Prom Night's life-size promotional cardboard standup of a door, strategically placed in theaters to pique the potential audience for this teen thriller, is a good indication of how much effort went into this movie. Opening the door produces a half-hearted, single scream. A hearty laugh would have been more appropriate.
My mind wandered a bit when Donna (Brittany Snow) and her boyfriend, Bobby (Scott Porter) exchange corsages as Donna's aunt and uncle look on, beaming with happiness. I imagined a prom night filled with monster corsages devouring boyfriends, Carrie-like J-horror prom night ghosts seeking vengeance, or tuxedoed zombies crashing the prom night party. Anything else but this unnecessary reworking of Jamie Lee Curtis's more violent 80's slasher. In my defense I will say I didn't attend my senior prom. Perhaps I have unresolved issues with that. Or perhaps this movie has unresolved issues with terror, tension, and thrills.
Director Nelson McCormick has done a large amount of episodic television work, so maybe this is why his movie is paced around imaginary commercial breaks. Each time tension builds he moves away from the action to show people dancing or crowning the prom king and queen. Like an episode of CSI, nothing appears out of control or erupts into hysterical terror. He also has a fetish for closets. I lost count how often someone opened, reached into, looked in, or hid in, a closet. Donna hides under a bed twice, but I didn't find that as annoying. Not much tension builds from opening closets. You can sum up the entire story this way: give sinister look, slash a victim, show dancing in slow motion, show someone opening a closet, give sinister look, slash a victim, show more dancing, show someone else opening a closet, slash a victim, stop the dancing long enough to show prom king and queen being crowned, show someone opening a damn closet again, slash another victim.
Donna is stalked by her college teacher (probably her chemistry teacher; they're all nutzy from handling toxic substances anyway). It's not clear why he needs to kill people in order to get close to her, but this is a slasher movie, so reasons are not always necessary, but lots of slashing is. He's so good at it he leaves a bloodless trail suitable for this PG-13'er. After her family is massacred, three years pass before Donna's back to normal enough to attend her senior prom. Not surprisingly, her stalking teacher escapes in time to rent a tux and join the festivities.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
I am surprised you of all monsters would have a problem with closets.
"I do still need to shave and blog more often."
Certainly the writing. It's been too long since your last post. However, the Van Dyke makes you look distinguished.
2 - ILoz Zoc
Hi El Bicho: funny, but I hadn't thought about that. Good point. I'll be more sensitive next time. Maybe a little more horror in those closets would have helped.
And yes, it has been too long. I will definitely be doing more writing for BC. I miss the old homestead.
3 - Jenaee Johnson
My prom was nothing like this.
4 - ILoz Zoc
Jenaee,
And that's a good thing, I hope.
5 - Angeline
I loved this movie so much, I took my sister to see it and after the movie. We were scared shitless. and we really really were scared, because after the movie we went outside and the parking lot was completely empty, and a car alarm went off and nobody was around,. Like how f**ded up is that...Well we were waiting for a taxi to arrive. a car stops. and all they were doing is staring at me and my sister. i can personally say it freaked us right out. Then after we did find out that it was to guys, but they were still watvhing us. and trying to make me and my sister get in the car with them...we kept saying NO NO NO