Night of the Prowler (1962) User Reviews

Rough-around-the-edges Butcher's thriller

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 13 November 2016]

NIGHT OF THE PROWLER is another cheap thriller from the Butcher's studio and another effort from director Francis Searle who seemed to churn out one picture after another during the period. This one's a little rough around the edges, marred by some weak writing and even weaker performances, although at just an hour in length it's a watchable enough picture.

The action is set in and around an engineering firm in which the directors are being mercilessly bumped off one by one by a mysterious hat-wearing figure. Old-time copper John Horsley suspects an ex-con with a grievance but the plot thickens when bizarre incidents begin to occur to the remaining directors. I have to say that I found this story quite predictable as I managed to work out the end about twenty minutes in, but it remains watchable in spite of this.

The title is a bit of a misnomer as it makes this film sound like a proto slasher when it isn't. There isn't really much in the way of prowling around at all, certainly no more so than in other thrillers from the era. Patrick Holt is good value as the rather unlikeable lead, juggling his ex-wife and new girlfriend along with his business. There's some early car racing stuff which is quite interesting although the lack of a real budget is always apparent. Marianne Stone has her usual cameo. Anne Clune as Holt's new girlfriend threatens to derail events with an appalling performance but thankfully she doesn't have too much screen time.

reasonable butchers thriller

[malcolmgsw · 6/10 · 7 September 2015]

Reasonable Butchers thriller.The title is misleading.There is a night and there is a prowler but not together and not at the same time. Although it has a lot of predictable moments there is nonetheless one jaw dropping moment in the bedroom of a hotel run by the ubiquitous Marriane Stone. Bodies keep dropping like flies and enough red herrings swim around to fill the North Sea. There are a lot of clichés to be found.A lot of people phone up with information only to be told they can't give it over the phone. Anyway it passes a reasonable hour or so. Not much more that you can say about it.Difficult to find ten lines to write about it.

Has Some Moments, Thanks To The Actors

[boblipton · 5/10 · 24 June 2020]

Some time ago, a man was convicted of stealing money from the racing car company that Patrick Holt runs with his partners, Claudette Wilde and Bill Nagy. He's been released from prison and is taking pot shots at the company's personnel..... and sometimes killing them. Police inspector John Horsley can't seen to find him, even though the released felon has no trouble finding his prey.

It's a nice little thriller, and the acting by the cast is fine, particularly Miss Wilde as the rather adventurous woman. I found that the way it was shot pointed out the final outcome, but that's often the way of these little thrillers. The result is fun, exciting -- there'sa nice sequence in which Nagy is shot at while testing out a race car --and while no world-beater, still a decent way to spend an hour.

Moderate, average Butcher's "thriller"

[ffranc · 5/10 · 24 June 2000]

With better direction and editing, this could have been a neat mystery-thriller. The experienced leads turn in professional performances - especially John Horsley as the detective - but the minor characters and the production values are well down to the standard of the budget.

"Quincy" and "Ironside" did this sort of thing much better a decade later.

The prowler couldn't make it.

[johnshephard-83682 · 1/10 · 24 November 2019]

As other viewers have pointed out, the title of this film is a complete misnomer: it could just as easily have been called 'The Morning of the Cabbage', or 'The Afternoon of the Fridge', as there are as many cabbages and fridges featured as there are prowlers. True, there is a gunman, and he does sometimes go out at night, but, fortunately for his intended victims, he is the world's worst shot, either missing the target entirely, or shooting the wrong man -his only success occurring at point blank range at the start of the film.

Towards the end, one character says 'Nothing makes any sense!' and how true this is. When all is finally revealed, the plot is virtually impossible to reconstruct with any kind of logic, but let's have a go anyway. Company director Robert Langton (Patrick Holt) and his colleague Anders hatch a plan to kill off the three other board members, thus getting their hands on their share of the funds. The plan involves pinning the blame on a disgruntled former employee Don Lacy, just released from prison. They orchestrate phone calls and threatening letters signed 'DL', or 'Lacey', as this is exactly what any would-be murderer would do, right? If this plan made any sense to start with, it soon evaporates. It turns out that they have already killed Lacy, giving him the perfect alibi ('I was dead at the time, inspector'). The body is kept in Anders' hotel room inside a giant trunk, which appears to attract no comment from the hotel staff. Then begins their bungled attempts to bump off the others, always seeming to choose the method least likely to succeed - shooting through windows, or in dark places, or sabotaging a racing car without being certain who will be driving it. The lesson of their one actual killing - get someone on their own, and shoot from two feet away - seems lost on them.

There are police, of course; the Inspector (John Horsley) conducts the case by doing very little at his office, assisted by a junior who does nothing at all. There is also the mandatory damsel in distress (Colette Wild), who does her best to get herself killed: when boyfriend Bill Nagy tells her to be careful who she opens the door to, he returns to her flat later and she calls out 'Come in, the door's open!'. And, when he arranges for her to hide out at a secret country location, she blabs it out to the first person she speaks to, Langton's girlfriend Jacky (Mitzy Rogers, who has learnt her lines, but that's about it) whom he dumps once he realises that there isn't really any purpose to her being in the film: 'I don't need you anymore,' he says, speaking for all of us. There are numerous irrational remarks, and plot holes, and a pointed conversation about a cheque that appears to be from 'Waiting for Godot.'

