Let’s go over what happens in this fairly standard horror movie. The story begins with a flashback depicting a terrible murder. Then the narrative jumps to the present day, where a dance/school prom night—the site of the initial killing—is being revived. A handful of misleading suspects are introduced, such as the school's janitor found lurking in the basement and an eccentric older man working at the grocery store. …

This is a serviceable slasher set at an old inn on the southern coast of New Jersey. A wartime letter arrives late, prompting a veteran to commit murder in 1945 within a small coastal community in New Jersey. He evaded capture and resurfaces thirty-five years later, wearing his military uniform as he resumes his killing spree at a college dance. “The Prowler” (1981), which also goes by the name “Rosemary’s Kill…

The film centers on a group of friends preparing for a party who find themselves trapped at a dance hall as they discover their missing guests have been murdered by a killer seeking retribution for an event that occurred during World War II; they struggle to survive. This is certainly among the best slasher films ever made. What works so well here is how it tells a straightforward story but manages to create somet…