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3
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7 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett
SNEAK PREVIEW
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DVD Release Date: Sept.
3, 2002 |
In
a prologue, complete with newsreel footage, the
time is 1945 and American soldiers are returning
from overseas and the horrors of World War II.
One of these soldiers is the fresh recipient of
a Dear John letter from his high school sweetheart,
Rosemary. Showing up in Avalon Bay on the night
of the graduation dance, he dresses in his army
fatigues, stalks the unfaithful girl, and shoves
a pitchfork through her and her new boyfriend
leaving a fresh red rose on Rosemary's body. Cut
to 35 years later when the town is preparing for
the first graduation dance permitted since the
still unsolved murder of '45. The film introduces
several of the students as well as the local law
enforcement officers, the younger of which, Mark
(Christopher Goutman) is on the cusp of a relationship
with the most virginal of the school girls, Pam
(Vicky Dawson). The town's sheriff (Farley Granger)
is leaving for a weekend fishing vacation and
assures the young policeman that he'll be able
handle things in his absence. A wheelchair-bound
Lawrence Tierney plays Major Chataway, the recluse
father of the girl killed in '45 who seems to
enjoy spying on the co-eds in their dormitories.
Night falls, and once again our killer suits up
in his WWII combat uniform and starts stabbing,
slashing, and pitchforking every girl (and their
boyfriends) that he can get his hands on. True
to his old modus operandi he leaves a rose on
the female bodies. After a fairly suspenseful
chase and escape for Pam, Mark follows a clue
the major's old house — but is he the killer or
just a red herring? Who is the murderous
Prowler?
I've
never been a big fan of slasher films as, for
the most part, I find them boring and repetitive.
I'm one of those horror movie fans that feels
that the '80s were a sad time in American filmmaking
mainly because of the overwhelming number of bad
slasher films which appeared that decade. Nothing
exceeds like success and the monster box-office
of Halloween
made sure that producers for the next ten years
would churn out many copies of that film;
soon 'horror movie' meant 'slasher movie' in the
minds of most folks. It was almost as if no other
type of scare picture could be made, and to this
day people making horror movies try very hard
to distance themselves from slashers so they won't
be dismissed for making trash. Now, while I feel
there is a place for trash in the cinema (and
I love it!), I can understand not wanting to be
lumped in with this genre. Generally unimaginative
and devoid of originality, slashers are the lowest
of all horror films. Almost no pretense of plot,
characters or logic is made in most slashers and
gore is the goal. They can be done very well if
some care is put into the characters and the suspense
scenes are well directed and edited, but most
films of this type are by the numbers body count
movies with little or no desire to do more than
drip blood on naked breasts. Of course, there
is a large subset of horror fans weaned on these
movies, who feel there's some kind of purity in
them and that their senselessness is part of the
appeal. To each his own, I guess.
Also released under the title
Rosemary's Killer,
The Prowler is probably
as effective a slasher film as was made in the
early '80s. It's not particularly accomplished
or well produced, but it has what fans of the
genre are looking for. It's not insultingly stupid
and a few weak attempts are made to differentiate
between the various female victims, but where
the movie lives and breathes is in the expected
death scenes. Here the film has an ace up its
sleeve with the legendary Tom Savini contributing
the gore and make-up effects. Mr. Savini is one
of the greats at making realistic and shocking
splatter deaths, and he pulls several stunning
ones here with my favorites being the two pitchfork
killings. A master of convincing the audience
that real violence is being done to real actors,
Savini's set pieces here are really disturbing
and he once again shows just how fascinating these
types of effects can be. Director Joseph Zito
is able to generate a couple of fairly tense moments
but overall the movie is just not very good. The
characters plod along from scene to scene with
very little logic or consistency, with most actions
taken simply to put them in imminent danger. I
know this movie will appeal to a number of folks
for its hard-to-find status on video, but don't
expect too much. The Prowler
isn't the worst slasher film I've ever watched,
but it isn't great by a long shot.
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One
of the first of Blue Underground’s releases, The
Prowler has what I'm sure is its definitive
presentation for home video. The film is presented
letterboxed at 1.85:1 and is enhanced for widescreen
TVs. The framing looks perfect throughout, but I
must report that the image is a bit soft and grainy
at times even in brighter, indoor shots. Considering
the budget and age of the movie I'm sure that this
is as good as it will ever look on video, but the
real joy of this DVD is the extras! Director Joseph
Zito and Tom Savini gather round the microphone
for a truly fun stroll through the film. Both men
have fond memories of the production in Cape Maine,
New Jersey and easily admit to the film's faults
as well as its strengths. They relate many behind
the scenes stories including Zito's original reluctance
to participate in the creation of this DVD because
he still feels embarrassed about two of the film's
bad props. (One of them is bad, but the other is
not noticeable at all.) Zito also tells why carrying
a gun when directing Lawrence Tierney is a good
idea and jokes a good deal with Savini about his
skirt chasing. I found it very funny that Tom's
memory of the actors in the film was directly connected
to the question of "Did I kill her?" or
"Did I kill him?" After watching The
Prowler for the first time I was not thrilled
with the idea of going back through it again, but
this commentary track was fantastic and is worth
the price of admission alone. Always honest and
never slow or boring, it's one of the better such
tracks I've heard in a long while. Also on the disc
is a nine-minute bit of behind the scenes video
footage of the gore set pieces shot by Savini and
his crew. This footage will be of interest to anyone
curious about how the effects were created. Thrown
in for good measure is the theatrical trailer and
a good poster/still Gallery.
Fans of
this type of movie might give The
Prowler one more rating point than I do,
but I have a lot of admiration for this DVD. This
is the first time I've been won over by the quality
of the extras more than the movie itself. I can't
wait for more Blue Underground discs!
8/27/02 |
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