During
the Second World War, many of the men at the front were abandoned by
their women at home, who dumped them by letter and moved on - Rosemary
was one of these women. During July 1945, America was celebrating the
end of the war, and the pupils at Avalon Bay were holding their
traditional Graduation Dance - but during the festivities, Rosemary and
her new partner were brutally killed by an unknown assailant. Over
thirty years later, a new Graduation Dance is being held at the Bay,
but it seems that someone has returned to reek a horrible vengeance...
The Prowler
dates from a time before slasher movies became self-aware and ridden
with clichés, and its well written script is successfully dark and often
genuinely scary. This is not to say that there are no cliché elements,
many of the most common genre ingredients are present - a
small town, a large group of late teens and a mysterious unsolved crime
that occurred many years ago - but the script (from kid's cartoon writer
Glenn Leopold) manages to keep the story moving with
some realistic touches that add a rare level of believability to
the story - specifically the short time span of the story (a single
night) which makes it plausible that police re-enforcements could not
arrive in time and that the culprit could remain undetected. The killer
himself, a mysterious figure dressed in Army
gear, ranks as one of the best of the slasher movie era and certainly
one of the most scary. Very well paced throughout, the film builds to a
strong climax, but sadly drags out the ending a little too long with a
rather unnecessary extra scene.
Director
Joseph Zito does a very good job on the production, helping to give the
film its very dark atmosphere, helped considerably by a soundtrack from
Richard Einhorn (
Shock Waves
(1977)) that eschews the genre's typical rock music for a very
dark and creepy orchestral score. Most important, however, is the
contribution from special effects legend Tom Savini who provides some
dramatic and incredibly realistic gore effects that are a million miles
from the cheesy blood-and-guts effects of many of the low budget
slashers.
The
two lead roles are played by the otherwise little known Christopher
Goutman (as Deputy London) and Vicky Dawson (as Pam) - the two give
very strong and sympathetic performances, and like the rest of the
film, stand out from the cliché slasher movie cast. Better known are
Lawrence Tierney (
Reservoir Dogs (1992)) and Farley Granger (
My Name is Trinity (1970)) who get brief but memorable performances as Major Chatham and the Sheriff respectively.
With a distinctly dark and serious atmosphere, strong characterisation, good acting and shocking special effects,
The Prowler
is certainly one of the best slasher movies from the 1980s boom and
comes highly recommended to all slasher, and general horror fans.
