Since we're coming down to the wire here, I decided to do a deep dive into Shudder and finally get around to watching some classics that have been on my radar forever. Starting with:
The Prowler (1981)
One of the more intriguing entries in the slasher movie pantheon, what differentiates
The Prowler from its contemporaries is form and content. Daring to vilify a (potential) WWII vet just a few scant years removed from Vietnam was a gutsy move, considering how unassailable WWII vets have traditionally been presented in popular entertainments. This idea - along with the decision to reject Embassy Pictures' offer of wider distribution - ultimately contributed to the film's failure upon initial release. However, it has since gained traction as a cult favourite, with such publications as
Complex,
LA Weekly, and
Paste championing the movie in recent years.
Consider how it also breaks ranks with its peers by abandoning any pretense of mystery about twenty minutes into the film and becoming more of a procedural than a whodunit. Our Final Girl realizes there is a killer on the loose who is targeting her friends relatively early in the movie, and spends the remainder of the narrative investigating the source of the killings with her deputy sheriff boyfriend. Contrast this with the first entries in the
Halloween and
Friday the 13th franchises, where the Final Girl has no clue that anything is amiss until the final stretch of the narrative.
The Prowler is of course another 'anniversary' slasher with a legacy killer, but the idea of PTSD of a wartime vet being the chief motivator is still relatively unique in the slasher subgenre.
It's also worth noting that
The Prowler doesn't offer up any tidying explanations for all the mayhem and lunacy. Unlike Michael Myers who was apparently driven to murder any remaining members of his bloodline, or Mama Voorhees who wanted to punish camp counselors by association, the true motive of our camouflage-fatigued monster is never revealed. We can infer the motivation through metaphor, but even when the killer's identity is revealed, it still raises more questions than answers...
Tom Savini has gone on record as saying he considers
The Prowler's practical effects to be his best work, and it's easy to see why. The kills are incredibly realistic and effective, with the camera lingering on the victims well past the point of comfort. In our current CGI-mad environment it's quite possible that this level of artistry with practical VFX will never be topped, which might help explain the film's traction with cult enthusiasts.
All in all a fun watch. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the same year's
The Burning, but as a meditation on the idea of trauma being a hereditary phenomenon,
The Prowler is definitely worth seeking out for fans of slasher cinema.
Fun Fact: director Joseph Zito also made
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, widely considered to be one of the best entries in the
Friday franchise.
Geena Davis and Catherine O'Hara are here.
