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.

This starts out like a coming-of-age drama with a young woman named Amber who's sick of small town life in Famfield despite her close friends, mother and part time job. There are some unexplained snippets with ominous visions that include people chasing her and decomposing bodies. Is something calling her, or is it just the stress and mounting pressure of cabin fever? She wants to move away and get her own apartment in Chicago but first she has to get there with a deposit before another prospective tenant. Her five friends tag along for the road trip, until right outside of the city limits their car breaks down. As chance would have it, a friendly semi-truck driver pulls over and they beg him to take them to the windy city, but not before telling him they want to snap his picture, that one should ride up front and, of course, their family should know who they're with for safety's sake. Can never be too careful, or can you? They hang loose in the back cargo area by playing games, drinking and smoking drugs. Suddenly they take a nasty swerve and get thrown about. They call the driver and he gives them the run around to stop, which makes them suspicious enough to call 911, though where they just entered the signal doesn't go through. The driver backs in to a loading area of an abandoned warehouse that looks like it used to be a slaughterhouse. After the back door opens, everything turns into chaos when they step out into the factory with no visible way out and strange creatures who fly through the air, crawl on the walls and want to consume their flesh sooner than they can rip it off. From then on out it ends up being something like "The Most Dangerous Game" as these victims are treated like not only lunch but challenging sport. "Prowl" is a director's film first and foremost. It has a steady pacing that keeps up a certain element of mystery without laying out a full view of its blueprints, as well as it manages to escalate the story to different levels while still slowing down in a few areas to catch its breath and explain. The dialogue also dances around and doesn't lay it all out for the audience, which gives it some challenge and curious questions even after the credits roll. It manages to cover up its plot holes--sometimes after the fact, which makes you wonder about a few in the meantime--such as certain physicalities. It gradually unveils the blood-craving beasts from quick shots to extended, which keeps a viewer guessing as to what they are and what it all means while--thank the horror Gods!--doesn't fold in on itself and make what they have going too cheesy. This is more intriguing and mysterious like a thriller than it is continually scary like a horror, though there are still a few jumping shocks used to rile one's pulse, even if not terrifying. What at first seems like it's only prolonging the inevitable, comes full circle and turns into a tale of finding out what Amber's life means before she even gets to her promised land. The blood is more watery than the truly crimson looking stuff and there are frantic camera shots that go a little overboard. Though this was a quick, basic and entertaining piece that could have been a run-of-the-mill movie with different direction, less measurement and passion put into, not to mention it's a simple story that only has a few conventions tweaked around and isn't the most original out there, but the way it carried itself was turned into an effective experience that urges forward. One where it's a little more unexpected than other don't-take-rides-from-strangers fare.

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.

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.

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.