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.

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.

En route to Chicago, a bunch of young friends experience engine trouble and stupidly accept a ride from a passing trucker. He traps them in his trailer. Stuff happens. There's some vampire/monster/creature thingies that attack them. Some of the teenagers die. Yadda, yadda, yadda...

I almost rated Prowl 1/10, not because it's particularly awful, but because I've had a gut-full of mediocre modern horror as of late, and this was very nearly the final straw that broke the camel's back—just another forgettable, bland, derivative scary flick with a pretty female protagonist, an unimaginative threat, lots of dreary and often shaky cinematography, predictable loud noises to make you jump, and a 'surprise' ending that's not all that surprising. It's been less than a day since I finished the film, and I cannot recall a single image that impressed me enough to bother retaining it in my mind.

To be fair, Prowl is probably worth a 4 or 5 out of 10 (although I'll err on the less generous side): it starts out promisingly, is technically proficient, the cast do a good job of looking terrified even if I sported an expression of abject boredom throughout, and there's also some pretty effective gore. But in this day and age where horrors proliferate, a film needs to be so much more in order to make a lasting impression.

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.

One day, a young girl - let's call her 'Deep and Dependable' - wants to go on a road trip to get the plot moving. She decides to take along her five friends, 'Nerdy and Helpless, Slutty and Blonde, Macho and Ripped, Stoned and New-age and finally Rich and Unlikeable' (Token Ethnic was unfortunately not available to come with them as he was still working in the off license at the beginning of the movie).

However, their van breaks down within minutes of their journey beginning (Rich and Unlikeable even remarks, "Hey, I think I can see my house from here!"). Therefore the first thing they decide to do is hitch a ride with a truck driver who has come straight off the set of Deliverance. He, in turn, deposits them in an abandoned building filled with vampires. And, to make matters worse, they're not even the nice Twilighty vampires who are really well-preened and twinkle a bit in sunlight.

No, these vamps like nothing more than to feast on the flesh of one-dimensional clichés. And so the hunt begins... expect a mish-mash of From Dusk Till Dawn and 30 Days of Night. It's shot as if the cameraman is constantly bouncing up and down on a trampoline. By the end of the film I was shaking my head from side to side in an attempt at keeping up with the shaky camera movement.

It's not a long film. Stereotypes aren't natural fighters - they only have badly-written dialogue to fend of the ghouls with. Vamps have teeth. I know which one I had my money on.

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