The Prowler (1981) - Good... for its time

As a fan of the 'horror/slasher' genre, I've watched a fair few of them in the last forty years or so.  Somehow, 'The Prowler' slipped by me and I've only just heard about it some thirty-nine years after it was released.  I hear it's known by different names, so perhaps that's why I never got round to watching it.  However, most people seem to agree that it's a 'classic' of the genre, so I thought I'd give it a go.

It begins in the 1940s when a World War II soldier gets a 'Dear John' letter from his girlfriend.  She's promptly murdered at a local dance and the killer is never caught.  Fast forward thirty years and on the anniversary of the dance, the killings start up again.

Yup, it's basically the same plot to 'Scream' (and pretty much every other 'slasher' film you've ever seen.  A masked killer stalks and murders various oversexed teens until he's finally stopped in the final act.

I guess in 1981 there was a lot here that was original and shocking (yes, thanks to Tom Savini's fantastic practical gore effects the kills are pretty spectacular for their time).  I suppose I've watched it way too late for it to have any real impact on me.  It's one of those slasher films where you're supposed to wonder who the killer is, however it's pretty obvious right from the start.  Plus there's a lot that never really got explained.  Whereas a better-written film might have all loose ends tied up, this leaves a hell of a lot left to wonder about.

The ending is 'typical' for the genre (if you know what I mean) and doesn't really make a lot of sense, simply because it tries to be too shocking for its own good.  Overall, this film was probably a lot better in its time (or if you've never really seen many slasher films).  The gore is good and it's an okay watch if you're desperate for yet another similar film, however there are too many long periods of time when not really much happens for me to consider it a classic by today's numerous similar standards.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights