Prom Night (1980) Online

1980 Leslie Nielsen Jamie Lee Curtis Casey Stevens Paul Lynch

Original Title :: Prom Night
Genre :: Movie / Horror / Thriller
Year :: 1980
Directror :: Paul Lynch
Cast :: Leslie Nielsen,Jamie Lee Curtis,Casey Stevens
Writer :: William Gray,Robert Guza Jr.
Budget :: CAD 1,500,000
Type :: Movie
Time :: 1h 32min
Rating :: 5.4/10

Prom Night (1980) Online

For six long years, Hamilton High School seniors Kelly Lynch, Jude Cunningham, Wendy Richards and Nick McBride have been hiding the truth of what happened to ten-year-old Robin Hammond the day her broken body was discovered near an abandoned convent. The foursome kept secret of how they taunted Robin - backed her into a corner until, frightened, she stood on a window ledge... and fell to her death. Though an accident, the then-twelve-year-olds feared they would be held responsible and vowed never to tell. But someone else was there that day... watching, and now, that someone is ready to exact murderous revenge on prom night.

Cast overview, first billed only:
	Leslie Nielsen	-	Mr. Hammond
	Jamie Lee Curtis	-	Kim
	Casey Stevens	-	Nick
	Anne-Marie Martin	-	Wendy (as Eddie Benton)
	Antoinette Bower	-	Mrs. Hammond
	Michael Tough	-	Alex
	Robert A. Silverman	-	Sykes (as Robert Silverman)
	Pita Oliver	-	Vicki
	David Mucci	-	Lou
	Jeff Wincott	-	Drew
	Mary Beth Rubens	-	Kelly (as Marybeth Rubens)
	George Touliatos	-	McBride
	Melanie Morse MacQuarrie	-	Henri-Anne
	David Gardner	-	Dr. Fairchild
	Joy Thompson	-	Jude

The line, "It's not who you come with, it's who takes you home," appears in all the Prom Night movies.

In one of several scenes removed from the theatrical version of the movie, Principal Hammond takes his wife to visit Dr. Fairchild after a visit to Robin's resting place at the cemetery. As Vivian is seated in the office and the men talk privately in the hallway, it is revealed that Robin and Alex are twins.

Brock Simpson is the only actor who appeared in all four Prom Night movies.

Jamie Lee Curtis did her own stunts at the end of the movie.

According to director Paul Lynch in the documentary "Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film", he was having difficulty securing financing until Jamie Lee Curtis signed on. Once the film was shot, Paramount expressed interest in distributing the movie. However, they only wanted to open it in 300 theaters whereas Avco Embassy Pictures offered to release it in 1200 theaters. Avco Embassy released Prom Night as a result. That same year, Paramount released another independent slasher film, Piątek trzynastego (1980).

Hamilton High School is the one setting that all of the Prom Night movies have in common.

The van that goes off the cliff was stolen.

Composer Paul Zaza wrote all the disco songs in only five days.

Michael Tough kept the mask that he wears in the movie.

Shot in twenty-four days.

Eve Plumb originally auditioned for the role of Kim Hammond.

Hamilton High custodian Mr. Sykes, albeit drunk on the evening of the prom, knew that a killer was loose because he was secluded in the same storage room that Wendy ran into when she was being pursued. You can see the camera pan left to his silhouette shortly after she enters the space to hide.

According to the bluray commentary by the director, the van that was blown up in the movie was actually stolen by the stunt coordinator

Anne-Marie Martin's final appearance where she was billed as Eddie Benton.

According to Paul Zaza, the prom scene was shot with actual disco hits that the production company later realized they couldn't afford the rights to. This gave Zaza a week and a half to create similar, origonal disco songs for the film that were close, but not so close they could be sued.

There were deleted scenes of Leslie Nielson talking morosely about his daughter's death to a doctor, and also scenes of him chopping wood, which were meant to point him out as a suspect. There were also deleted scenes with a psychiatrist telling Leslie Nielson that his wife has serious problems, not just depression over his daughter's death, and another scene with her looking at a picture of Robin on the wall surrounded by flowers, which were meant to make Mrs. Hammond look like a suspect. There was also a scene with Leslie Nielson talking to a psychiatrist about Robin's death and it's impact on Kim, how she gets depressed from time to time; and how Robin and Alex were twins, but Alex doesn't remember the death at all.

The subplot about Leonard Murch was added late in the production of the film.

The shots of the killer tearing the photos out of the yearbook were shot by producer Peter R. Simpson after principal shooting on the movie had wrapped.

Robert A. Silverman had just been in a serious accident and was still undergoing speech therapy prior to acting in this film. Moreover, Silverman came up with the idea to put tape on his glasses.

Famous for being one of the only slasher movies with a sympathetic killer.

When the raspy voiced caller in the room dials the residences of Jude, Kelly, Nick and Wendy respectively, the area code on the rotary phone begins with 614. Although the movie was shot in Toronto, Canada this area code is for Central Ohio.

As gym teacher Henri-Anne Benton is giving decorating instructions to Biology teacher Monty Weller in the gym and Kim runs in, she apologizes for being late and Mr. Weller calls her "The literary Ms. Hammond". This is related to one of several scenes deleted from the theatrical version (but returned to the network TV version) of the movie when the girls are dissecting frogs and are caught sneaking Jude's note about her last-minute prom date, Slick. Mr. Weller wrongfully accuses Kim of possessing the note and forces her to read it aloud to the class.

