Review by Jon Donnis
I have to admit that I am a little late getting round to seeing Terror on the Prairie, as it has been out for a few months. I am a big fan of Gina Carano, and the way she was treated by Disney was pretty damn disgraceful, well now she is making films under the Daily Wire film studio, and Terror on the Prairie is the latest film to feature her in the lead. And also interesting to note that the far left Wikipedia has refused to cover this film at all.
The story starts with a group of outlaws, , Long Hair (Tyler Fischer), The Kid (Gabriel Kane Day-Lewis), and Gold Tooth (Heath Freeman) chasing and beating down on a man. The leader of the group , Captain Miller (Nick Searcy) reads from the bible as they deliver their punishment to the man, he finally joins in and scalps the man.
We then cross to Jeb (Donald Cerrone) and Hattie McAllister (Gina Carano), they are struggling to survive and leading a tough life, Hattie wants to return to St. Louis, Jeb decides to go into town to get supplies as well as look for work, leaving Hattie and her, her son Will (Rhys Becker) and their baby Beth behind.
Not long after Jeb leaves, the same outlaws we saw earlier turn up to the property, Hattie offers water and food to them, but while outside she notices scalps hanging from one of the horse, she realises quickly these are bad men, so once back in the house and while the men are praying before eating, she pulls a shotgun out and orders them to leave.
At first they do, but before you know it they are back with Hattie and her children stuck inside the house.
What follows is a film about a woman trying her best to protect herself and her kids from evil outlaws.
Gina Carano puts in a strong performance here and is a strong female lead that we keep hearing there is not enough of. Despite her history as a MMA fighter, the filmmakers do not go down the route of her kicking ass with her bare hands, as it would seem a bit ridiculous for a woman in this time period who is basically a home maker and mother, to have some crazy fighting skills, instead she tries her best with various guns, which does come across more believable, although there is part of me that would have liked to have see her use some of her skills to take down the baddies.
Despite Donald Cerrone being billed pretty prominently in the film, he is only in it at the very start and then towards the very end, it seems a shame he wasn't given more to do, since there are many people who would have watched this film to see him.
The ending is satisfying if a bit predictable.
The Good
A strong female lead, a simple story, easy to follow and the good guys coming out on top.
The Bad
Some periods without much happening could have been edited out, 1 hour 40 minutes without the credits, felt a little long, I feel like this should have been an 80 minute film.
Overall
The Daily Wire have had some great films recently, I think this film does miss the mark in a few areas, but overall is a watchable and enjoyable film. Another one to add to Gina's ever growing filmography.
I score Terror on the Prairie a fair 7/10
Out now on Amazon Prime - https://amzn.to/3DzoNoU
