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The Prowler

The Prowler is a 1981 film from the USA, directed by Joseph Zito, running 89 minutes. reelscum files it under slasher.

Poster for The Prowler
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Year
1981 · 1980s films
Country
USA
Runtime
89 min
Director
Joseph Zito
Updated
10 Aug 2026
Obscurity
known (25/100)
Also known as
The Graduation · Pitchfork Massacre
Banned in
UK

Defined in the glossary: Slasher

⊘ Banned in UK

On the Section 3 seizure list under its UK release title Rosemary's Killer, which had already lost much of Savini's gore.

A killer in WWII combat gear stalks a graduation dance. Savini's best gore work.

A slasher elevated entirely by Tom Savini, who considered its effects among his finest. A killer in full World War II combat fatigues murders the attendees of a small-town graduation dance decades after a wartime rejection, and the kills, a pitchfork through a couple, a shotgun to the head, are staged with brutal, convincing craft.

The plot is standard and the mystery is thin, but the setpieces are as good as the genre gets, and Joseph Zito directs them with real patience. For gore fans it is essential; for everyone else it is a competent body-count picture with exceptional effects.

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