When Ms. Benson says to Mr. Weller at the prom "I believe this is OUR dance, Monty", he was in the company of Adele Cooper, the substitute secretary for Principal Hammond. She is a character whose scenes were removed from the theatrical version (but returned to the TV version) of the movie.

"Prom Night" would not be the only movie actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Anne-Marie Martin would star in together: Jamie would reprise her role as Laurie Strode for Halloween II (1981) and Anne-Marie would play Darcy, Nurse Karen's friend in the film that is promised a ride home from the party at Stevie Mackie's house. The latter was uncredited for her brief appearance.

Both Carrie and Prom Night have revenge stories which take place at the prom; both with a sympathetic killer who is getting revenge for a vicious prank.

According to Horror at Hamilton High a documentary about the making of Prom Night Eve Plumb was all set to play Kim. At the last minute Jamie Lee Curtis' people expressed an interest, and Eve was replaced.

Director Paul Lynch originally conceived a film about a psychotic gynecologist to cash in on Halloween (1978), but upon being told that such a film would be distasteful, retooled it into this film.

Producer Peter R. Simpson's son Brock Simpson plays Young Nick.

This was much more artfully made then Friday the 13th, (which came out the same year and was a similar holiday themed slasher movie riding on the coattails of Halloween with a revenge story at its core). But for some reason Friday the 13th was a phenomenon, and while this was a hit, and it got better reviews, it did not have the same impact.

Gene Siskel called this a watered down version of Halloween crossed with Carrie. Another critic called it a combination of Friday the 13th and Saturday Night Fever.

Film debuts of Jeff Wincott and Mary Beth Rubens.

The main plot about children committing a horrible sin and all swearing to secrecy only to be stalked years later by a vengeful killer would later used as the plot for the 1997 thriller I Know What You Did Last Summer.

One critic said the killer looked like a Phillipino Spiderman.

Director Paul Lynch developed Prom Night after a meeting with producer Irwin Yablans. Lynch had wanted to work on a horror film, and, in response to Yablan's suggestion that he utilize a holiday as a basis for the film, Lynch decided on building the premise around the event of the high school prom.

Prom Night was filmed over twenty-four days in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from August 7 to September 13, 1979. The Don Mills Collegiate Institute served as the main school location, while the Langstaff Jail Farm in Richmond Hill was used for the abandoned building featured prominently in the beginning of the film.

As with Carrie this is a revenge movie focusing on the prom; and as with Carrie there is a prank at the beginning which ends up having disastrous consequences. Also like Carrie in that the prom queen is supposed to be victimized by a staged prank; and as with Carrie you have a fake prom king and queen standing in for the real king and queen. But whereas in Carrie the prom queen ends up being victimized at the prom (she is drenched in pig's blood), in Prom Night the prom king gets victimized (he is decapitated).

A disco-slasher, kind of a cross between Saturday Night Fever and Halloween.

Lieutenant McBride and his son Nick live in apartment 101 of their complex.

In the Buffy the vampire slayer episode The Prom 3x20. One of the VHS's that Tucker Wells has to train the Hell Hounds to attack people wearing formal wear is Prom night.

David Mucci, who played troublemaker Lou, had a serious medical condition. He was forced to be immobilized underneath the stage for the scene in which Lou is decapitated. He was terrified that something would happen while he was trapped there so director Paul Lynch held his hand for the duration of the scene to assure him everything would be all right.

Body count: 8.

User reviews

Lailace

One of the Halloween follow-ups that would give Jamie Lee Curtis the title of "scream queen".

Children accidentally cause the death of a little girl, now years later they are in high school and getting ready for the prom. However, it seems someone else is planning on getting some murderous revenge on prom night.

Prom Night is a formula slasher film, with plenty of the slasher trappings, but there are some elements that raise this film above some of the others of it kind. The director gives this movie a truly dark and eerie atmosphere, with the help of Paul Zaza's spooky music score. The plot remains engaging throughout and the creep-factor is kept high. One difference from the slasher "norms" is the fact that we ultimately have sympathy and even sorrow for the film's killer.

While Prom Night is hardly a flawless movie, in fact there are a few scenes where the lighting is way too low and the disco prom dates the film, it does hold it's own. The cast gives good performances, especially Curtis, Eddie Benton, and the late Casey Stevens. There's also a few good rock numbers like "Prom Night" and the mellow "Fade to Black".

Worth a look for slasher fans.

*** out of ****

Nejind

"Prom Night" emerged at the beginning of a decade, which also marked a decade for the rise and fall of slasher films as we know them. Along with "Terror Train" and "The Fog", "Prom Night" is one of Jamie Lee Curtis's most well-known returns to the genre after "Halloween", though it still remains fairly obscure to many horror fans and general audiences. The plot centers on Kim Hammond (Curtis), daughter of her high school's principal (Leslie Nielsen). She's popular, well-liked, and seems to have it all. Unfortunately, Kim and her family are haunted by the mysterious death of her younger sister, Robin, who died after falling from the top floor of an abandoned building ten years prior; the police blamed a schizophrenic child predator on the crime, but little do they know, there were four children who were there and whom were responsible for the incident. Those four children are now high school seniors, classmates and friends of Kim; it's prom night, which is incidentally the ten year anniversary of Robin's death. Kim will be crowned prom queen. Some won't live to see it.

