Prowl (2010)
5/10
Exceptionally disappointing entry that could've been great
22 January 2013
After crashing down on a remote highway, a group of friends find the tow-truck at their rescue is delivering them to an abandoned warehouse to be of use for a group of bloodthirsty creatures in hunting training.

This ending up becoming one of the biggest disappointments around and it really had no reason to do so. There's some exceptionally good times here with the story as it has an awesome premise that's incredibly original which is played off really nicely here. The growing realization of their predicament when they arrive in the back of the truck and the uncertainty of what's coming next give these scenes a really great sense of tension by not adhering to a set pattern. Even once they're released and can go look around in a creepy location filled with pretty chilling creatures, there's some really fun times here as the relentless attacks by the voracious predators come of really fun as the numerous attacks throughout the facility and the surrounding buildings utilizing their speed and agility to launch surprise attacks on the group filled with boatloads of gore, yet instead of playing with this as expected, there's just not a lot of other good stuff here. Among the main flaws featured here is that we have way too much time in the beginning with the group of friends trying to establish their relationship together, and none of this is appealing or enjoyable. That it's all so bland as they hand out and party at the house just goes nowhere and feels endless overall without any kind of real purpose being set-up as a drama about needing to get out of the small town. Even more troubling is that after they arrive at the location, the film's confrontations with the creatures within the abandoned building really tend to stop and start quite readily, dragging itself out in the middle by going through their investigation of the area rather than dealing with the creature encounters. There's a really down-beat sense of energy here when this should be building up furiously during that point and becoming the film's highlight when instead it becomes a dull, dreary mess. There's also the fact that, even if the pacing during these scenes where fine the rapid-fire editing during the action scenes that make it really indecipherable what's going on as the blurry creatures are quite hard to see as well further the rather troubling section. The other flaw to this is that the final twist at the end doesn't help matters by being so ludicrous and really ends up putting the film on a rather confusing note. Too bad, as it doesn't need a whole lot of work to end up pretty awesome.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity and drug use.
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