The Prowler (1981, Joseph Zito)

I hadn't seen "The Prowler" in probably close to 10 years so the other night I decided to revisit it out of drunk boredom. Didn't take long for me to recollect that it's really just a weak and forgettable early slasher outing.

While serving in WWII, a soldier gets a "dear John letter" from his backstabbing bitch girlfriend who ends up going to the big graduation dance with her new weasley male companion. Our angry war hero shows up and brutally does away with the love-birds, making for a 35-year old cold case as we cut to present time (or the early 80s). The town is finally bringing the dance back and the scorned G.I. returns, armed with a bayonet, a sawed-off shotgun and a pitchfork, and is intent on ruining a magical evening...

The real 'saving grace' of this one is obviously Tom Savini's naturally badass effects work. Aside from that, "The Prowler" really has nothing else going for it. Standard slasher set-ups and characters, slow, lousy pacing, so-so killer design, very little suspense and no T n' A to speak of. Like I said - only worth a look for a few notable kill scenes - namely, a bayonet through the top of the skull and out the bottom of the chin, which I rather enjoyed for it's moderate originality. Otherwise, it's a pretty damn boring flick.