If the "Prom Night"'s plot set-up sounds familiar, that's because it is. Though the film was fresh twenty-some years ago, its originality has been obstructed by the plethora of slasher films that followed in its wake, which may leave some viewers bored and running the numbers; but if you can look past this, "Prom Night" is an extremely fun film. It has a little bit of everything going for it: an elusive killer, odd phone calls, probable motives, sassy high school girls, disco dancing, a ski-mask, and, most importantly, an axe. Team up the carefree high school environment with five teenagers' dark secret, and accompany that with a hellbent murderer on prom night, and you've got yourself a straightforward, suspenseful piece of slasher cinema.

Granted, the film is dated, and the disco dances and funky hairdos of the day may take be distracting to some extent, but the nostalgia of that era is in every frame. Paul Zaza's score is appropriately ominous and ignites a feeling of being under watch by... someone, and at all times. Director Paul Lynch also does a fine job here, showing us just enough, but not too much. Nice establishing shots of the high school's hallways at night set the stage for the action that ensues as night falls and the prom begins, and several impressive instances of cinematography abound (the slow-motion throat slash murder which only shows us a close- up of the victim's facial expression, followed by a fade-in to the red punch bowl being one example). There are several surprisingly artsy shots in the film, and the camera-work is, for the most part, clever. The film has a rather bright, hazy look to it as well, which, whether intended or not, gives the movie another sort of texture.

Performance-wise, we've got a surprisingly decent cast of 20-somethings playing 18-year-olds. Nonetheless, most all involved give commendable performances, Jamie Lee Curtis included. Leslie Nielsen's role is minor, but he's great, and Eddie Benton does a good job as the jealous rich girl of the school (and might I say, she has one of the best chase scenes I've ever seen in a horror film). Though the film takes roughly an hour before all the mayhem ensues, the build-up is worth the wait— the final 15 minutes of the film are incredibly fun (almost as fun as the hokey disco dance scene with Jamie Lee Curtis and Casey Stevens, ala "Saturday Night Fever"). The killer himself is eerie and has an interesting choice of weapons (a shard of broken mirror), even though his whispering "now!" upon each murder might sound funny. The revelation at the end of the film may or may not be expected, depending on the viewers' familiarity with these types of films. Either way, it's pretty poignant for a slasher movie.

Overall, "Prom Night" is a wonderful example of slasher prototypes. It was early enough to not be considered a total rip-off, and it's got a lot of interesting things going for it, no matter how by-the-numbers it seems today. It's suspenseful, sometimes spooky, and genuinely fun and lively. Factor in some wonderful murder scenes, a budding scream queen, an eerie score, and a full-fledged disco blood-bash, and you have yourself one of the most memorable slasher films of the 1980s. 9/10.

Narder

Prom Night is an excellent Canadian horror/mystery movie from 1980. It starts with a group of kids playing a game in an abandoned building that turns horribly wrong. A young girl they were picking on falls out the top window to her death. The kids decide to keep quiet about their involvement in the incident. They don't know that someone was there and saw everything that happened. Fifteen years later, it's prom night at the high school and all those kids are now grown up getting ready to graduate. A mysterious, unseen person starts calling all of the people that were involved in the little girl's death years ago, spooking each of them. Soon after, most of the teenagers start getting murdered during prom. Most of the deaths are in the actual school when no one is around. All of this leading up to a well done ending which reveals the killer's identity.

This is what the 80's were about. This disco music, the dancing, the fashion! It's just a great 80's horror film. The disco/music score is amazing. Prom Night is known as a slasher flick, but I would say it's more of a murder mystery. We actually have to guess who the killer is. There are actually quite a few suspects. The deaths were probably well done, but on the DVD versions, the quality is so poor you can barely make out who is who. Jamie Lee Curtis and the late Leslie Nielsen rock their roles of course. However another actress, Eddie Benton, adds real energy to the film also as the vixen Wendy.

The killer dresses in all black including a black ski mask with cut out eye holes. His main (and only) weapon is a large axe. The one particular chase scene is Wendy's. He chases her around the interior of the darkened school for a good ten minutes. There are some really tense scenes as the killer pops out of everywhere trying to kill her with his wielding axe. The film location of the dark high school at night really add a spooky feeling to the movie. It's amazing.

All of the characters are root-able. You really feel for most of them, even the vicious Wendy. The poor girl gets chased around the classrooms for so long, you almost want her to make it out of the movie alive. This is a very creepy and underrated horror film that should be seen by all. Much better than the sequels and the "remake" which was done a few years ago.

8/10

Castiel

Six years ago four kids make a pack to keep a secret, which involved the mysterious death of child Robin Hammond. They thought that were the only ones who knew what had happened, but some else witnessed it to. Now that person strings them along, to eventually plan their revenge during Prom night.

A real thank-you to the commercial success of "Halloween (1977)" and "Friday the 13th (1980), which saw the influx of slasher films and "Prom Night" was one of the first to step up. Too bad that we have here is an unspectacular so-so, if slick looking slasher effort that got caught labouring along with very little happening and providing us with corny school melodramatics. When it came to the crunch, most of the Prom Night sequences was about getting the groove on and listening to funky dory disco soundtrack. Oh it just makes you want to bogey; well it didn't stop Jamie Lee Curtis from strutting her stuff. However when it came to the good stuff, I thought the novel deaths were soundly executed, and there's a certain unpleasantness about them. When the black hooded killer (who's quite fast on their feet and would make for a good shaker too) is tormenting and stalking the victims (from be it to the phone calls or hanging about in the shadowy corridors) there's an ominous air to proceedings, which director Paul Lynch pulls off rather well. It's just too bad that most of the time is used setting this all up with ineffective red herrings and below par, drawn out script. Too many loose ends creep in, even though the premise is quite slight and you can find yourself laughing at its unintentional goofiness and picking up on it predictability.

