The Prowler

THE PROWLER

A slasher film from 1981, The Prowler opens with an ambitious prologue set in 1945 in which a killer dressed in an Army outfit murders a young couple by impaling the lovers with a pitchfork.  The bulk of the story takes place over one day and night in 1980 and follows a college student named Pam.  Her school has opted to finally hold a graduation dance again (administrators put a stop to the tradition after the 1945 murders, as the victims had snuck off from the dance).  Pam and her roommates from the dorm prepare for the big event, unaware that the killer from thirty-five years ago has returned to claim additional lives.  Pam encounters the homicidal maniac in her dorm room after she changes into a fresh dress (someone spills punch on her original outfit at the dance), and the killer chases her through the building and outside.  Pam crosses paths with her friend the deputy (seemingly the only cop around since the Sheriff has left town for his annual fishing trip).  Pam and the deputy spend much of the story together as they search for the prowler, who roams around and picks off a handful of victims.  In a tense climax, the killer chases Pam through the home of the father of the young woman who died in the 1945 prologue.  A member of the community happens to show up at just the right time to blast the antagonist with a shotgun.  An epilogue in which one of the earlier victims returns to life and claws at Pam makes little sense unless one considers the moment to be in Pam’s imagination.

The Prowler boasts exceptionally convincing practical special effects during the kill scenes (which include a blade going through someone’s skull, a throat-slashing, and a pitchfork impalement in a shower).  The film’s pacing at times seems a bit wonky (when Pam and the deputy initially search the home of a 1945 victim’s father, the sequence drags on and on), and the secondary characters are rather thinly-drawn, but fans of bloody slasher films from the 1980s should find plenty to enjoy in this tale.  The killer’s motivation is simple (his 1945 female victim dumped him via a letter while he was fighting in World War 2), though I’m not sure why he waited until 1980 to get homicidal again (apparently the return of the school dance set him off).  If you’re looking for a basic prototypical stalk-and-slash story from that genre’s early days, check out The Prowler.