The Prowler

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Horrorphile - May 2009

The Prowler

May 12th 2009 02:22

Known in the UK and Australasia as Rosemary’s Killer, which although bearing a striking similarity to another much more famous movie, is a more evocative and effective title (prowlers were considered an Americanism), The Prowler (1981) was part of the huge glut of stalk’n’slash flicks that emerged in the wake of Friday the 13th (1980), which in turn had been inspired by the massive success of Halloween (1978).

Directed by Joseph Zito, who would direct a few years later the best installment in the relentless exploits of Jason Voorhees; Friday the 13th – The Final Chapter (1984), The Prowler is hugely flawed. It plods along with inconsistencies and glaring "What the ...?!"'s. But it has got a following for one chief reason: Tom Savini.

The Prowler Vicky Dawson and Christopher Goutman

Pam (Vicky Dawson) and Deputy London (Christopher Goutman)

In a prologue sequence a fascinating piece of newsreel footage shows U.S. soldiers returning home from WWII crammed on every deck on the massive Queen Mary. A young woman’s voice (Rosemary) reads from a “Dear John” letter. It’s the 1945 Graduation Ball in Avalon Bay, New Jersey, and Rosemary is lead out to the rotunda by her new suitor where they make out. But a killer in army fatigues savagely impales them both by pitchfork!

Cut to present day (in this case 1980, night of the first Graduation party since that tragic double murder), and Deputy Mark London (Christopher Goutman) is watching the girls hanging the party banner above the hall entrance. His girlfriend Pam (Vicky Dawson) is concerned for Mark’s safety as she’s heard of a killer on the loose heading in the direction of Avalon Bay, especially since Sheriff Fraser (Farley Granger, yes, the Farley Granger) is out of town on a fishing trip.

Rosemary's killer has a serious grudge

Major Chatham (Lawrence Tierney, another Hollywood veteran) is wheelchair bound and grumpy. He’s been responsible for the ban of the Graduation Ball until now, so he’s in a particularly disgruntled mood. The girls, Lisa (Cindy Weintraub), Sherry (Lisa Dunsheath) and Sally (Diane Rode) are keen to party. Vicky just wants Mark to make an appearance at the Ball so she can steal a dance with him, even if he is on duty.

Sherry (Lisa Dunsheath) discovers the hard way that showers are a no-go zone

But a killer dressed in army fatigues, his face obscured by clothing, and armed with a bayonet and a pitchfork, has started making the rounds. First up is Sherry and boyfriend Carl (David Sederholm). Will Deputy London be able to stop him? Will Vicky survive long enough to get that dance?

Carl (David Sederholm) gets a piercing headache

The Prowler suffers from some dreadful clichés of the slasher sub-genre, the most obvious are the killer who moves in his own time, letting his victims panic and stumble as he approaches. How the killer can actually see anything through that ridiculous mask of thick fabric wrapped around his face is beyond me, but it does look kinda creepy (especially in the awesome UK poster). Then there are the silly lines of dialogue spoken that do little to convince you of anyone’s intelligence. After Vicky has been terrorized and pursued by the killer and tries to explain to Mark what has happened all she can say is “All I saw was boots and some kind of uniform!” Yup, ‘cos that’s all we saw too: close-up of army boots and a sluggish soldier.

Lisa (Cindy Weintraub) loves necking

There are too many soap opera extended pauses and pregnant stares between actors which translate into dodgy narrative padding, the killer reveal is oddly anti-climatic, and there’s the dubious Carrie-styled ending. Special mention must go to the utter ineptitude of Deputy London; Inspector Rex (woof! woof!) would’ve done a better job. Yup, The Prowler crawls. But, like I mentioned earlier, there is a reason why the movie is worth watching: Tom Savini was in charge of the special effects make-up sequences. Apparently they were considered so elaborate that the shooting schedule was arranged around the several sfx gore scenes. These set pieces are pretty impressive, and for their time were regarded as shocking. In fact the movie was slapped with an X rating in the UK, and was cut in the States in order to get the more commercially-viable R.

Tom Savini makes good use of cherry pulp

The six major gore set-pieces involve prosthetic heads and necks and lots of pumped blood. There’s two impalements by pitchfork, a bayonet down through the top of the head (and out under the chin!), a neck slicing and a neck stabbing by bayonet, and the infamous pointblank shotgun blast to the head. Savini’s prosthetic and blood work in the shower impalement and the neck slice are excellent. The bayonet through the head (and those disturbing whites of the eyes) is nasty though. The shotgun blast while shocking is not particularly well filmed and lacks the more intense impact it could’ve had. Curious that Savini plays the killer in most of the set pieces (reminds me of Dario Argento who often steps in to play the killer’s gloved hands).

I told you showers are not places you should hang out in

Savini has claimed that his work on The Prowler is the stuff he’s most proud of, which I find surprising since his extraordinary work on Romero’s Day of the Dead (1985) is easily his best work, and is arguably the finest prosthetic gore effects in the history of the modern horror movie. Perhaps he looks back at it fondly in regards to what he achieved with the limitations he had on him. On the Blue Underground DVD release there is bonus behind the scenes footage (shot on an early VHS camera) of Savini at work on the gore set-pieces looking very enthused.

The Prowler is better than a vast number of the 80s slasher flicks, but it is by no means a great example.

Rather than the lame trailer, for the gorehounds here's all Tom Savini's sfx set-pieces in their uncut glory (warning, contains spoilers):

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

2 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

May 12th 2009 07:51

That was fun
I got to see the best bits without being bored by the story line.

The unmasked baddie seem a bit of a let down.

I hope it meant something.
I am not sure if this film made it to OZ but looks like something that would be banned.

Comment by Bryn

May 13th 2009 01:24

Horrorphile

Damo, it was called Rosemary's Killer, and was heavily cut. Yeah, the unmasking is a real anti-climax. Good to hear you enjoyed the gore.

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