite official website where you can learn more about the THE PRODIGY, as well as Holt’s upcoming projects which are currently in the works.
Meanwhile, you can find the film over at Amazon, Tower, Half, or wherever DVDs are sold.