And so it goes on - tosh upon tosh, cliché upon cliché, until the final inevitable fist fight, necessary because the gunman still can't hit a target, even in a room full of people who have spent the film trying to get themselves killed. You'll enjoy how bad it is.

Don't be fooled by the title, the movie's nowhere near as exciting.

[jamesraeburn2003 · 26 January 2016]

The director of a successful engineering firm, Trevor Watson, is shot dead at his office. His business partners, Robert and Marie Langton (Patrick Holt and Colette Wild) and Paul Conrad (Bill Nagy) fear for their lives because a former employee called Don Lacey has recently been released from Parkhurst prison. Lacey stole five grand from the firm and it was the evidence they gave at the trial that sent him there. The company has landed a lucrative contract to design a new mark three racing car and the three partners receive threatening letters and parcels signed with Lacey's initials. But, after successive murder attempts are made against them, Detective Inspector Cameron (John Horsley), is unconvinced that he is hunting down a disgruntled employee. Instead he suspects that one of the partners has hatched an elaborate plan to kill his or her colleagues in order to take over the firm completely, but which one?

Don't be fooled by the title because the movie is nowhere near as exciting. It is a mediocre b-pic crime drama from quota-quickie specialists Butcher's Film Distributors. It is not the storyline nor the setting that is the problem here although my indispensable film encyclopedia, which is held together with string is scathing of the "apparently cut throat world of the motor trade." It goes on to describe the film as a "laughably bad low budget crime movie" and advises fans of this kind of thing to set their videos accordingly.

One of the joys of watching the best British second features was their realistic working class settings featuring ordinary, everyday people getting drawn into deadly situations that were way beyond their control and having to fight their way out of it. Here we have what could have been a much darker and suspenseful story line, but everything is sadly ruined because everything about this production has a rushed appearance. The plot is implausible thanks to Paul Erickson's screenplay with its twists and turns failing to run neatly into a logical whole leaving you thinking: "That's absurd!" If more time and care had been put into it we would have had a perfectly passable thriller. The flat direction is by b-pic journeyman Francis Searle who only got to make one 'A' feature in his entire life, Girl In A Million, before being confined to making quota-quickies and comedy shorts for the remainder of his career. Even the best efforts of the cast including Patrick Holt - here atypically cast as a villain -Colette Wild and the reliable John Horsley struggle to lift this one above average. For me, the best part of the film is the opening nightclub sequence with singing waiter Benny Lee who gets to sing an R&R number called "Let's Kick It Around" in between serving his customers.

A Shortage of Prowling Here

[daoldiges · 5/10 · 24 March 2023]

Night of the Prowler starts off promising enough with a mildly interesting nightclub scene, but unfortunately loses it's momentum shortly thereafter. The premise of the story is solid enough but it's not reliably build-upon to support the remainder of the film. At times it seems as if the characters almost want to get killed, some of their behavior and actions are quite baffling. The cast is a bit up and down. Patrick Holt does a serviceable job as the lead. However, the performances of the other co-leads Bill Nagy and Colette Wild are a bit wooded and their supposed romantic interest in each other is not credible based on how that interact with one another. Despite the many issues with Night of the Prowler, taking into consideration it's 60 minutes run time, this very average film could still be worth a viewing if you're curious.

Watchable UK crime film

[gordonl56 · 6/10 · 22 June 2008]

Nothing great here but by no means is it a waste of time. A group of directors of a small auto producing company begin to turn up dead. The prime suspect is an ex-employee who had been sent up the river for stealing company funds. The man got out of prison the day of the first murder. The police are on the trail but really have no evidence it is the just released con. A couple more close calls have all the bosses on edge when the con is found in a less than alive state. If it was not this man, then who the hell is trying to kill everyone? A couple more red herrings and a twist or two are thrown at the viewer before the bad guy is grabbed up. It seems the owner was killing of the people so he could keep the profits. Nasty git!

A Slight Case of Attempted Murder

[richardchatten · 3/10 · 24 November 2019]

A cool title, but since it takes place over several nights - and days - they should have used it on a film where it matched the action better. ('The Sniper' might have been more appropriate to this particular film except that whoever it is at large is such a lousy shot the only killing that goes according to plan is the one carried out at point blank range.)

Normally it's the microphone or it's shadow that destroys the illusion. This time around it's the fact that the scenes in Langton's office always sound as if they were recorded in an empty warehouse that betrays that the set is occupying a small corner of a soundstage at Shepperton.

Nothing to Brag About But Solid

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 19 August 2022]

The Butcher's Studio production of "Night of the Prowler" is predictable but plausible fun. Director Francis Searle and scenarist Paul Erickson make the most of this micro-budget thriller about a madman who systemically wants to eliminate the owners of a racing car company. Searle's direction is snappy and this hour-long, black & white thriller is serviceable enough to maintain attention. John Horsley steals the show as Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Cameron. The villain is ambitious, but the suspense is lacking because you suspect what is going to happen before it does. Nevertheless, it doesn't waste time going about its business.