Review: If you are keen to horror then you already know about the boom of slasher flicks in the 80's and how they really helped to define that era of horror. Many icons came out of that genre and still are remembered by many today. With being said there a some that never quite got the recognition that they should of during the time of release due to be overshadowed by another flick. The Prowler was one of those slashers that got overlooked due to the release of My Bloody Valentine, but has in ways gained a fan base over the years. In alot of ways the plots of those two films can be quite similar, but does one stand out better tan the other? Read on to see what I think.
The Prowler starts off by showing soldiers returning from war then it cuts to a letter that is for an unknown person that is written by a girl named Rosemary who is breaking up with that person. After that Rosemary and her new boyfriend are killed outside at a dance. Cut to 30 years later and the town has decided to finally have another dance after all these years. Like you would suspect the masked killer in military clothing is back and ready to resume their killing spree. Can the local officer and a young girl named Pam stop the masked killer before he leaves everyone dead.
The Prowler does follow a pretty basic slasher plot that consists of teens being killed and Pam being chased around by the killer. Even with a standard plot like that I still found this film to be quite enjoyable and I think the main reason for that is the special effects and kills. This film actually has one of my favorite all time kills to be in a slasher and that is when early on in the film the killer comes up behind this guy sitting on a bed disrobing when he gets grabbed around the neck and a knife is jammed through the top of his head. When they show it and his eyes are all white it simply looks amazingly brutal. The rest of the kills and makeup effects are amazing as well and are some of the best done by Tom Savini.
Now I will not give off who the killer is of course but I will say that some of you may be able to figure it out before the reveal. Trust me that little statement is not going to ruin anything. The cast was great in The Prowler as well and the two main characters besides the killer were played by Vicky Dawson (Pam) who only went on to doa few TV shows and TV movies sadly, and you have Christopher Goutman (Officer Mark London) who didn't do much more acting afterwards but did go on to be the executive producer of the soap opera As The World Turns from 1999 to 2010. For the most part the rest of the cast was just there to get killed of help the story along in their own way.
Overall this is a great slasher film and Blue Underground did a great job at bring this film to Blu-ray as well as DVD. The picture is clean and the audio is sharp without compromising the grain or look of The Prowler. If you do not already own this film I suggest you go pick this one up and if you only own the DVD this one is truly worth the upgrade!
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Joseph Zito
Genre: Horror/Slasher
Blu-ray Release Year: 2010
Theatrical Release Year:1981
Time Length: 89 mins.
Company: Blue Underground
Website:
www.blue-underground.com
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