THE PROWLER

Directed by Joseph Zito
Produced by Joseph Zito & David Streit
Screenplay by Glenn Leopold & Neal F. Barbera
Music by Richard Einhorn
Special Make-Up and Effects by Tom Savini
Cast: Farley Granger, Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman & Cindy Weintraub

1981/89 mins/Color/Mono
1.85:1 anamorphic/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Blue Underground DVD

Young Rosemary writes a goodbye letter to her boyfriend who went to World War II. She doesn't feel like waiting for him and wants to continue on with her life... well guess what, her boyfriend won't let it end that way. At the Avalon Bay Graduation Dance, a dark presence of a man wearing a GI combat suit and a pitchfork avenge himself and kills poor Rosemary.

Fast foward 35 years later, it is the first time since that horrible murder of 1945 that the Graduation Dance is taking place. And guess who's coming back to kill?! To make things worse, the Sheriff has just leave town for a weekend of fishing... it is up to the recently formed Deputy London (Christopher Goutman) and "his girlfriend" Pam (Vicky Dawson) to investigate the numerous murders happening in town.

While the story isn't anything special and you'll probably figure out who the killer is the moment you see him onscreen, it is one of the best of the 80's body-count slasher to take advantage of the success of HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13TH. Still THE PROWLER is first and foremost a showcase of Savini's gruesome and awesome mind blowing fx and graphic death scenes. Some of the highlights fo the film is when the killer drives a bayonet clear through the head and out of the throat of a poor victim or the exploding head sequence at the end which rivals another one created by Savini for William Lustig's masterpiece, MANIAC.

It is because of this film that director Joseph Zito later helmed FRIDAY THE 13TH THE FINAL CHAPTER with once again Savini doing the fx. Another highlight of the film is the great musical score by Richard Einhorn. It is both haunting and chilling giving the film all the audiophonic atmosphere it needs.

It is interesting to note that the person who mostly wrote the film, Neal F. Barbera, is the son of half of the legendary Hanna-Barbera duo who gave us so many great cartoons. The film was shot for around $1 million in 36 days in Cape May, New Jersey. The film was released in Europe as ROSEMARY'S KILLER.

Blue Underground have done a good job with this film on DVD. It is presented uncut and in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and it is anamorphic enhanced. Since most of the film takes place at night, it is very dark. Still the transfer is nice and we can clearly see what's happening. The image is a little soft certainly due to the age of the print used for this disc, yet this is the best it ever ever looked! The original Mono track is crisp and clear and delivers the good. Its great to see some companies like Blue Underground putting out the film the way they were... DTS aren't a necessity and the film still works out great like it used to back in the early 80's.

Certainly the coolest extra on this disc is the very interesting and insightful commentary track by Zito and Savini. Both have a great chemistry together and go into all the little details in and out of the making of the film, its a must for fans of THE PROWLER. There's a nice 9 minutes behind the scenes footage by Tom Savini that show us how most of the gory fx were created onscreen. The very good theatrical trailer is also included, so is around 50 images in the Poster and Still Gallery. The film itself is separated in 23 chapters. The disc features static not too good looking menus but with music in the background, an inlay card which features the very cool ROSEMARY'S KILLER artwork and in a keep case.

Image:

Audio:

Extras:

Packaging:

This Film Features:

 

Review by Kim Dubuisson. All Right Reserved. 2004. ©

You can purchase this DVD at our official sponser by clicking on the image above.