Prom Night

Prom Night (1980)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Paul Lynch

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Stevens, Anne-Marie Martin, Michael Tough, Leslie Nielsen

From: Simcom Limited

Last night I saw this movie as a start to my September and October of horror watching for Letterboxd; the title of the list I'll put this and the other horror I watch will likely be something along the lines of: “The Bride Of A Ghastly Ghoulish Spine-Chilling Spookshow”, as it references the title of the list I did for Letterboxd last year. This movie in particular is at least fine. The Letterboxd review is below: 

I am someone who doesn't always do things by the rules here on Letterboxd. I enjoy it when once a year people make lists where they spend a month watching foreign movies, and in the fall they do the same thing for horror films; I do it myself, except I just watch whatever the hell I want to or whatever I stumble upon, rather than follow a strict set of rules on what I HAVE to watch. I still don't quite get the “Hoop-tober” name or why it only seemingly pays tribute to Tobe Hooper when it is supposed to encompass all of horror... but it's irrelevant as throughout September and October I'll periodically watch horror films; early November I will post the list for people to see. At random I decided this should be the first one to watch.

The film is not the most inventive or original slasher but that is OK. Several 10 year olds play a rather morbid version of Hide and Seek. Another 10 year old girl shows up, an accident happens, and she is killed. The group swears secrecy and a pervert is busted for the crime instead. Years later, that group and several others get ready for their high school prom, when a killer with a ski mask and a shard of broken glass is on the loose. Is it the pervert who just escaped from the institution?

Other slashers are better when it comes to imagination or setpieces (although the final act has some quality moments) or kills. Yet I can still say that this is fine. Time is spent getting to know the main characters before any slashing even starts. While not the most interesting at least I did not mind following these teenagers acting like typical teenagers. There are various petty high school feuds going on over such things as who should be the prom queen and which person has which boyfriend or girlfriend. I imagine everyone experienced such things in high school; it did remind me of personal experiences. I was amused by such characters are Jeff Wincott's A-hole character Drew, the unibrowed meathead Lou, the creepy groundskeeper Mr. Sykes or especially the short chubby nerd known as Seymour “Slick” Crane, who even drives a stereotypical 70's van. I am glad that Crane's character wasn't quite treated like you'd expect a movie to treat a chubby nerd. I won't reveal what happens to him, except that for starters he gets a nice date for the prom.

The highlight isn't the cool final act, nor having Jamie Lee Curtis as the lead and Leslie Nielsen in a supporting role... no, it's how the prom has a DISCO MADNESS theme and it's hilarious. They even brought in a light-up dance floor w/ multiple colored lights a la the dance floor of 2001 Odyssey of Saturday Night Fever fame. There's even a dance scene, and it rules. Much of the second half of this ends up being set to a pulsating disco soundtrack, and to me that's a good thing. It was nice seeing killings or attempted killings set to such music. Anyhow, we get a haunting ending and this is still a cult favorite among slasher fans.