[4.75/10] Prowl (2011)

Prowl (2011)

Brief review: Released on the same date as "Husk", "Prowl" is yet another mediocre 'Original' brought by After Dark Films. Although it starts out quite promising, and its first half is watchable-to-very good, as soon as the real horror starts, the film quickly turns into a chaotic mess with zero logical coherence, where nothing is ever fully explained. Furthermore, the twist in the end is so ridiculously anti-climatic, it totally destroys the rest of the movie, instead of being shocking and effective. Even though "Prowl" has some heart-pounding moments and a couple of boo scares, it's not neither as frightening, nor as tense as it thinks it is. The deaths are nasty and well-executed and the gore effects are rather impressive, but the attack scenes are so poorly-edited, and the lighting is so awful, you can barely see what's happening on the screen. The largely unknown young cast do very well in realistically portraying their characters in situations, with Ruta Gedmintas being the standout. Shot on limited budget in Bulgaria, "Prowl" is just okay, visually. The abandoned warehouse is grim and kinda creepy, and the washed-out cinematography and the muted color palette suits the dark tone of the film, though at the end, it all feels a bit flat, lackluster and lifeless.

Overall summary: Although this 'After Dark' Original offers plenty of gore, some thrills and a couple of jump-of-your-seat scares, its formulaic plot, poor script and ridiculous conclusion completely ruin the film, and as a result "Prowl" ends up being a jumbled mess of nonsense.