Released the same year as Friday the 13th part 2, Halloween part 2, Happy Birtday to Me, and My Bloody Valentine, this is a major misfire in the slasher tidal wave that hit theaters in the early to mid 80s. It tells the story of a, well, a prowler, who is killing young students at a college in New Jersey. There is a back story of a broken romance from WW II that (supposedly) sets the stage for the current murders. The back story is the first thing in the movie that goes wrong, and the movie never recovers.
The acting is bad, even for a slasher film, and the characters are, well, dumb. They do all the things that people should not do when being chased (they don't go for help, the split up instead of staying in a group, they sit alone in cars that are parked in cemeteries). They also do the same things we have seen EVERY character do in EVERY horror movie, but again, this is from 1981, so at the time this movie may have been fresh. When the killer is revealed, it is more of a 'who cares' moment than anything, as there had been nothing told about him. And the actual last scene (the shower scene) makes no sense at all, and is a cheap shot at trying to capture that last scare a la Carrie. There is also a scene that is EXACTLY like a scene from F13th part 2, where the heroine is hiding under a bed, a rat, and a pitchfork. I wonder what movie is copying the other?
The special effects are good, but dated, and not good enough to hold a viewers attention through the whole movie. There are a lot of better slasher flicks out there; movies that don't make you fall asleep due to boredom.
The acting is bad, even for a slasher film, and the characters are, well, dumb. They do all the things that people should not do when being chased (they don't go for help, the split up instead of staying in a group, they sit alone in cars that are parked in cemeteries). They also do the same things we have seen EVERY character do in EVERY horror movie, but again, this is from 1981, so at the time this movie may have been fresh. When the killer is revealed, it is more of a 'who cares' moment than anything, as there had been nothing told about him. And the actual last scene (the shower scene) makes no sense at all, and is a cheap shot at trying to capture that last scare a la Carrie. There is also a scene that is EXACTLY like a scene from F13th part 2, where the heroine is hiding under a bed, a rat, and a pitchfork. I wonder what movie is copying the other?
The special effects are good, but dated, and not good enough to hold a viewers attention through the whole movie. There are a lot of better slasher flicks out there; movies that don't make you fall asleep due to boredom.