The Prowler (Joseph Zito, 1981)

The Prowler is now one of the most popular films from the golden age of slashers, 1980-1982. It's also the sole reason why director Joseph Zito also got the chance to direct Friday the 13th part 4, one of the best in the series. While I can agree on some of the superlatives said about The Prowler, I still have a problem considering it to be one of the best. Even Zito agrees on the problems, and they're quite serious for a movie depending on non-stop tension. Written by Neal Barbera - the son of Joseph Barbera, the animation guru - and four or five people more, all using their talents to add dialogue, scenes and whatever made someone in the production happy, but it also made the movie suffer the terrible slow-as-hell-death. More on that later.

In 1945 a murder happens in the small town of Avalon Bay, a young couple is brutally pitchforked to death while doing some serious gazebo-smootching. This is such a traumatic experience that the mayor (later played by Lawrence Tierney in a thankless role) forbids the graduation celebration for 35 years - until 1980 when it's time again. Bad luck for everyone, because now the killer is back - ready with his bayonet, pitchfork and gun for a new night of bloodshed!

The Prowler looks so good. It looks extremely good, and the budget was quite decent for the form of film it was - one million bucks - and every dollar is on the screen. The cast is okay-ish, even if Farley Granger looks a bit uninterested from time to time and Tierney is wasted on a role so small it could have been played by anyone - but maybe it was pure charity. He probably needed the money and he had work with director Zito before. 

But the script have massive problems. It's hard to get to know the characters - even in run-of-the-mill classics like The House On Sorority Row and The Dorm That Dripped Blood has characters you actually care about, that's not so damn anonymous. Here I really never care. It just not that important who dies or live. The script also have a couple too many scenes of the young hunky sheriff and the final girl just sneaking around in dark houses, looking for clues - some of these scenes are so long I actually lost interest and took to the kitchen to fix something to eat with the knowledge I wouldn't miss anything at all. That's not good. 

Yeah I know, that's not why you watch a slasher movie... but it is! Good storytelling is the main ingredient why a movie works. A good slasher movie should have both story and gore. Thankfully The Prowler gives us some of the best kill scenes ever in slasher history, courtesy of Tom Savini. Here also Zito's talent as a director comes forward, and together they create very sadistic and mean-spirited kills, drawn-out and bloody. The shower scene and the scene right before that one is fantastic - you literary squirm becauese it feels in the whole body. So even if there's terrible boring and slow scenes in-between, be prepared for some good ol' gore to lighten things up. 

I think I might have liked The Prowler more as a young adult, but parts of it haven't aged very well. Still a good slasher with good gore and a couple of great terror scenes. That's - I guess - what we all wants in the end?

Comments

[Megatron]

"It's also the sole reason why director Joseph Zito also got the chance to direct Friday the 13th part 4, one of the best in the series."

I haven´t seen that one...but I have seen some other films by him, like Red Scorpion(1988)etc.

"Written by Neal Barbera - the son of Joseph Barbera, the animation guru - and four or five people more, all using their talents to add dialogue, scenes and whatever made someone in the production happy, but it also made the movie suffer the terrible slow-as-hell-death."

Ah.....problems with the pacing?

Not unusal with multiple screenwriters.

"The cast is okay-ish, even if Farley Granger looks a bit uninterested from time to time and Tierney is wasted on a role so small it could have been played by anyone - but maybe it was pure charity. He probably needed the money and he had work with director Zito before."

Lawrence Tierney.......he supposedly was very difficult to work with.....on the Reservoir Dogs DVD there was some extras, interviews with TIm Roth, Chris Penn, etc, they had not much good to say about him.

Edward Bunker on the other hand.......hahahhahahha.....that´s a funny anecdote.

"But the script have massive problems. It's hard to get to know the characters - even in run-of-the-mill classics like The House On Sorority Row and has characters you actually care about, that's not so damn anonymous. Here I really never care. It just not that important who dies or live."

Yeah, it is important with characters you care about.

"Yeah I know, that's not why you watch a slasher movie... but it is! Good storytelling is the main ingredient why a movie works. A good slasher movie should have both story and gore."

Like most genres......slashers need both.

"Thankfully The Prowler gives us some of the best kill scenes ever in slasher history, courtesy of Tom Savini."

Ah....Savini......what would we do without him?

"I think I might have liked The Prowler more as a young adult, but parts of it haven't aged very well. Still a good slasher with good gore and a couple of great terror scenes. That's - I guess - what we all wants in the end?"

I guess not.....good review and thanks.