the prowler

[french guy tom]

watched this one a long time ago and found an old videotape into a friend's uncle collection recently. watched it again, good film, great fx from tom "the master" savini despite bad acting. do you remember this film guys ?

[ParileseMonster]

You need to get the DVD dude! It has some Savini makeup outtakes and Savini Commentary and the picture looks great and it is uncut. Well worth the ten bucks I paid so get it!!!!!

[countchocula]

Rated on a scale from 0-5 Chocula's...

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00006FMCD.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

HEAVY SPOILERS

Those who revel in the grisly deeds set forth by gore guru, Tom Savini, should place The Prowler at the top of their chopping lists if they don’t already have it proudly situated in their collection of fright flicks. This murky slasher features some of his best work to date. But aside from moments of glutinous grue, is there anything here worth impaling your family members over? In a word, yes. In another word, no. There’s more ingenuity behind the camera than your average ‘80s slasher, but at heart, it’s a lethargic, by-the-numbers “hack ‘em up” exhibition. In 1945, a WWII veteran receives a Dear John letter from his significant other. She was tired of waiting for him to return home, so she fell into the arms of another man. This peeves the soldier. He does what any stable, well-adjusted person would do in his situation - he brandishes a pitchfork and runs it through his former lover! Cut to the present day (1981). Our resident psychopath takes up his leisure pursuit and finds many new functions for his trusty pitchfork. He “prowls” his old stomping grounds on the eve of the first graduation dance since...1945.

Let’s be honest, folks. There’s no cogent reason to ever rent this flick if you’re not starving for some messy death sequences. Sure, The Prowler retains a few other positive attributes, but they don’t merit approval all by their lonesome. At times, this almost seemed like a Fulci feature in that the camera refuses to flinch during instances of obdurate bloodshed. Surprisingly, the body count is rather low, but rest assured, whenever a busty bimbo meets her stomach-churning fate, director Joseph Zito sees to it that the viewer isn’t cheated out of clean, wholesome exploitation! Zito also has a keen eye for style. The lighting is effective, the editing is sharp, and the atmosphere is plump with dread. I can’t say that the villain has a divergent personality. Barring his uniform, he could be replaced by just about any other slasher figure. Still, a pitchfork makes for a peachy weapon and he does seem to take pleasure in wiping out college chicks. That’s got to count for something!

In the midst of Friday the 13th and Halloween II, this film pulled off an imposing feat. The dialogue is witty and a number of the characters surmount being a slasher caricature. Yeah, there’s “the slut” and “the party animal’ on the side, but rounding out the cast are two capable leads. Vicky Dawson plays Pam, our good-natured heroine. Save for acting startled and panicky, she doesn’t have much to do toward the end of the film, but she holds herself with class and dilution throughout. Christopher Goutman is strong as Mark, a deputy struggling to mollify a small town in the sheriff’s absence. He’s responsible enough to serve as a believable law enforcer, but he’s permissive enough to serve as a believable twentysomething. Thankfully, most of the adult characters aren’t portrayed as stern, exacting robots. As a matter of fact, they actually have a sense of humor and seem to get along with the college students! I have to wonder how this film didn’t cause an uproar with such a radical outlook on society.

The Prowler suffers from an ailment that most ‘80s slashers suffer from - the pace is sedated. The first act doesn’t test your patience, but it’s all downhill from there. There are way too many scenes of Mark and Pam assiduously searching for other characters and/or information on their murderous foe. On more than one occasion, the film just flatlines. Even though the running time barely grazes 90 minutes, it could stand to be curtailed. There are a few fissures in the plot. Why does the sadistic soldier let Mark live during the climax? He has the perfect opportunity to perforate his face, but chooses to slack off. This is never addressed and if there was a connection between the two characters, it was never established (either that, or the languid pace had rendered my thought-processing skills obsolete by that point). The ending also defies logic and forces a silly “boo” scare. I’m assuming that no one could figure out how to wrap this story up, so they just tacked on a bungling “jolt” to send a shiver down the spines of 13-year-old girls in the audience

The final frames left a bad taste in my mouth, the pace didn’t have a pulse, and as gory as The Prowler is, it could have been gorier (the couple making out in the basement...why weren’t they butchered???), but this is one of the better slabs of slasher schlock that I’ve encountered. Savini’s handiwork is top-notch, the main characters are reasonably well-developed, and Zito’s tight direction fosters suspense. Bearing that in mind, I don’t feel that it lived up to its cult status, which isn’t to say that I had inflated expectations going in. Argh, I’m probably being too analytical. This is a solid slasher, and that’s all there is to it. Give it a shot, if only to spite the MPAA.

http://www.panterachat.com/phpBB/images/avatars/189e2d913f19af0c5477f.jpg http://www.panterachat.com/phpBB/images/avatars/189e2d913f19af0c5477f.jpg http://www.panterachat.com/phpBB/images/avatars/189e2d913f19af0c5477f.jpg

[Romero&Juliet]

I cant WAITTT to see the DVD..

I doubt there is a good print of this on VHS - considering there's a lot of really dark scenes and all, its hard to figure out what was going on..

a GREAT slasher, nonetheless.. Badddddasss mean streak, too... Yowza!

Anyone else have mucho problems with the ending? It was a neat idea and all, but I had NO idea what was going on until about my third watch (and a topic on this thang..).. Just.. sort of.. didn't work.

[deadeye]

Extreme spoiler alert, pertaining to the end and answering a question posed by countchocula...
D
O
N
O
T

R
E
A
D

U
N
L
E
S
S

YOU

REALLY

WANT

TO

The killer is the sheriff. Mark is his deputy, and he seems on an earlier scene to really have an affection for the guy, so that's why he wouldn't kill him.

[Jason13thh]

I say it for the 4th time but to me is only worth watching because of Savini's gore.
Point.

[ParileseMonster]

And for his gore outtakes and for his Audio Commentary.

[countchocula]

Thanks for the explanation, Deadeye. That particular plot detail wasn't communicated very clearly, but it kinda-sorta-halfway makes sense.

[Jason13thh]

Pourquoi tu m'réponds pas ?