Most holidays worth their while encompass entire seasons, such as Christmas, for example. However, as you may have noticed there is a corporate push every year for us to think about the next holiday even sooner. While this has many negative side effects I figure I may as well embrace it.

Since Labor Day is really only good for college football and movie marathons cinematically it is as significant as Arbor Day, which means the next big day on the calendar is Halloween and we can start looking toward it starting now.

Daily I will be viewing films in the horror genre between now and then and sharing the wealth. Many, as is usually the case, will not be worth it so for every disappointment so I will try and suggest something worth while as well.

The Prowler

Today’s disappointment was called The Prowler from 1981. A film which has a decent setup with a newsreel, “Dear John” letter and then teaser but then really struggles to pick up the pieces when it introduces the main players. The identity of the killer is closely guarded like many a slasher film but the reveal is no shock.

Sadly prior to the reveal the pace has staggered so greatly you may not even care at that point. While there are occasions where it plays against stereotypes of stupidity in horror (like having someone actually being quiet while hiding) it does get dumb from time to time like having a heartfelt exchange of glances in the presence of a corpse.

There is also a pet peeve of mine which is a nonsensical shock at the end. The film is worth seeing for a few great effects Tom Savini pulls off, which is sad because Farley Granger is in this film but completely wasted.

4/10