The Prowler (1981)
Directed by Joseph Zito
Starring Farley Granger, Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Cindy Weintraub, Lawrence Tierney

While overseas during World War II, a soldier receives a “Dear John” letter from his girlfriend. Once he returns home, he gets revenge during the local graduation dance by stabbing a pitchfork through her and her new boyfriend. We now move ahead to present day (or 1980, for that matter), where the town is planning on its first graduation dance since those unsolved murders back at the end of the war. The sheriff is on his way out for his yearly fishing trip, and leaves the town in the hands of his young deputy. When the news of a fugitive on the loose in a nearby town, the deputy and his girlfriend start to get nervous. More importantly, who is this guy sneaking around in the army gear, armed with a bayonet and pitchfork?

Ahh…the ’80s slasher films. This sub-genre exploded so fast that the studios were cranking them out left and right. The only problem was that most of them weren’t that good, figuring if you threw in some nudity, some blood and a little of gore, the fans would eat it up. Which they did, but that doesn’t mean the titles themselves were going to be that memorable. Enter in Tom Savini.

This was also the time that Savini was on his rise to becoming a god amongst horror fans. He was creating realistic makeup effects that showed audiences gory deaths like we’d never seen before, in films like Maniac (1980), The Burning (1981), and of course Friday the 13th (1980). So if Savini worked on the film, you knew it was a must see. Which is exactly what we have here with The Prowler. But even with the effects, it was actually a pretty decent movie, which would be contributed to director Joe Zito and his production team. They do a pretty good job of building suspense. I mean, this is a slasher film so you know someone is going to die when they go off by themselves. It’s just a matter of when, so building suspense is a little different than most thrillers and Zito makes it work here. He would later work with Savini again in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) and Invasion U.S.A. (1985).

Within the film, we have a simple but effective setup as to why these murders have arrived at this small town at this particular time. There are plenty of red herrings running about so it does give the story enough mystery to keep the viewer guessing who might be in the army gear. Plus, the characters we meet range from your typical drunken school partiers, to some of odd locals, including Major Chatham, played by Lawrence Tierney (a small non-speaking role seemingly wasted with this famed actor). But all of them make this story a little more real than our normal dime a dozen characters in most slasher films.

Aside from Tierney, we also have Farley Granger playing the sheriff. While known for his appearance in some Hitchcock films, such as Rope (1948) and Strangers on a Train (1951), it is pretty surprising to see him in a picture of this caliber. However, even though he isn’t in a lot of the film, it was not uncommon for these films to hire a name actor (even if was way past their prime) just to give the film a little street cred. Our two leads, our final girl Vicky Dawson and her boyfriend the deputy, played by Christopher Goutman, both had worked in the soap opera field, so at least they don’t see like cardboard cutouts.

Trying to watch this on a VHS tape was very disappointing because at that time, we were watching it for Savini’s effects. But the prints were so dark that you couldn’t see much when it came to details. But now thanks to the digital world, you can see so much more. Such as when the girl is stabbed in the shower with the pitchfork, you can see where the blood looks like it is squirting out of her, when it reality it is coming out of the hollow tubs of the pitchfork. One of my favorite effects in this film is the bayonet through the top of a guy’s head, popping out below his chin. Very nice, especially when the guy’s eyes pop open and they are completely white. Not sure if that makes sense, but it was a damn cool look. It was effects like these that helped Savini earn the title the King of Splatter.

While I’ve always been fond of the ’80s slasher films, not to many of them can hold my attention these days, or at least not that long. They are fun to revisit every now and then but wouldn’t have too many of them in my favorites. But The Prowler is one that rises above the rest. It might be because it was one of the first, or the fact that you had Savini doing the makeup, as well as having a well-crafted director calling the shots. No matter what the reasoning, I feel this film still holds up today and is still damn entertaining!