First reboot of the Halloween season and I went back to an underrated gem. After Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980) became huge hits relative to budget, a glut of copycat slashers hit theaters in the early 1980s. My Bloody Valentine and Prom Night garnered remakes in the mid to late aughts craze of (remake all horror originally released between 1975-1985). However, everyone seems to have forgotten the Prowler (and unlike the similar The Burning, no Seinfeld cast members debut here) but to me, its worth the time.
The film begins with a length prologues set 35 years earlier featuring soldiers returning from World War 2, with a dance at the local town hall. A pair of partygoers are gruesomely murdered and the annual dance is banned for 35 years. Enough time has passed so that the ban is lifted and a cadre of 80s teens are prepping and decorating for their big dance. The sheriff goes on his annual fishing trip just as its revealed that two young girls were murdered nearby. The young deputy and one of the students have to stop... the Prowler!.
Now you are looking for originality, there's not much here, in fact, the movie ticks every box in terms of the 80s genre staples. However, instead of just ticking them, in a few places it completely surpasses them. The killer's look is a World War II era soldier and Iike the gimmick, the killer’s disguise pretty effective. His calling card of leaving a rose by his victims is creepily effective and there’s a great moment towards the climax where he offers it, almost romantically, to the final girl
The film was directed by Joseph Zito and its the direction that sustains an awesome amount of suspense during the first half, which works, because even when not much happens, we are kept fully aware that something could at any moment.Other parts of the film equally excel in their technicality with some beautiful photography and a focused score. I especially liked the staircase stalking sequence, which I believe led to Jamie Kennedy lampooning victims making terrible decisions in Scream.
Vicky Dawson makes for a classy final girl and she works well in partnership with the deputy played by Christopher Goutman (who has a weird William Fichtner/young Chris Walken vibe) For relatively inexperienced performers, they carry the picture comfortably and they deliver only one or two weak moments. I thought Dawson was unfortunate not to have built a longer career in cinema, because much like Amy Steel in Friday the 13th 2, she offers a sweet and alluring naivety, but shows brave independence when left alone to face the prowler. Laurence Tierney (the crime boss from the end of Reservoir Dogs) is in the film in a strange brief extended cameo, his character is barely used to much effect.
The true star of the film is Tom Savini’s amazing practical effects. In an era of CGI blood and fakery, the real life gore is stunning. The Prowler is one of the most brutal killers of this genre and at times the kills get almost too realistic. The standouts being a shower scene with a buxom co ed and another student who decides to take an ill fated late night swim.
Now onto the problems with The Prowler. It is nail-bitingly tense in places, but has some serious problems with its pace, including that the killer spends equal time slowly prowling and killing (get ready for a long of close ups of army boots). It seems that the studio insisted the movie be 90 minutes and we have 89 minutes including credits. There are some really pointless diversion, including the Deputy repeatedly trying to reach the sheriff, that should have severely edited down. In fact, after the swimming pool sequence, the film really grinds to its last act.
Despite that issues, this is still one of the best non franchise slashers. It does drag a bit in the development of the plot, but the excellent kill scenes and two likable leads more than make up for it. Joseph Zito was widely tipped to be a future horror maestro after his work on this and Friday the 13th The Final Chapter (one of the better sequels of the series). When horror began to lose its way towards the second half of the decade, he moved over to action-orientated flicks, which didn’t give him the same chances and his career unfortunately faded.
If you want to go back in time to the days of a masked murderer annihilating teens who are doing drugs and having pre-marital sex, its worth a watch. A solid 8/10
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