Robert New's stunningly vivid camera movements are atmospherically airy and Paul Zaza and Carl Zittrer's sorrowfully twisted musical score gets it cues right. The performances from the cast are acceptable with a likable Jamie Lee Curtis (earning her scream queen tag at the time) proves herself as an upcoming talent. Weak character, but well judged performance. Leslie Nielsen looks awkwardly distracted, and seems to duck off in a phone-in performance and George Touliatos gives the film some solidarity. Anne-Marie Martin is a delight as the scheming sexpot Wendy, David Mucci is perfect as the boorish brute Lou and Casey Stevens is modest as Curtis' prom date Nick.

This post-Halloween slasher is familiar and slowly plotted, but its competent technical handling helps.

Exellent

I first saw Prom Night back when I was 10 years old, but didn't appreciate it as a film until re-watching it at 19. Watching it a second time was like discovering a priceless gem and I must say, as a screenwriter, I still look to this movie as motivation and inspiration. Unlike most Hollywood horror/slasher movies, it did what most of the latter cannot, which is provide a combination of good lucks and good acting, therefor ensuring we care about the characters.

Scream most definitely took a page from this movie as inspiration for its mystery theme. Though the budget was low and this movie was made in 1980 I feel that it still has enough of a story to keep us entertained and also enough of a punch to make us jump a bit. But what really makes Prom Night a success is its actors. Jamie Leigh was wonderful as always, but one character I felt that stole the show was the character of Wendy. As vile and wicked as they made her, the actress portraying her gave her depth. I felt as a viewer that she was more than just the typical bitch character. With killer lines, a beautiful face, and a chase scene that has been the foundation of future horror movie chase scenes, this girl makes the movie worth watching.

If you happen to see this movie on or notice it in a video store I would suggest giving it a look. I would love to see a remake, ONLY if they kept the plot the same, but intensified the horror, much like what was done in TTCM remake. And, of course, to have Edie Benton and Jamie Leigh make an cameo or guest appearance somewhere!

Dagdatus

'Prom Night' is a decent little slasher-mystery starring Jamie Lee Curtis in her third scream queen role. The movie also stars Leslie Nielsen as Jamie Lee's father and Hamilton High School principal. Everyone else in it are just bit players, but we must consider that this film stars one of the wickedest you-know-whats in slasher movie history. Her name is Wendy, and she is played by Anne-Marie Martin. Who this actress is, or was, I have no idea, but I know I hated her character with a passion. One of the biggest bonuses for horror fans in this movie will be the big chase scene with her and the killer quite near the end which was deliberately filmed super dark. You can hardly see what's going on and for me it is the best scene in the whole movie. Big points for Wendy's chase scene. It works since she plays the role well, and we've waited so long for this scene and it comes pretty much near the end, but it delivers.

Anyway, 'Prom Night' opens with a tragedy in which young Robin Hammond, who is Jamie Lee's character's little sister, accidentally falls to her death from a two-story window after being cornered by four brats(Wendy, Nick, Kelly, and Jude)who were trying to scare her. Freaked out that they may be in serious trouble, they all make a pact to take it to the grave, initiated by Wendy, the leader of the brats. Ultimately the blame gets pegged on some serial pedophile and no one ever suspects the four kids. But someone else knows and was there and saw the whole thing. We continue twelve years later. It's the day of the prom and all four of the kids receive raspy phone calls, asking them to "come out to play". It concerns most of them, but eventually their minds stray back to the prom. Some of them have dates, some don't. Jamie Lee ends up going with Nick who just dumped Wendy, so Wendy hooks up with Lou, who sort of serves as John Travolta's Billy Nolan from 'Carrie', and the two of them plan to play a prank on Jamie Lee and Nick since they were voted Prom King and Queen. Pause real quick. Remember, Nick is one of the kids who was involved with the death of Jamie Lee's little sister. Could you really keep a secret that big from someone you are "going steady" with? Also, the two other girls involved, Kelly and Jude, appear to be good friends with Jamie Lee's character. I don't think there is much logic in that, but hey, it's a horror movie. I have to overlook it.

In the end, prom dreams are sliced and diced as the vengeful killer begins knocking each of them off, eighties style. The movie is definitely pretty corny and cheaply made, but that's all part of it's charm. The suspense is there, the score is really creepy, and Jamie Lee does her thing. However, the best part is the mystery. Who is the killer? I'm sure we all know twenty-five years later, but it was fun finding out. Everyone is a suspect in 'Prom Night', as mentioned by Randy from the first 'Scream', and it will keep you guessing right up to the climax. Well, actually, when it gets to that point there are only a couple people left that it can be...but it was still a bit of a surprise.

Honestly, I think 'Prom Night' could use a remake. My VCR copy has such awful quality that it's really quite hard to see what's going on on the screen, and I hear that the DVD isn't any better, so I think we could all benefit from a remastered version, or even a remake at this point.

6/10 is my vote. A decent little slice and dice mystery from days long gone. How I miss them...

