The Prowler

Notable for having what is perhaps the most astoundingly directed "fat guy answering a phone" sequence I've ever seen. It takes about 5 minutes, and every second is magical. Oh, and some kids get murdered at some point.

Nobody cuts away from the murders in this one. There's a sort of tenderness behind how long the camera lingers on a woman's throat being cut. Not for the woman, mind you. None of the characters matter much which is a shame because the major highlight of the oft compared My Bloody Valentine is the relationship between the three leads (not including the brutal murderer). It was slasher fun which is in no way related to actual fun.

The main hurdle this film has to overcome is a script that is, putting it kindly, a bundle of fuck. Zito's direction is well intended but all over the place, at times suspenseful, taut, sloppy and downright laughable, often within a single scene. The young actors, while untalented, turn in spirited performances and Savini delivers top drawer gore. I won't say that the movie is "better than it has any right to be", because only wankers use that phrase, so I'll just call it a decent bad movie.

I saw this because l knew Zito directed this and in my mind it seems like an audition of sorts to direct Friday 4 Set all that aside and you get a mix of mediocre story with cool effects thanks to Savini

It's nicely directed, and features a few nicely-handled gory kills. Unfortunately everything else is a bit haphazard, there are some very pointless and boring stretches (the phone call scene) and it's ultimately unsatisfying. Why bother casting Tierney and have him say nothing? Has some charm, but its flaws, primarily its acting, let it down.

This early 80s slasher is actually quite effective, it's got lots of creepy suspense, a couple of good jump scares and a handful of really gory killings. It's also got a baffling 20 second cameo appearance by Lawrence Tierney in a non speaking role as a wheelchair bound stroke victim.

An early 80's slasher with great Tom Savini gore effects, some decent flashes of tension and atmosphere that gets ruined by a garbage script, one-dimensional characters, and terrible pacing. Seriously though, u/DesertPunk has the right idea, more importantly what we need to talk about is; what the fuck was that "fat guy on the phone" scene? I don't know if magical is how I would have described it, but it certainly is something...

Just your standard slasher fare, made a bit more memorable by the (for the time) brutal killings and good effects.

Grandpa is prowlin' again we're doomed, we're all dooooooooooomed.

It's 90 minutes with 70 minutes of long stretches of nothing happening, the sheriff goes on some fishing trip and right away you know that he is the killer. SPOILERS.

Has some gruesome kills, but the rest of the film is pretty poor. Like yell at the movie bad because of the stupid horror conventions within.

This plodding early-80's slasher offers up some brutal kills that look pretty damn good given the time period, as well as a pretty neat concept & a cool killer design, but beyond that there's not much to say about it. The performances are okay, but the characters are flat & neither of the main two are all that fun to watch. The pacing is shockingly slow, & the ending- which should be a fun little surprise- is somehow really meh. The twist is pretty telegraphed. Overall, nothing special here.

Tom Savini's effects are very good here, very gruesome, but this movie is typical bullshit otherwise.

Savini's gore is the star of the show with some truly effective scenes that are allowed to linger on screen. One of the few slashers that manages to disturb. Save for an absolutely momentum destroying phone call that has to be seen to be believed, the film trots along at a decent pace.

Run of the mill slasher with some crazy gore effects

A surprisingly good slasher film with decent acting, a bare bones story, some good suspense and well done gore, oh and also some nudity.

A whole lot of nothing happens in this movie. One second you're left wondering if you missed something because things are happening that don't make any sense but then you realize that 'sense' and this movie are never going to get along. Fantastic effects is all this movie has going for it.

B

One of the more notorious slasher flicks to hit in the early eighties. The movie is notable for Savini's effects, but the pacing- especially during the middle act- lags severely.

My Bloody Valentine's overlooked American cousin, both in plot and in the way that it tries to build a small town environment, though MBV handles that aspect much, much better. Definitely on the slower, understated, less campy side of the genre. Savini is an SFX wizard as usual.

Starts off promising with four kills complete with quality Tom Savini gore effects & hot college girl tits in the first 20 minutes. Sadly then it gets very dull with tedious investigation sequences that make even the movie’s 90 minutes feel drawn out. There’s this bit of the sheriff guy calling this fat attendant that I swear goes on and on and on and on to give an amount of information we could have got in 15 seconds, and I’m like, why is this scene a solid 5% of this movie’s entire runtime?

The effects were good, but the movie could have used more cannon fodder for its length.

Above average slasher, with some nasty kill scenes. Veteran character actors Farley Granger and Lawrence Tierney barely factor into it, despite prominent billing.

Great gore, great kills, and great thrills. This is a gem of the 80s slasher genre.

Quem Matou Rosemary? Estreava há 40 anos nos EUA. Trabalho excepcional do Savini como usual, mas esse subgênero é muito CHATO. Fiquem com o The Prowler do Joseph Losey e não do Zito. Rá! Box Versátil Slashers Volume 6.

Bad movie with great special effects. Haven't seen many films with more realistic looking killings.

one of the best early 80s slasher films..

A by-the-book slasher with a exceptional gore effects.

53.500

Cruel, Vicious bloody slasher from the Genre's heyday. Savini delivers the FX goods.

Definitely one of the better slasher films on 80's, and one that is not that well known outside gore hounds. There are some very brutal kills with great FX by Savini, and the killer is very spooky looking G.I Joe. The film focuses a bit too much on the underlying mystery towards the ending, but luckily it gets it's groove back on before the end credits. They leave too many unanswered questions, but it's almost refreshing in this genre where the authors usually tend to over-explain everything.