[BLU-RAY Review] PROM NIGHT
The original Prom Night from 1980 wasn’t the most “original” slasher horror movie in the world. It wasn’t that good either! It certainly never troubled the Halloween’s, Friday the 13th’s or Nightmare On Elm Street’s of the world! So, a remake really didn’t have to do much to best it, so just how does Prom Night, as directed by Nelson McCormick make out for a self confessed “horror junkie” like me?
Let’s get the plot out of the way first. Donna Keppel (Brittany Snow) was the only survivor when her obsessed high school teacher murdered her entire family to make her his own. Caught and incarcerated, Donna thought he was a nightmare of her past which would slowly start to fade, just like her nightmares of that night and now she is preparing to enjoy her Senior Prom with her boyfriend and girl friends at the Pacific Grand Hotel. What could possibly go wrong to ruin her big night?
Yep, you guessed it – the escape of the psychotic teacher, Richard Fenton, from the loony bin! That’s enough to ruin any one’s night!
What follows is a by-the numbers slasher movie. Sorry, but that’s the way it is! There’s nothing original on offer here, with no movie cliche left unturned! McCormick seems to be quite happy to lift ideas, and in some cases entire scenes, from other, much more prolific & accomplished directors (if you’re wondering who, just do a quick check on the names of the movies at the beginning of this review!) Hell, when we first put the blu-ray on and started watching the movie I turned to my wife and said “is this opening a complete rip off of The Lost Boys, or what?
That’s not to say that Prom Night is a “bad” movie. The performances for the most part, are pretty good. Brittany Snow is convincing enough as the traumatised Donna. You do wonder sometimes just why she thinks that hiding under a bed or looking deeply into a dark closet when she can hear strange noises coming from it are a good idea, but, like I said “horror cliche” time! But she is a decent enough actress and doesn’t become too annoying during the running time of the movie.
The rest of the cast, while decent enough, are all pretty forgettable apart form one stand – out. Johnathon Schaech as Richard Fenton! He brings such a level of psychosis and obsession to the role you have to wonder just what kind of a nutter would give him a job teaching kids in the first place! He deserve a better horror movie to be the bad guy in!
Unfortunately, no amount of quality bad guy acting or glossy HD transfer (and it does look superb, by the way) can mask the fact that this is yet another teen-slasher movie that tried to hide a lack of genuine blood, guts or tension behind MTV fast cuts and a glossy sheen.
Special Features
Commentary with Nelson McCormick, Brittany Snow and Jonathan Schaech: The most interesting thing about this commentary is the parts where Schaech slips into the character of Fenton (which is scary!) The annoying things are that Snow is waaay too giggly and McCormick has an over-inflated opinion of himself and the movie.
Picture In Picture Storyboards: A pretty pointless use of Blu-Ray tech – the ability to watch the movie with a small comparison of the storyboards running in the corner.
Deleted Scenes: Available with or without commentary from McCormick, Snow and Schaech, these few deleted scenes couldn’t have added anything to the movie, apart from the extended escape from the mental hospital by Fenton.
Making Of: This loses points in the interest department as soon as director McCormick compares the movie to Silence Of The Lambs and Se7en. I mean, excuse me? Apart from this, this is pretty shallow featurette, where you get the normal collection of cast and crew talking about “how great it is to be in the movie” or “how great it was to work with [insert name here]“.
Creating The Pacific Grand Hotel: A short, and ultimately pointless look at how the production crew turned the real Plaza Hotel into the fictional Pacific Grand.
Gag Reel: I like gag reels, I do, and this is a pretty standard gag reel. And it’s even funny in places!
Video Yearbook: This is the “video Yearbook” created for one of the scenes in the movie and its interesting for its inclusion but not something you’re ever going to watch again!
Alternate Ending: A completely pointless inclusion, as the only difference is a freeze frame!
Profile of a Killer: The cast and crew discuss the make up of Fenton and his love for Donna in what is possibly one of the most interesting extras on the disc.
Real Prom Stories From The Cast: About as interesting as you’d expect it to be listening to “the beautiful people” talking about their real Proms!
Interactive Poll: The Best Place To Hide A Body: A pretty pointless inclusion, and it makes you feel that its here just to show off the potential of Blu-Ray features.
All in all, this is a frivolous horror movie that will never take a place in the great horror pantheon but passes the time. If you want to watch a great horror then go put on the original Halloween or Nightmare On Elm Street. If you want to watch a passible, by the numbers horror, then give this a spin but don’t expect it to scare you. If you’re lucky, it’ll entertain, but you’ll soon have forgotten about it again. Certainly not one to give you nightmares!
Movie Rating:
Blu-Ray Rating (as a complete package):
Credit Counseling - Credit Consolidation - Credit Card Consolidation - United Specialties
4 Responses to “[BLU-RAY Review] PROM NIGHT”
Without Leslie Nielsen whats the point.
2 1/2 is too generous.
Looked awful. I skipped it.
i saw it in the movies and hated how 14 year old teenage girls screamed at the non scary parts liek when she opened a door…so im guessing thats why it was better on blu ray? it was just abnosious i cant explain how pissed off i was at those freaking pricks
same thing happened when i saw the grudge (which also sucked)
I agree with Grundy – two and a half for this? REALLY? It’s a reasonably strong review Wyv of a flat out awful film! I got sent it for review a month or so ago and it sat on the pile for ages then I watched it and realised that I couldn’t review it because, mentally and emotionally, I already had. Right here:
http://www.stalepopcorn.co.uk/reviews/dvd-reviews-r2/dvd-review-r2-black-christmas-2007/
Absolutely everything I thought and felt about that movie, I feel about this!
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