Dagdage

Arriving as it did during the early moments of the slasher film explosion of the 80's, Prom Night was undoubtedly much more impressive then than it is today. Stripped of historical significance, modern viewers will probably be disappointed to find this dated offering to be a relatively bloodless affair with a meager body count and limited thrills. Certainly, as a horror film, Prom Night doesn't have the tools to deliver any solid scares. But as a piece of time capsule kitsch, this movie is a very fun watch, even if the unintentional laughs outweigh the splatter elements.

The set-up that ultimately launches the film's flimsy revenge plot is silly and awkwardly-staged, with a young girl basically walking out of a window to her death because a quartet of pint-sized kids her own age chant "kill" over and over again. This isn't a particularly terrifying scenario, so things get off to a clumsy start here.

It doesn't help matters that the next hour of the film is almost completely devoid of anything suspenseful, scary, or even interesting, save for a series of phone calls to the film's eventual victims made by a killer who has obviously watched too many Dario Argento films. The rest of the runtime for the first two acts is padded with long-winded character development, needless subplots, and a few attempts at red herring planting that ultimately fall flat.

There is also a lot of screen time devoted to extended Disco dancing sequences, which, predictably, have aged far worse than the rest of the film. Compounding the goofiness, when Jamie Lee Curtis and her date are horrified to see that their nemeses have arrived at the prom despite being expelled, Jamie Lee proclaims, "let's show them what we can do!", at which point she and her partner take to the dance floor and lay down some revenge boogie. Take that, jerks!

The film shows us too much of the killer early on, so even though this is supposed to be a whodunnit, the list of likely suspects is quite short by the time any of the murders start happening. Even worse, the masked, black-clad maniac is the smallest-statured movie psycho of all time, and any menace derived from our mysterious prom-crasher is promptly done away with once we see them and Jamie Lee on the screen at the same time, at which point we can't help but notice that our scream queen star is both taller and more physically intimidating than the killer.

When the slasher movie festivities finally get underway, the resulting murders are downright quaint in their subdued delivery, and only a couple of sequences have any real impact. The payoff is relatively meager considering the extended exposition, and while the killer's surprise reveal at the end makes narrative sense, it is a bit disconcerting to see that the skulking murderer we've been following throughout the film is actually the most benign character in the entire cast.

A horror classic, this ain't. But the glaring markers of the era give the film nostalgic interest, and it's definitely fun to see Leslie Nielsen playing it straight, even if he abruptly disappears from the film without explanation before the climax. Jamie Lee is also a welcome presence, and although she seems to be phoning her scenes in most of the time, we have to concede that she gives the admittedly weak material about what it deserves.

The ancillary elements of the film (including the very cool theatrical poster and its killer tag-line) are actually more interesting than the finished product, and only the most forgiving fans of the genre's boom during this period will gleam much enjoyment here.

It's hard to recommend a film that has such limited appeal, but I must confess that I have a genuine fondness for Prom Night, and I still enjoy myself every time I watch it. 1978-1983 was truly a magical era when the horror genre exploded with low budget delights, and if you hold those golden years in your heart, your chances of forgiving this film's trespasses are much better.

Kieel

I saw Prom Night when it was released back in 1980. So in honor of my 16 year old son's prom this past week, I decided to re-visit this clunky classic and see if I can re-capture my youth. And you know what? I think I enjoyed Prom Night better the second time around. There was actually a pretty good red-herring or two thrown in the mix to "confuse" the viewer into thinking who the killer really was. As a matter of fact since it's been so long, I forgot who the really turned out to be (I was after only 16 myself when I saw this movie 30 years ago!) and was actually surprised at the reveal.

Although there were and still are certain things that ruin the movie for me (like the fact that most of the actors look to be well in their 30s and that disco had already made a quick exit), it's kinda fun to see how campy the film really is. I recommend watching it at least once and enjoy it for what it really is: a time capsule to those lost years of the early slasher movies.

Steamy Ibis

"Prom Night" is one of the horror films that is highly underrated. What this film has that most horror films from the 80's generation (including some from these past two generations) do not take the time to develop is a strong plot with good character development. Of course these come with good screen writing.

Having said that, as a consequence the viewer actually has to sit through a building story, which takes a while to build up.

Therefore about 50 minutes of the film is dedicated solely to that. But that's not to say there aren't any moments of suspense or slight uneasiness. But during the prom sequence the film has a tendency to lose track of the fact that it is a horror film, and so there may come a time during the film that you'll ask yourself "what is it I'm watching again?"

There are a few possibilities as to who could be doing the killings and why, but the revelation was a bit predictable and if you pay close attention to the film there are actually intentional hints dropped. This I found to be quite clever. Also, most horror movies don't leave the audience on a sad not but this one actually did, something rare to find in a horror film, and it was nice to see.

Those who are expecting a horror film with excessive gore scenes will not find it in this horror film. For Paul Lynch's "Prom Night" it is mostly what you do not see that makes you cringe.

"Prom Night" runs approximately 89 minutes in length, and should at least be considered as a rental. "Prom Night" is not a forgettable horror movie, and has memorable moments. Roughly 39 minutes of the film will keep you on edge and entertained, especially during Kelly's chase scene. Whilst the other 50 minutes will keep you for the most part intrigued. ***1/2 Stars Out of *****

Perilanim

While other slasher flicks of the early eighties involved an identifiable villain slicing and dicing countless teens, "Prom Night"'s killer remained a mystery. But like all good horrors, there is a back story which sets up the reason for the killings, in this case, the motif is purely revenge.

