Forke des Todes (1981)

Forke des Todes: Directed by Joseph Zito. With Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Lawrence Tierney, Farley Granger. An unknown killer, clad in World War II U.S. Army fatigues, stalks a small New Jersey town bent on reliving a 35 year-old double murder by focusing on a group of college kids holding an annual graduation dance.

“A masked killer, wearing World War II U.S. Army fatigues, stalks a small New Jersey town bent on reliving a 35-year-old double murder by focusing on a group of college kids holding an annual Spring Dance.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;The Prowleru0026quot; was directed by Joseph Zito, an incredibly nice guy and talented artist, probably better known for his installment in the u0026quot;Friday the 13thu0026quot; series. Also notable is that this film features special effects and makeup by Tom Savini, the undisputed horror master of the era. According to Wikipedia, the u0026quot;film has been praised by gore fans for its brutal and realistic murder scenes.u0026quot; I am not sure about the realism, but the brutal aspect is certainly true, and if there is an uncut version floating around, it must be a bloodbath. Eli Roth also considers it one of his inspirations in the documentary u0026quot;Fantastic Fleshu0026quot; (which is a good film in its own right).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWriter Neal Barbera is the odd man out in the mix. While Zito and Savini are horror guys to the bone, Barbera is a member of the well-known cartoon family (you know, with Hanna-Barbera). His credit, going back to the 1960s, are writing dialogue and lyrics for Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear and the Flintstones. How he came to write a slasher script is anyoneu0026#39;s guess.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie landed in Zitou0026#39;s lap thanks to a man named Herb. (Exactly who this is I am not sure.) Herb was quite protective of the property; he was even offered a $700,000 advance for the distribution rights, but he feared the film would not make any more than the advance and chose to distribute it himself (which actually worked). And Zito hand-picked Savini based on his work in u0026quot;Maniacu0026quot;. (It is perhaps no coincidence that Robert Lindsay, the cinematographer of u0026quot;Maniacu0026quot;, was behind the camera on u0026quot;The Prowleru0026quot;.)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;The Prowleru0026quot; is in many ways like the 1981 slasher film u0026quot;My Bloody Valentineu0026quot;, with the biggest difference being that u0026quot;Prowleru0026quot; is American and u0026quot;Valentineu0026quot; is Canadian. Both are excellent and both directors (the other being George Mihalka) are fine gentlemen, so I will not pick and choose between them here. Both films take place in a small town with the legend of a murder, where the killer has placed a so-called u0026quot;curseu0026quot; on the town where the residents cannot partake in a certain social gathering. Sure enough, the residents disobey the curse and are picked off in many brutal fashions. Must have been a 1981 thing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI recommend u0026quot;The Prowleru0026quot; to any horror fan, and especially to those who love slashers of the 1980s. I think it has seen a bit of a resurgence in recent years, with shirts and posters becoming available. My friend and colleague Timm Horn talked high praise of this one, and was delighted to meet Zito with me. I wish I could have shared Timmu0026#39;s full enthusiasm at the time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are some slow moments, and some scenes that make little sense. Exactly why the deputy sheriff and his girlfriend are snooping around inside a house without consent or a warrant is a bit of a mystery. But it moves the plot forward.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis film is best seen on the version available from Blue Underground. The choice between DVD and BD probably matters little, as the BD is rather grainy on larger screens (you can only clean up a film like this so much). The Blue Underground disc has audio commentary with Zito and Savini, which is priceless for their banter and tidbits about where they acquired coffins, and a nice ten minute behind-the-scenes featurette showing how the gore and kill scenes were done. Very interesting.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAdded fun fact: Peter Giuliano, who more or less started his career with u0026quot;The Prowleru0026quot; as assistant director and playing the man in the mask, went on to produce dozens of successful films and TV shows, as well as working as assistant director on such notable works as u0026quot;Ghost Bustersu0026quot;. Although not a well-known name, he may be the most successful person to have worked on this film.”