The 1980s were the golden age of Horror films, especially slashers. Movies like the Friday The 13th, Nightmare On Elm Street and Halloween series' were all the rage, and countless imitators followed in their wake. The early '80s saw the dawn of the slasher sub-genre, and 1981's The Prowler being one of the early efforts.
The story is set at Avalon Bay on June 28th, 1945, the end of the Allied war effort in World War II in Europe with Nazi Germany finally having lost (the battle in Japan was still going on, something the film doesn't really mention). Soldiers returning from the European tour of duty return home to Avalon Bay at a school dance to celebrate. Too bad for one soldier his girlfriend got so tired of being lonely she left him for another man but was kind enough to send him a letter informing him of it. While in the letter she tries to make him understand, the soldier is obviously infuriated, and on the night of the dance, he enacts his revenge. The killer's identity is never discovered and the crime is never solved. Flash forward to June 28th, 1980. Avalon Bay is having it's first school dance since the murders 35 years ago. It also just so happens that the killer has returned to go on a murder spree for whatever reason (maybe the first time he killed it gave him a sense of satisfaction? Who knows). Some sex-loving youngsters at the college are now in the killer's crosshairs.
The Prowler has all the staples of '80s slasher films: characters that exist solely to be killed, a virginal heroine, gloriously grotesque death scenes, and characters who engage in rather immoral behavior. It is a highly cliched film, and even a bit on the dull side, but as it stands, it is a decent flick that makes up for it's lack of plot and interesting characters with some terrific gore and a genuinely creepy atmosphere and feel throughout. I didn't care for it much when I first viewed it but it has somewhat grown on me now following repeat viewings.
Joseph Zito (who later directed one of the best Friday The 13th movies with Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter) is at the helm and does a decent job. One thing about Zito is that he can really create a genuine sense of dread and terror, and he does so here. Even with the film being highly cliched and quite predictable, Zito at least manages to inject the film with a good amount of suspense. It also helps Zito is particularly good with lighting and shadows, casting much of the film in darkness (but not so much that it makes everything difficult to see) and giving it an eerie look. The film also has quite a dark and ominous tone, the kind that makes you feel the killer is everywhere, watching your every move and waiting for the right moment to strike. The film has plenty of tension and suspense, and Zito also films the murder scenes pretty well (they are incredibly graphic and mean-spirited and Zito captures them all in their gory glory).
One aspect of the film that is particularly commendable is that it's title killer is actually very creepy. The killer has virtually no identity, and though he has a clear motive at the same time one can't help but wonder why he continues to kill after he already killed his former love. His attire, overall presence, and nasty methods of murder, as well as his large level of mystique make him an ominous villain, and he's quite a creepy slasher. When his identity is revealed at the end it's quite a shock (I totally had no clue as to who he was so on my first viewing I was surprised). The killer is quite memorable even if his movie isn't. The scenes with him doing what the title suggests, prowling, are pretty eerie too. The film is overall quite suspenseful and can easily get a jump scare or two from a casual movie viewer, and even for jaded viewers it can keep them on edge.
While Zito makes the film very suspenseful and injects it with a dark tone and plenty of unease, he falters when it comes to pacing. One of the film's flaws is it's pace which tends to lag at times and sometimes the film moves so slowly you just want to shout "Get on with it already!". I'm all for build-up in these types of movies, especially when it establishes good characters and can really hit the viewer hard, but here the pacing is in need of some serious fixing, there's times when the film just drags and it feels like it could have easily been shortened by several minutes. Zito's handling of the mystery elements is a mixed bag; the film's sense of mystery is quite eerie and can keep the viewer glued, but at the same time there is no real resolution and the mystery feels somewhat forced and more like plot filler.
Most of the cast is not really worth describing in detail, for all of the actors are pretty bland and lifeless in their performances, especially Christopher Goutman, who is as wooden as they come, and all of the supporting characters exist solely to be killed by the Prowler. Vicky Dawson makes a competant enough heroine but is not particularly memorable. The characters are also quite weakly-developed and I couldn't really identify with any of them, but at the same time I wasn't rooting for the killer to murder them either (except the Lisa character, who I found quite annoying). While the actors may be lifeless, they at least manage to bring something to their roles that make us not want them dead. On a side note, the late, great Lawrence Tierney has a brief role as the Major (who only gets barely 30 seconds worth of screentime and doesn't do much aside from sit in a wheelchair), but he certainly brings a touch of class to the film - you have to love it when a Horror film has such an accomplished actor in it.
One of the film's highlights is easily Tom Savini's gore work, which is highly memorable. Savini has done some of the most gruesome and frighteningly realistic gore effects ever, and they are about as close as one can get to replicating gore without having to resort to the real thing. The music though isn't particularly memorable, sometimes it's moody and fairly creepy but most of the time it's bland. However it does have a few good bits that set the tone, and the soft music playing during the credits is eerily peaceful.
The Prowler is a decent and watchable slasher film overall, if not particularly memorable nor impressive. It's worth a watch every now and then and makes for good late night viewing, but it's not a film that sticks out. The DVD by Blue Underground is very good, with a fine 1.85:1 Widescreen transfer that though grainy and soft at times (likely due to the age of the print) is watchable with decent clarity and definition. While hardly the most impressive DVD transfer, it's probably the best the film will ever look. Best of all the DVD is completely uncensored.
Directed by: Joseph Zito
Starring: Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Lawrence Tierney, Farley Granger
DVD Released by: Blue Underground
Special Features
- Audio Commentary by Joseph Zito and Tom Savini
- Behind the scenes footage
- Still gallery
- Trailer
