THE PROWLER (1981)

 

(a.k.a. ROSEMARY’S KILLER; a.k.a. THE GRADUATION; director/producer: Joseph Zito. Screenwriters: Glenn Leopold and Neal Barbera, with additional dialogue by Eric Lewald.)

 

Review

June 28, 1945. Avalon Bay, California. On lover’s lane, away from the “Class of ’45 Graduation Ball,” Francis Rosemary Chatham (Joy Glaccum) and her amorous new boyfriend are stabbed with a pitchfork by someone in a mask and military gear. A red rose is left in her hand. Their killer disappears─it’s thought that Francis’s war vet ex-boyfriend did the deed.

Thirty-five years to the date pass without a dance in Avalon, but the collegiate class of 1980 is getting theirs. Pam MacDonald, one of the graduates, helps set up the ball along with her friends. The night of the ball, a prowler in a nearby town has been reported, and Pam worries about her boyfriend (Deputy Mark London) who’s acting sheriff while his boss, George Fraser (Farley Granger, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, 1951) goes on a fishing trip.

Murders begin immediately, committed by someone wearing the military garb and wielding weapons of the 1945 killer. This prowler also leaves roses in the hands of his female victims. Pam (Vicky Dawson) and Mark (Christopher Goutman) quickly realize what’s happening, although the shadowy slayer’s identity is a mystery. Suspects are everywhere, from the kind-of-goofy Otto to the unsettling, possible-puppet-master Major Chatham, father of killed-in-1945 Francis.

If you’re looking for a film with well-developed key characters (with their backstories and motives spoken aloud), this might not be a movie for you. If you’re looking for a film that gives you just enough─if you pay attention─information to suss out who’s likely done/doing what and why, PROWLER might be your slow-kill jam.

PROWLER, shot in Cape May, New Jersey, is solidly written and tightly edited, with a running time of eighty-nine minutes, many of its key terror shots reminiscent of FRIDAY THE 13^th (1980), not necessarily a bad thing, as PROWLER has its own look and feel. (It was director Joseph Zito’s work on PROWLER that got him hired for FRIDAY THE 13^th: THE FINAL CHAPTER, 1984.) Editor Joel Goodman’s choice cuts pace PROWLER’s dreamlike, gritty work in a suspenseful way, its distinctive mood aided by cinematographer João Fernandes’s intense use of light and shadow (Fernandes, billed as Raoul Lomas, was Zito’s cinematographer for FRIDAY THE 13^th: THE FINAL CHAPTER, 1984). Composer Richard Einhorn’s effective, sometimes playful score brings together the best elements of Bernard Hermann’s PSYCHO (1960), Harry Manfredini’s FRIDAY THE 13^th (1980), and other terror flick scores without ripping them off. And Tom Savini’s FX, occasionally over-the-top, complement the overall feel of the film and add to the brutish nature of the spree killer’s (or spree killers’) deeds.

Among its notable players: a frail-looking and barely seen Lawrence Tierney (BORN TO KILL, 1947) as the wheelchair-bound Major Chatham; Cindy Weintraub (HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP, 1980) as Lisa, Pam’s flirtatious friend; and Thom Bray (PRINCE OF DARKNESS, 1987) as Ben, one of the graduate-boyfriends.

This deep-dive into multilayered horror (a ghostly town, PTSD, etc.) is especially dark and distinctive, from its dirty realism, raw, lingering-shot kill scenes, lull-then-sharp score, and overall feel, its closest thematic-companion film perhaps MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1981). Both are worth watching and owning if you’re a fan of grit-and-gore Eighties slashers.

SHOCK WAVES (1977)

 

(Director/co-screenwriter: Ken Wiederhorn. Co-screenwriter: John Kent Harrison, billed as John Harrison, and uncredited Ken Pare.)

Storyline

A shipwrecked yacht party are attacked by seemingly invincible, undead Nazi soldiers who live in the waters surrounding a remote island.

 

Review

A boatful of tourists and sailors are shipwrecked after the boat’s engine dies, a strange orange haze suffuses the sky, and a huge ghost ship hits their vessel. The next morning, after the captain has vanished, the survivors see the hulking, skeletal wreck of the ghost ship that sank the tour boat as they take refuge on a nearby island.

They wander around the island, find a dilapidated resort, and in it, a former SS commander (Peter Cushing , SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, 1970) who tells them that they must leave the island, or they will die─not because he’s physically threatening them, but because the ghost ship has a still-active crew who will hunt them and kill them. This crew, the Death Corps, is made up of aquatic undead zombie soldiers who were part of a Nazi science experiment to create invincible soldiers who can fight on land and under the sea.

The seven survivors don’t believe the SS commander and soon find themselves stuck with their irritated-but-civil host (Cushing, whose character is listed as “SS Commander”). The vicious and efficient zombie soldiers pick off the survivors as they wander around the island. One of them, Rose (Brooke Adams, often seen in a skimpy bathing suit), accidentally discovers the shock troops’ Achilles heel, but it's too late.

Shot in thirty-five days by first-helmer Ken Wiederhorn in 1975 (but not released until 1977 due to financial issues), the low budget, PG-rated SHOCK is not quite good, not quite terrible. It has a lot going for it despite its dumb characters and overlong middle section.

One of SHOCK’s best elements is its atmosphere, shot in hazy 1970s dream-tones, as well as its sometimes-unnerving and effectively spare soundtrack by Richard Einhorn (THE PROWLER, 1981), which make this time-bloated movie better than it should be. The tone and music are especially effective when showing the Death Corp troops hiding in and coming out of the water as well as the exterior/interior ambience of the dilapidated, naturally spooky resort.

The solid kill scenes are tame by today’s standards, much of the actual violence happening offscreen (although often-unmarked corpses are found later), with little or no gore shown. The Death Corp boys─whose zombie makeup is excellent─ like to drown and strangle people.

The cast ranges from good to fun, appropriate for this unique and quirky film. Of course, Peter Cushing (ASYLUM, 1972) plays his SS Commander with nuance and grace, a man who’s done horrible things and knows it, and perhaps regrets some of them. John Carradine (THE HOWLING, 1981) does what he can with his brief role of Captain Ben Morris, imbuing the character with his usual color and charm. Don Stout is good as Dobbs, who maybe shouldn’t be in a rush to get those supplies.

Brooke Adams (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, 1978), in her first credited movie role, is solid as the hysterical, brutalized Rose. Luke Halpin (MAKO:THE JAWS OF DEATH, 1976) and Fred Buch (THE NEW KIDS, 1985) are decent in their roles, but if this had been their last film I would not have been surprised.

SHOCK is worth your time if you’re looking for a miasmic, atmospheric if overlong film with unique-at-the-time zombies, a memorable soundtrack, a few notable actors and striking cinematography (courtesy of SHOCK producer Reuben Trane).

Fun additional fact: According to IMDb, Roger Waters sampled dialogue from this flick in his title track to Amused to Death (1992)─specifically, he lifted dialogue from the part where two characters fight over a flashlight.