|
 THE
PROWLER (Blue
Underground) 1981. Horror. 89 minutes. NR, gore, brief nudity. In
1945, two teenagers were brutally murdered on the night of their
graduation dance. The killer was never found. Over thirty years later, the
town’s graduation dance is being held for the first time since the
murders and not only are the giddy teenagers eager to boogie, but The
Prowler is back too… with sharp knives and a hay picker thing.
Finally, this long lost slasher flic is available once again.
Loaded with brutal murders and stomach churning gore, The Prowler is a
must see for all slasher flic fans. Tom Savini (Maniac, Dawn of the Dead),
hero to billions of gore hounds, does the make up effects and doesn’t
disappoint with his sick creativity. Sure, this movie is loaded with cliché’
horror movie jargon, but the cliché’s cease with the menacing Prowler
and brutal killings (hey, how’s your head?). Although not intended to be
amusing, I found plenty of stuff to chuckle over; the 80’s hair styles,
the band playing at the dance is beautifully awful, the fat, lazy, Red Sox
cap wearing motel clerk slob, and the wheelchair bound old man who turns
up in the strangest of places, then just simply disappears. DVD extras
include; commentary by director Joseph Zito and Tom Savini, a ten minute
behind the scenes gore footage, trailer, and poster/photo gallery. The
picture is nice, although it’s not a visually intensive movie,
considering the amount of shadows and darkness, and the sound is creepy at
times. The searing killer noise (you know, like how Jason has the
cha-cha-cha noise, well, The Prowler has his own tune as well) will make
you jump more than once. No longer will I have to watch this classic
slasher movie on a twenty year old video tape that’s been viewed eight
million times. – Denis Sheehan
|
