A Masterpiece!

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I'll get this off my chest - the first 30 minutes of The Prowler are basically slasher heaven. I really mean that. The atmosphere is there, the characters aren't that bad, the killer is imposing, the kills are brutal and nasty...but then...(sigh) things just fall apart and don't get semi-exciting again until the last 10 minutes.The Prowler might be so wonderful in its first act, because it starts off like most slasher flicks end. By the time its first act has wrapped up, it seems as if already a half-dozen people have been offed and our Final Girl to be has already had a fairly exciting chase sequence.Sounds great, right? It is. But then she's saved and the rest of the film is spent with her and a policeman doing Scooby Doo-esque detective work in old houses with flashlights with brief interludes of death scenes during a graduation party. It just stops everything in its tracks.This is not to say that The Prowler is a bad movie. Far from it. It just needed something more exciting and urgent in it's middle section to keep the audience interesting. One never feels like the two leads are in any danger and that drag it down. Still, the special effects steal the show and are wonderful.

The happiness and the sanity of a W.W.II vet is destroyed when he returns home and finds his girl in the arms of another at the town's annual dance. Outraged, he kills them with a pitchfork, and the town does not hold the dance again for 35 years. When the vet hears about the dance being resurrected, it stirs up those bitter painful memories once again, so he comes back to do a little more killing...This is one of those film that have been mimicked so many times, if you haven't seen the original before the slew of re-imaginings/side-quels/homages, you may lose the overall effectiveness of the original.Much like I did.For me, it's pretty perfunctory stuff, with the added bonus of some wonderful make up by Tom Savini. But other than that, it's just a case of teen girls running down a corridor and reaching a locked door, while being prowled by the bad guy in Hellboy.The cast are fine, they do their job as you'd expect, it can be slightly tense in some places.It's my bad really for not seeing it any sooner, as I'd probably regard it a lot higher than I actually do.But I will give it something to its credit, it hasn't been remade as of yet.If you are just starting out with horror films, and you want a good old fashioned stalk n' slash horror, you'd be good to catch this as soon as possible.You'll appreciate it a lot more than I did.

I have not seen nor do I plan to see a snuff film but from what I've heard about them, The Prowler (1981) is pretty close. The aforementioned director, Joseph Zito, plays out these death scenes as if he were getting real pleasure from them. It's scary and uncomfortable to watch to say the least and I can't think of any other slasher movie to come close. With others, there is always an underlying sense of humor and/or a question of believability but this one is relentless. Even the cat and mouse scenes are frightening. Let's just put it this way, it's December 2014 and upon this first viewing, I'm creeped out. I think a lot of it too has to do with zero character development - either that or the 1981 dialogue was lost on me. It starts of painfully slow and you don't feel a connection with anyone which sort of places you directly in the shoes of the killer. Not sure if this was intentional but it's kind of genius. 7.5/10

Joseph Zito's "The Prowler" is overall decent as slashers go. It has a respectable body count, some highly effective atmosphere, extremely sinister music by Richard Einhorn, and of course some of Tom Savini's best ever work for this genre. It's more for the kind of slasher enthusiast who watches these things for the extreme violence; otherwise, it would be strictly standard fare, with a plot and killer fairly similar to that in "My Bloody Valentine" (1981).It begins in 1945, when one of many U.S. soldiers returning home after serving his country in WWII is greeted with a letter from his sweetheart which states that she couldn't wait for him. This is enough to spur him to mete out bloody revenge, with his ex-girlfriend and her new beau meeting their fate at the end of a pitchfork. Fast forward 36 years, and the town of Avalon Bay is holding its first graduation dance since that fateful night. And that long ago rejected soldier is back, too, to do what he does best. An ineffective deputy sheriff (the bland Christopher Goutman) and his spunky leading lady (the lovely and appealing Vicky Dawson) work the clues as the killer begins to hack his way through the student bodies, and anybody else unlucky enough to get in his way."The Prowler", upon reflection, really doesn't work that well as a whodunit - most people should be able to figure out who the killer is - but it's still pretty entertaining, thanks to the ambiance of the Cape May shooting location, and the punchy murder set pieces. Our maniac uses a bayonet, a pitchfork, and other sharp implements to great effect. What really works against the film is the pacing as there are a few too many scenes that drag needlessly. But things do nicely work their way towards a kick ass finale with another fine Savini exploding head gag.The actors basically get the job done without being remarkable in any way; Zito utilizes the services of veterans Farley Granger and Lawrence Tierney, although one has to wonder why cast Tierney at all as he has barely anything to do. Familiar faces in the supporting cast include Bryan Englund ("Crazy Mama"), Thom Bray ('Rip Tide'), Cindy Weintraub ("Humanoids from the Deep"), and Playboy Bunny Lisa Dunsheath ("They All Laughed").Aficionados of the slasher are well advised to seek this one out, as it truly has to be one of the most sadistic films of its kind. It may have its problems, but it's still good entertainment that gets by thanks to great effects.Seven out of 10.