July 28, 2018
Written by: Glenn Leopold, Neal Barbera
Starring: Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Lawrence Tierney
Budget: $1,000,000
Tagline: You don't need a chainsaw to have a massacre.
Trivia: It's been only recently discovered that "The Prowler" was re-released to a handful of theaters in North and South Carolina as "Pitchfork Massacre" in Spring 1984. It is still unknown who the distributor was, or whether they had legally acquired the rights to release the film.
I got behind on my movie discussions so I am going to make this one a quick one. This is one that Job Bob Briggs watched during his The Last Drive In marathon so I'll try not to repeat anything he said. The movie is a pretty straight forward slasher film that is *remarkably* similar to the plot from My Bloody Valentine. Instead of being a miner, he's a veteran that uses a pitchfork to kill his victims. Why does a masked military vet use a pitchfork? Good question. I guess the pitchfork is to help separate this film from the dozens of slasher films that were being cranked out during the late 70s and early 80s. The pitchfork does allow for some pretty cool scenes.
The introductory scene has "the prowler" using his pitchfork on a hugging couple stabbing through the guy and then into the girl. I don't now if the physics of this action works out, but it was still pretty cool nonetheless. The blood is pretty excessive but makes for a memorable scene. There are some other great slasher moments: pitchforking in a shower, knife stabbing through top of the skull and out the bottom of the jaw, etc.
The movie follows a group of graduating college kids who are having a final dance party. Meanwhile, the prowler kills them one by one. There is a pool stabbing scene that is probably the most memorable moment in the film. One of the female students leaves the party to go for a night swim by herself (weird) and is killed by the prowler. As she tries to get out of the pool she is kicked in the head. There is something about this action of kicking the woman in the head that is disturbing. I think because it is just so visceral and human. Eventually the prowler sneaks up on her in the pool and stabs her underwater causing the pool to turn a blood red.
Lastly, the band that plays at the dance is awesome! They are called Nowhere Fast and sound a lot like Boston. I tried to find information on the band or even a place to get their music but I couldn't find anything. It's too bad, they were great.
If you like slasher films, this is a good as any. The plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but rarely do we watch slashers for their plot.
No comments:
Post a Comment