Four childhood friends who would later grow up to be the school's nice boy, diva, meek girl and geek girl, were all involved in the death of another young girl. That girl is the sister of Jamie Lee Curtis' character, Kim. And, as Prom Night approaches, someone is hunting down those four former friends.

Jamie Lee Curtis is obviously the main reason to watch this film, but "Prom Night" is not without other good points. The idea of a murderer prowling around on Prom Night is great, the music is very cool, especially the song on the closing credits. Oh, and Jamie Lee Curtis sure can dance! The rest of the cast are pretty good. Leslie Nielson's involvement is minimal, though Antionette Bower is wasted. Pita Oliver, David Mucci, Casey Stevens and Anne-Marie Martin as the school diva are especially note worthy.

Welen

Another average slasher flick, one of two that scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis made back to back during her time in Canada fresh from her fame in John Carpenter's Halloween in 1978. It opens with four young kids in an abandoned building playing a macarible game when one girl joins them and it leads to her accidently falling out of a second floor window to her death. The four kids (three girls and a boy) make a pack never to mention it to anyone. But six years later, someone knows about the killing and decides to get those four responsible. As it also happens the anniversary of the death coincides with the big high school prom which the kids are all attending, making it convenient to borrow big ideas from movies like Carrie (1976) among others for the characters, situations and subplots.

Although it has some good qualities and was moderately successful when first released, the movie is bloodless in almost every respect, plus the murders are so murky and dimly lit. Jamie Lee Curtis, playing Kim, the older sister of the murdered young girl, is good as the popular student who wants to be elected prom queen. But she, unfortunatly, is not one of the four students targeted by the masked ax-weilding killer. In fact, she frequently becomes a suspect along with her father the school principal, as well as her younger brother Alex, the creepy school janitor, and the school bully. But the identity of the killer is fairly obvious. But so much time is spent on establishing red herrings that more than two-thirds of the movie pass before any of the killings begin. The production values are also good, but the film is starting to show its age.

Contents: Six killings, scant blood, one decapitation, Jamie Lee Curtis as prom queen, no nudity, no real suspense, no pace, lots of disco music and dancing, sit this one out.

Fast Lovebird

A young girl dies tragically when she falls through the window of an abandoned building upper floor as a result of a scare tactic prank performed by four kids playing a hide-n-seek version of "I'm going to kill you." The kids responsible make a silent pact to keep their actions behind this death secret, with a schizophrenic known child abuser accused of being the guilty culprit responsible. The wrongfully accused man is seriously burned after trying to flee the police with his car turned over in a crash. Breaking free from the asylum imprisoning him, this event coincides with the four kids, now teenagers in high school, receiving creepy phone calls from an unknown psychopath forewarning their up coming meeting at the senior prom. The film shows the days leading up to the senior prom, and the psycho, dressed in black with a ski-mask covering his face, attacking each member of the group responsible(..when they are most vulnerable, away from a crowd of people, alone in some place either inside the quiet abandoned halls & rooms of the school, or just outside the building) for the little girl's death many years ago, on Prom Night.

More along the line of "Halloween" than "Friday the 13th", this is a methodical(..some might say..slowwwwwwwww moving)character driven slasher with limited death sequences shown, with most of the killer's murderous activities occurring off screen. I will say that the victims are developed, given exposition before the senior prom so that they gain sympathy from the audience. The only one who might deserve her comeuppance in many viewer's eyes is Wendy(Anne-Marie Martin), the very one who instigated the silence of their misdeeds as children, and the one who causes most of the mischief towards Kim(Jamie Lee Curtis), who is dating her former squeeze, Nick(Casey Stevens). What makes this union most interesting is that Kim's sister was the girl who fell through the window to her death, and Nick was one of the kids responsible for frightening her with that game. We witness the other two girls, now young women either experiencing love for the first time or heartbreak, before meeting their doom at the hands of the mysterious psycho. As is the case in giallo thrillers, which this is closer in spirit than 80's slashers, there are red herrings regarding who the killer might be. Could the psycho be the escaped lunatic seeking revenge for being framed for a murder he didn't commit? Could the killer be Kim's grieving father, Principal Hammond(Leslie Nielsen, handed a very underwritten role)? Could the killer be the peeping tom, alcoholic, sneaky janitor? I'm just not convinced this will work for many slasher fans because the seedy, gratuitous elements which draw such a crowd are not that present here.

Like a lot of fans of "Halloween" from their youth onward, I followed Jamie Lee Curtis' career, looking for other horror films on VHS shelves, and "Prom Night" was one of those. Expecting something more visceral, I guess I was a tad bit disappointed. Watching it as an adult, I believe I can see what director Paul Lynch was trying to accomplish..building up these characters looking forward to the future, or dwelling on their own personal dramas and dilemmas(..relationships and growing pains, these teens had in high school), before facing a grim fate they weren't prepared for. He also lenses the film, very soft-focus, giving it an almost dreamlike aura. One of a handful of slashers Curtis would star in during the early 80's before moving on to "Trading Places" where she'd hone her comedic chops, she was blossoming into a stunning woman. While I loathe disco with a passion, this film might amuse as a time-capsule film with how Curtis shows her stuff on the dance floor. She even teases her faithful with a lockeroom sequence showing how she has developed wearing a bra, shirt opened. As far as the death sequences, the highlight, of course, is the decapitation where a thug, taking Nick's place after he and his cronies attacked him, tying the kid up in a situation planned by Wendy, gets his head lopped off with it rolling onto the dance-floor walkway. The film's main suspense chase concerns Wendy trying to flee her pursuer through the empty halls of the school as the other teens are dancing. The film's reveal of the killer is really kind of sad, actually, as so many perish because of a childish prank which could've been prevented if the kids responsible had acted civilized.

