In the 80s if kids weren’t been stalked by knife-wielding lunatics through the woods they were most likely being chased by ax wielding nut cases through their school hallways. It was during this time period that Jamie Lee Curtis cemented her title as “Scream Queen” with her starring roles in John Carpenter’s seminal classic Halloween followed by The Fog, Terror Train and Prom Night with the latter one being of less dubious quality. Somehow director Paul Lynch’s Prom Night achieved “Cult Status” and if someone can explain to me how that happened I’d be eternally grateful. It’s just not that good a movie. Nor is it bad enough to be entertaining ironically.
It begins with your standard “horrible death” prologue where we see a group of kids playing a type of hide-and-seek game in an abandoned convent where the person who is “it” pretends to be a killer hunting down his/her prey. When 10-year-old Robin Hammond tries to join them she is chased by the group as they chant, “Kill! Kill! Kill!” The poor scared girl backs away and out through a window from which she falls to her death. The four children vow to never speak of this incident to anyone. Unbeknownst to them, a mysterious figure has seen it all.
“I know what you did last summer.”
The local authorities assume Robin’s death was committed by convicted sex offender Leonard Murch who flees from police questioning and ends up in a fiery car crash. Murch spends the next six years comatose in a state mental hospital, but on the anniversary of Robin’s death, we learn that the horribly burned man has awakened and escaped with a nurse as a hostage. Surely this cannot be a coincidence.
“Yes it is, and don’t call me Shirley.”
Robin’s now grown-up siblings; Kim (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Alex Hammond (Michael Tough), are readying for Prom while their mother (Antoinette Bower) is still reeling from this now six-year-old tragedy. Their father (Leslie Nielsen) is the school principal and though having virtually no impact on the story, or much screen time for that matter, manages to get top billing over Jamie Lee Curtis.
“Could I have a word with my agent?”
What follows is one of the most tedious slasher films I’ve ever seen. The few kills we get don’t really start happening until well after the hour mark and most of them are downright tame even by 80s standards. The movie also seems to be stuck trying to be Brian Depalma’s Carrie with school bitch Wendy (Anne-Marie Martin) teaming up with resident lunkhead Lou (David Mucci) to pull off a nasty prank against Kim at the prom while also trying to be a Halloween rip-off with the killer from the past returning to town scenario.
“I think we’ve given this movie seven years of cult status.”
Do you like Disco? Well if so you are in for a treat because this score contains six knock-off versions of popular disco hits of the 80s. Composer Paul Zaza had only five days to write the songs and was told to, “Make them as close enough to the original songs to get us sued but not close enough for them to win.”
This is the true horror of Prom Night.
Who could the killer be? Is it the horribly disfigured asylum escapee hell-bent on revenge? Could it be the distraught mother whose grief has turned her insane? What about the creepy new groundskeeper the school just hired? Will police detective McBride (George Touliatos) actually do any police work other than loitering around a high school prom?
My money is on Groundskeeper Willie.
If you are the type of person who really enjoys endless shots of a woman running up and down school halls, hiding in dark places, then being found by the killer followed by more running and hiding that goes on for FUCKING EVER then maybe you will get some entertainment out of this film. To make matters worse the movie has barely any nudity or blood in it with only the decapitation of the idiot Lou containing any kind of gore. It should almost have its “Slasher Film License” revoked.
Disco is dead!
The cast is fine as they give genuinely decent performances with Jamie Lee Curtis actually getting nominated for a Genie Award and the cinematography is top-notch, but those are the only positive things I can say about this flick. Of course, one has to look past the fact that most of the students of Hamilton High School seem to be in their late twenties or early thirties but what I can’t forgive is how deathly boring this film is. The final reveal of who the killer actually is will not go down in the annals of “awesome twists” like in Sleepaway Camp because, by the end of this film, you most likely have stopped caring about anything let alone who the killer is. Also, the film cheats, as it clearly shows us the killer’s brown eyes (same as on the poster) but when his mask is pulled off at the end…surprise it’s ole blue eyes. I won’t spoil who the killer is here but I will say this, he makes the idiot killers from Scream look incredibly competent.
And who thought a sparkly ski mask was a good idea?
Prom Night (1980)
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Movie Rank - 5/105/10
Summary
Director Paul Lynch tried to cash in on the slasher film craze and was lucky enough to ride its popularity to a modest success, but sadly this is one of those films that is best left in the nostalgic waste bin.
Simple…it achieved its’ classic status by being one of the greatest slasher movies ever made. THAT’S how. I agree, in theory, that such movies should have more killings. When you keep that number down, it places a lot more weight on the other elements of the film to carry the load. And Prom Night, unlike most such movies, is up to the challenge. It’s the Shakespearean tragedy of the slasher realm…a beautiful story of a family beset by the tragic death of a child 6 years earlier. But that situation is looked at through the prism of a slasher movie. And it’s one of those movies that’s better the second time you see it, because everything takes on a different resonance once you know who the killer is. But everything about this is ideal….the score is perfect, both the traditional film score, as well as the songs that are played during the dance. The cinematography is great, as well, with optimal use being made of the interior of the school, the long winding halls, dark, creepy doorways, empty classrooms, etc. (as to the hallways, people give Halloween 2 credit for using such devices effectively, but rarely do I hear anyone give such credit to Prom Night). The cast is respectable(the bad girl, Wendy, is particularly well-played). Like Friday the 13th, this is essentially, at its’ core, a very sad story…but unlike Friday the 13th, this is told from a relatively normal person’s point of view. This killer wants revenge, but he directs that exclusively to the people who carried out the original act he’s avenging. And the finale is unforgettable…with the decapitation, and the life-and-death brawl on the disco floor, and the final revelation of the killer’s identity…Along with Friday the 13th and Halloween, Prom Night is one of the 3 greatest slasher movies ever made.