On the night of her graduation dance in 1945, Rosemary and her date were brutally murdered by a prowler thought to be a jilted soldier home from the war. The killer was never found.
The Prowler from 1981 stars Lawrence Tierney, Farley Granger, Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Cindy Weintraub and Lisa Dunsheath.
Thousands of military men return home from the war on the Queen Mary. Some return home to their sweethearts left behind, some will start new lives with woman they met through Dear John letters, and some just return home.
Rosemary is writing her last Dear John letter. She’s not welcoming home a hero, she’s dumping him.
It’s the night of the graduation dance of 1945 and the club house is full of people dancing and having a good time. Rosemary is there with her date. They leave the dance and end up at a small pavilion. Then we see someone in military fatigues approach and stick them – a pitch fork through both. The killer leaves a single red rose in Rosemary’s bloody hand.
Flash forward to 1980
There’s another class preparing for a graduation dance, and we learn that it’s the first since 1945. It seems Rosemary’s father, the major, wouldn’t allow it to take place.
The sheriff’s planning a fishing trip but leaves his trusted deputy, Mark London, to take care of anything that comes up after he tells him that a store clerk was attack by some unknown perpetrator earlier.
As the girls get ready for the dance, our favorite killer solider gets ready for carnage. His first two victims are still in the dorm. One girl is still taking a shower. Her date shows up and is invited to join her. When he goes to take his clothes off, the prowler stabs a blade through the top of his head. He then finishes off by stabbing the girl with a pitch fork.
Pam is serving punch at the dance when Mark shows up. He’s pulled away to dance with another girl which angers Pam. When he finally gets to her, the girl who whisked him onto the dance florr is behind him. She bumps into him and he ends up spilling punch on Pam’s white dress. She leaves to go back to the dorm to change when she’s chased by our favorite solider. When Mark shows up, he investigates the scene before driving to the major’s house.
Mark and Pam return to the dance and tell the head mistress about the prowler. She makes a general announcement but it’s too late for another girl, Lisa, as she’s already made her way to the pool for a late night dip. The prowler strikes again, attacking her in the pool and slicing open her neck. But the head mistress doesn’t fair too much better when she goes after Lisa, sees the blood and tries to warn the others. Our prowler stops her cold stone dead.
Mark and Pam go to the graveyard looking for more answers but discover the major’s daughter’s grave has been unearthed. Opening the coffin, they find the dead pool girl Lisa inside. Heading back to the major’s house, Mark is knocked unconscious by the prowler. The prowler then turns his attentions on Pam (thinking she’s Rose.)
The Prowler from 1981 feels like an early 80s film. I hate to keep bringing this up but this movie too is following on the heels of Halloween. The reason I say this is that for the most part our killer doesn’t talk. Not only that but there’s no real motivation for our killer. **SPOILER ALERT** I don’t know any reason why the town sheriff would end up being our serial killer, the prowler. We see him at the beginning of the movie and we’re told he’s going on a fishing trip and that’s all. No other connections. None. Nada. Zip.
I’m giving The Prowler 1 1/2 out of 5 bloody stumps up. The biggest reason I think this movie failed is the supposedly shocking twist which wasn’t really a twist at all.
However I will say this, there’s nothing better than watching a movie about a jilted lover for Valentine week.
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