Light out of Fildon

If anything, PROM NIGHT(1980) has that creepy atmosphere. Watch it alone, at night, I dare u. The high school, the broken mirror, the killer, the music -- this is a great slasher film. Jamie lee and the other girls were hot. I saw this at the drive-in when I was 10 or 11 yrs old, and it's as effective today as it was then. Don't let anyone tell you this film isn't a credible entry into the classic (I hate that word) slasher genre. (SPOILER)Isn't the school janitor such a great red herring character in this movie?! And the killer's black outfit is perfect. I think I own the original movie poster -- it's cool. I haven't seen the 2008 version, but from reviews and trailer I can promise it won't come close to the atmosphere in the original.

Aloo

Prom Night is a fun chessey slasher movie, but not quite as chessey as the other Slasher movies that came out of the 1980's. Prom Night is one of the ones that has better character development than the others. After seeing the beginning of this movie you can see where "I Know What You Did Last Summer" has it's ideas from. Prom Night is actually one fun movie, it takes the time setting up suspense and I really enjoyed the chessey disco music and the lame disco dancing.

Jamie Lee Curtis is truly fab in this role as I've often enjoyed her performance in other horror movies such as (Halloween and Terror Train), Leslie Nielson I also thought was pretty good at playing a serious role for a change, but his comedy films are even better like (Naked Gun trilogy and Spy Hard), Casey Stevens (Nick) did OK in his role as the boyfriend, Anne Marie Martin (Wendy) played the bitchy role with brilliance.

All in all Prom Night is a fun movie, Jamie Lee Curtis is brilliant as always, the scenes I enjoyed in this movie is the disturbing beginning when the little girl falls out of the window, the scene where the killer chases Wendy with an axe which is definitely the best stalk scene in the movie and the climax between the killer and the last survivors which is always enjoyable in any horror movie.

Fordrellador

A children's game goes horribly wrong and a child falls backwards from the first floor window of an abandoned building and dies. The remaining kids vow to never tell anyone about what happened. Its now 7 years on and the children in the gang are preparing for their prom night. They one by one start to receive menacing phone calls...

I first saw this and expected to see a C grade slasher movie- one of the many mediocre movies made in the wake of Halloween.

Boy, was I wrong! There's loads to love about this movie. Firstly, Jamie Lee Curtis is in it. Shes such a great actress that if shes on the cast list you can expect a stunning performance. Not only is she another kick arse Final Girl but we also get to see her disco moves. She also has a great exchange with the school bitch. This features some fantastically camp lines ('Its not who takes you to the prom. Its about who takes you home!') Jamie wins and has the last word in this verbal volley naturally.

Another great feature of this film is that its actually very scary in the appropriate scenes. The killer ringing the teenagers one by one is a scene so threatening and jarring that its a sequence that is one of the scariest I've ever seen in any horror film. The simplicity of the scene (just a hand, a pencil, the list of names and the phone) is extremely effective and downright chilling.

The film is also brilliantly chilling as it touches on the subject of paedophilia- a local sex offender is known to the police and they think he is the reason for the dead little girl. They hound him to such a degree that he crashes his car which bursts into flames. The police had no evidence that it was him but hey, hes so disfigured that he now can't commit anymore crimes and is placed in an asylum.

And there are the actual kills and the scenes they are contained within which are directed with aplomb. These are very tense and unnerving. OK so this certainly isn't John Carpenter's Halloween but these scenes are still very good for a slasher movie.

With Halloween being a major influence on this film there are also the atypical scenes of the female characters talking about, y'know, girls things- boys, hair, going to the prom etc etc. In fact in the book Blood Money it has been suggested that there were two types of advertising for this film- one that dwelt on the themes thought to be more appealing to a young female demographic (the disco music, the relationships and drama within the film) and one that dwelt on what was thought to appeal to the guys- namely the tension, suspense and kills.

The film really does feel like a cross between Halloween, Carrie (the prom setting and the potential for carnage in this setting) and Saturday Night Fever- this film has disco stomps and a brilliant disco soundtrack that strangely provides a brilliant and sinister backdrop to the murders.

Another great feature is that of the character of Slick. Just like the bawdy British comedies of the 1970's featured the most unlikely candidates for male eye-candy who somehow get the women, so does this film. Slick thinks hes a modern day babe magnet. I'll leave it up to you to agree or disagree with his self perception.

This movie also has one of the most hilarious characters in horror history- look out for Mr Sykes played by Robert Silverman (he would also appear in Scanners and Jason X). Is he the killer or a far too obvious red herring?

Prom Night is far too good than a Halloween rip-off slasher movie deserves to be. If Halloween is A+ then Prom Night is B+

If you're going to buy this film please look out for the Region 1 Blu ray from Synapse Films. The best transfer and bonus features I've ever seen for ANY Blu ray title. Stunning.

Hucama

I love Jamie Lee Curtis!!! Anything with her you should watch. ESPECIALLY if it's a horror movie! She is the classiest of all the final girls.

