Prowl

Having just watched this film I am trying desperately to think of a word or words to describe it and the only thing is: it's alright. There is nothing particularly bad about this movie but nothing particularly good either. It attempts atmosphere and tension but not particularly well. The characterisation is relatively bland and the so called jumps don't really well make you jump. The main problem is not the film itself as such but that it has been done so much better in many different other movies. It really is a poorly done Near Dark remake. In fact, I have watched episodes of Supernatural that were better. To summarise, watch the originals instead and don't bother with this.

I first saw this a decade ago on a dvd which I own. Revisited it recently. The film has enuff tension, moves at a good pace n the creature mayhem is scary but the shaky cam n poor lighting ruined it for me. The creatures r similar like the ones from 30 Days of Night. If only they wud have avoided the shaky cam man.

The plot - A young girl decides to leave her old life behind and move to the city after discovering that she was adopted. She asks her best friend to accompany her, and the road trip is eventually joined by a bunch of pals. Unfortunately, their car breaks down along the road and they take help from a truck driver. The group gets jittery when they discover hundreds of cartons of blood n the truck driver refuses to stop until he reaches an abandoned meat-packing plant that is infested with blood thirsty creatures.

Notable face is Bruce Payne as the truck driver.

Amber (Courtney Hope) is surrounded by failing parents and appalling friends. You know the type - alleged teens who are horny/stoned/drunk at all times, with the kind of pack personality you'd expect from such a lowbrow designer catwalk crew. When they end up in the kind of trouble a film with a title like 'Prowl' couldn't exist without, it's difficult to care for such preening twits. They attempt to ditch their former unfulfilling lives by hitching a ride which unexpectedly leads them to no-nonsense Veronica (Saxon Trainor), and her delightfully bloody slaughterhouse. From here, things get progressively more messy and tense.

'Prowl' is good once it gets going and we get past the lazily drawn 'hero' types. It staggers me how obvious it seems to me to make your characters likeable, but that so many directors - Patrik Syversen, here, is one - seem to think that's too easy. Better to make them edgy in the belief that makes them interesting. It doesn't! Or perhaps we are supposed to be aching for them to get dispatched in as gory a way as possible. If that's the aim, then it succeeds.

Essentially Prowl is another splatter flick... actually if there was no minimum review length that would pretty much summarize it.

The protagonist hitches a ride; her friends are there too because really, the film doesn't have enough substance to support just said protagonist trying to survive.

Actually most characters don't last long once the threat appears. That makes the earlier parts seem like padding, which explains why I can't remember much about these people. There was humor during the earlier parts but things quickly get bland.

In short, some quasi-vampires arrive and start killing everyone, naturally a couple of would-be victims escape. Then those people must figure out what's going on. Even with its short runtime things got boring toward the finale.

If you love watching horror movies then this will be fun to watch, Its not ranked up there with the classics, Salem's lot or The Exorcist, but its worth a watch. Only bad thing i can say about it was the ending, it was an anti climax but it does leave it open for a follow on sequel. If you are looking for scantly clad teenagers running around half naked then this is not for you, although the leading ladies are easy on the eye. Gore factor 6.5: Lots of blood in this & a few body parts flying around the movie set.

Scare factor: 6; One scene certainly had me jumping from my seat, but these are BOOM!! in your face flashes & not many off them.