30 September Slashers: Day 2 The Prowler

One thing I must mention right off the bat before we get too deep in the trenches of slasher cinema is that this column will feature not only some of the more popular slashers but will also include more obscure titles that you might not be as familiar with.  Destroy the Brain recognizes the importance of the slasher heavyweights such as Halloween and Friday the 13^th but those have been written about countless times and we thought you might enjoy revisiting/discovering some other overlooked pieces of work.  This might include a title which has yet to see a DVD release or perhaps an entry in a popular franchise that might have received little mention(ala Halloween 6).  Enough with the small talk, now on with the show….

Day 2: No more prowlin around… 1980’s “The Prowler”

My sides are still splitting from that rip roaring hilarious April Fool’s Day but lets commence with the next film and hopefully this will provide a more pleasurable viewing experience.  Gear up the time machine and head back the year 1945, when Glenn Miller was all the rage and House of Dracula was hitting the big screens.  The Prowler begins with a Dear John note being read by a college girl named Rosemary, the note is being addressed to her sweetheart who is fighting overseas in the great war.  Cut to the Avalon Bay, class of 1945 graduation dance, Rosemary and all of her chums are having a blast dancing the night away, when Rosemary and her main squeeze sneak off to do a little more than just the jitterbug.  Someone masked and dressed in military garb approaches them and murders the lovebirds.

Fast forward to 1980, the murderer has never been caught and Avalon Bay is getting ready to hold their first dance since 1945.  Once again, the killer returns and the film basically follows the town deputy and his sorority girlfriend, who are playing Nancy Drew and attempting to figure out all the funny happenings going on around town and in the process learning who the killer is.

There are many things about this film that make this a top rate slasher.  First off, the gore is out of the ballpark phenomenal.  One scene in particular gives the Maniac shotgun to the head scene a run for it’s money and a dagger to the head left me wondering how the hell Savini pulled that off.  Also, the lack of skin in the last September Slasher was made up for with a lovely shower scene kill.

With all of these good features, how could this film go wrong?  Well, for one thing the pacing is really uneven.  The film will go for a long time without a kill and this gore hound found himself getting bored.  Also, the characters were very forgettable.  I know, your probably thinking this is a slasher, who gives a damn about memorable characters?  When I look back to some of the Friday the 13^th films and Halloween films, Jason or Michael Myers weren’t the only memorable characters from those films.

Faults aside I would highly recommend digging into this film but defiantly get the uncut dvd or blue-ray.  Removing the gore would be like removing Mac from a Big Mac, it just don’t work.  Hope you enjoyed day 2 of our September trip and are getting your shopping list ready.  Tomorrow we are going to head to the supermarket and feast on The Intruder…..

Special Note: For fans of this film, check out Friday the 13^th: The Final Chapter.  The film was also directed by Joe Zito and featured gore work by Tom Savini.