The Prowler (1981)

The plot of this movie involves characters making increasingly poor decisions without any particular reason for doing so. I can forgive a movie for having the male lead leave his girlfriend alone (with a pitchfork wielding killer on the loose) once or twice, but he leaves her alone probably a dozen times. And why is she even with him in the first place?The movie isn't quite good or bad enough to be enjoyed for its story alone. It's predictable, filled with false scares, and contains several seemingly pointless scenes that go on for far too long. And saying that the killer has some seriously weak motivation, would be an understatement. Although, the movie isn't a complete disaster.The movie does have some great, brutal effects done by Tom Savini (of friday the 13th fame). These wonderful effects don't come nearly often enough. However, when they do finally come, they really are well done.As long as you dont mind watching scene after scene of a police officer and his girlfriend breaking into houses (without any warrants) and snooping around, just to see some top notch effects work, then this might be the film for you. Ps. Why does a vengeful military veteran use a pitchfork as his weapon of choice? The answer: pitchforks are cool. Who cares if it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Preparing for a lavish party, friends decide to hold it at a local dance hall start to realize that their missing attendees have been killed off by a vicious killer seeking revenge among them for a wrong that was committed back at the end of World War II and try to escape alive.This is undoubtedly one of the greatest slashers around. What really works for this one is the fact that it uses a simple story yet manages to string together something so watchable which is a big accomplishment. This one here never produces a dull moment, staying interesting for the duration of its time and moves seamlessly through several top-notch stalking scenes along the way. The opening ambush of the couple works nicely, the bathroom encounter is outstanding with the narrow misses of getting caught while they tease each other leading into the mistaken play in the shower, the poolside stalking of the couples leaving the dance are quite fun and the couple being stalked down in the basement is quite a suspenseful ambush. The next big one is the stalking scenes on display, which are just exceptional from the first chase through the dorms moving through the different levels without giving away the killer through the maze in the hallway designs out the side and down out into the street, the search of the killers' house in the dark where they go looking for the clues to his identity and the graveyard encounter with the gravestone discovery and open grave makes for a great suspense scene. The eventual confrontation with the killer is again top-notch, as the systematic search of the bedroom is reason enough to really enjoy it, being one of the best suspense scenes in the film while the final big kill is a showstopper. There's also the fact that the killer in here is actually kept off-screen for the majority of the film, using only a few clues to keep the identity a secret until the final surprise revelation, while the fact that most of the time is devoted to keeping it to the shadows is yet another great way to build the suspense. Add in together with the greatness of the gore and kills in here, this one comes off as one of the absolute best ones in the genre. This here only has the very mildest of flaws. The fact that the body count is pretty low is a little hard to accept, as it doesn't even reach double digits, which shouldn't have been that hard to accomplish considering all the potential corpses on display. The fantastic gore makes it hard to recognize, but this one wouldn't have been hurt to knock off another one or two more. The suit that the killer wears is also a little hokey, and wearing a military uniform doesn't really make much sense. It does in the back-story, but rather than meaning anything, it rather feels like an attempt at originality gone a little screwy. These, though, are hardly deal-breaking and don't even come close to unseating the positive ones.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Graphic Language and a mild sex scene.

An often overlooked entry in the early 1980s slasher genre, "The Prowler" (otherwise known as "Rosemary's Killer" in other territories) benefits a great deal from the unrelenting gore and inventive death scenes delivered by special effects maestro Tom Savini (Dawn Of The Dead, Friday The 13th) and in the surprisingly solid direction of Joseph Zito, who would later go on to deliver one of the most memorable (and bloody) installments in the Friday The 13th franchise, "The Final Chapter."The film opens up with a solider being informed via Dear John letter that his lover is breaking up with him. Unsurprisingly, said lover ends up being sliced and diced along with her new beau at a small town graduation dance. It is then, 35 years later, that the action picks up again. Pam Dawson (the lovely Vicky Dawson) has staged the first graduation dance held in her town since that fateful night. Unfortunately, a mysterious man in combat gear brandishing a rather large knife sets out to crash the good time and, as one can predict, mayhem ensues.Unlike most slashers that came in its wake, "The Prowler" is rather humorless and goes about its business in a cold and calculated manner. The death scenes are at times cruel and often prolonged, which even today might be hard for the average viewer to stomach. The cast is full of mostly unknowns (save for Lawrence Tierney in a throwaway role) so it's up to Savini and his glorious special effects to deliver, and boy do they. Almost 35 years later, his effects still hold up and cut right to the bone. Zito directs with just the right amount of tension and frames everything just right so that you truly get the feeling that The Prowler could be hiding in any corner of the screen. Things are kept mostly lean and mean, making "The Prowler" a movie that you truly won't be able to shake for days, even if you think you've seen it all already.

A man commits a double murder after receiving a Dear John letter 35 years later, more murders begin to commence when teens begin to be killed off. The sheriff is off for some quality alone time, leaving Dept. London & Pam MacDonald to not only stop the killer, but survive as well. "That's it?" was my subsequent reaction as soon as this movie had ended. I bought this on DVD years ago, without even seeing it. I was extremely disappointed back then, haven't touched it since, until now. I love slasher movies and it doesn't take much for me to be entertained. I love a lot of 80's slashers, but some of them are indistinguishable from the other. This is one of them and you can certainly tell it is from the 80's. The Prowler doesn't offer much entertainment what so ever. As a matter of fact, it's downright mundane. The killer looks somewhat cool. The WW2 getup is certainly unique, but I wouldn't call him creepy. There is also a bit too much of him as well, which diminishes the impact. The revelation at the end is a bit surprising, but illogical. There are no interesting characters. Everyone is so damn bland. People say slasher's don't need interesting characters. I say BS to that opinion, with all due respect. You need an entertaining hero or heroine to lead the movie. I wasn't fond of the two leads in this one. Vicky Dawson is decent looking, but her acting skills aren't great. She lacks a special quality to make her interesting. Christopher Gountman is even worse as the deputy. He sleepwalks through his part and looks bored most of the time. The gore is the most memorable thing about this movie. We get a knife in the throat, grisly pitchfork impailing's (The one in the shower is brutal) a slit throat and an amazing head explosion from a shotgun. Another problem I had with this movie is that it is too dark at times, which makes it hard to see.Final Thoughts: I didn't like this one at all. Tom Savini's gore effects are terrific, unfortunately the movie is not. It is far too uninteresting to succeed. You can do much better4.4/10