Halloween, Terror Train and Prom Night are 3 of the best slashers from the 80's. I have seen them all dozens of times each and still get entertained.

Not only do we have Jamie Lee doing her final girl thing but we have the funny old dude from the Naked Gun movies! This is jam-packed with goodness.

Watch as soon as you can and obvi ignore the remake!

Steep

I saw this film at the drive-in. My sister & I and group of friends saw this film along with the movie "Don't Go In The House". Well I loved the film when I was kid and I still like it now. Now I have seen all the other films this movie stole from. This film is equal parts "Halloween" "Psycho" and "Carrie" however those films are superior.

In this film a 10 year old girl dies when she playing a twisted little game with a group of friends. A innocent man Leonard Murch gets convicted of the crime. 6 years later on Prom Night we learn the man has escaped and out for revenge.

Now SPOILERS AHEAD When we see who the killer at the end there is red stuff all over his face. Is it blood or lipstick? Well I know!

If you have only seen this film on DVD you are seeing a poor transfer of the film. For years people have debated on what on his lips! Is blood from a wound or lipstick? Well the actor told me himself it is LIPSTICK. Alex morphed into Robin to kill off the right people who were responsible for the death of Robin. He told me "He even now stutters like Robin" Now there. He actually dies as Robin. Now there is a throw away line when Kim's (Jamie Lee Curtis) mother is looking for her lipstick. This is the lipstick the killer has on at the end.

The Blu-Ray Disc however has a far better picture than the old DVD. You can now tell it is lipstick and not blood!

This 1980 film is still a fun film to watch. The Cheesy Dance Sequence is good a for a few laughs. I just wish the 2008 film "Prom Night" would of been a true remake and not just share the same title.

Amhirishes

Starring then scream-queen (and current yogurt peddler) Jamie Lee Curtis and a pre-goofball Leslie Nielsen, "Prom Night" is one of the first in what would be many holiday-themed slasher flicks meant to capitalize on the success of John Carpenter's seminal "Halloween." The concept is at once simple and yet convoluted: a gaggle of tweens playing a rather odd and slightly sadistic "hide and go seek"-type game in an abandoned warehouse accidentally drive another child to their death. Because it's always a good idea in this sort of movie, the kids all vow never to speak a word of this to anyone. Fast- forward six years later, and the kids are now teenagers getting ready for their prom. Only somebody saw what happened that fateful day, and somebody is going to make them pay.

Like its fellow brethren in "My Bloody Valentine," "Prom Night" is a low-budget production straight out of Canada. Director Paul Lynch works the meager concept into a rather sleek and efficient blaze of tension, bloodshed and disco. For better or worse, not much blood is shed until about 2/3 of the way through the movie. For at least the first half of the movie, we are treated to a lot of obscene phone calls, botched hook-ups in locker rooms and student-on-student pranks. There's also adequate time to set-up the somewhat stock characters, which is handled surprisingly well. Jamie Lee Curtis sticks out from the bunch as the innocent by-stander who, before becoming the de-facto survivor girl, gets to bust out in an obscenely long dance-number that almost gives a similar scene in "Airplane" a run for its money. The kill scenes are then, somewhat ironically, less memorable than all the stuff that comes before it, which is perhaps a testament to Lynch's unheralded skill or maybe just dumb luck.

Either way, "Prom Night" is a great example of the '80s slasher. All the tropes you've come to expect -- revenge, premarital relations, bratty teens, recreational drug-use -- it's all here. Perhaps not as refined as its predecessors, "Prom Night" remains an entertaining and somewhat endearing experience all these years later. It even inspired a pair of silly yet throroughly entertaining sequels in "Prom Night II: Hello Mary Lou" and "Prom Night III: The Last Kiss," along with a somewhat forgettable fourth film and an absolute piece of garbage remake. But if you're looking to hit the dance floor with a well- worn semi-classic of its era, you couldn't pick a better date than the original "Prom Night."

Ann

"Prom Night" is the second chapter of a trilogy of slasher films Jaime Lee Curtis star in early in her career. After "Halloween" and before "Terror Train," Curtis lended her rising scream queen talent to this Canadian production, a minor classic for slasher fans. Coming so early in the sub-genre's life, "Prom Night" follows an expected slasher outline. A group of kids, while playing a game of Killer in an abandoned high school, indirectly lead to a fellow child's death. The police pin the murder on a pedophile. As the years pass, some of the children harbor guilt over the death, while others forget about it. A decade later on the eve of the same student's senior prom, the girls begin receiving threatening phone calls. The same child molester has escaped from prison and murdered a nun already. As prom begins and the kids boogie the night away, a masked man begins to hack his way through the guilty party.

"Prom Night" takes a surprisingly long time to get to its murders. It's nearly an hour into the film before the deaths start to happen. For such a deliberate pace, you'd expect the characters to be more solidly developed. Most of the large cast aren't much more then loose ideas. Jaime Lee proves to be the final girl but she's not quite the protagonist. Curtis' Kim is mostly defined by her relationship with neurotic brother Alex. Her boyfriend Nick doesn't have much personality. Jerk Lou and bully Wendy seem to want to recreate the end of "Carrie" by hijacking the prom. Seymour is the required prankster character. Only Kelly, pushed by her boyfriend into having sex, has any sort of definable arc. She, of course, dies first.

What joys there are to "Prom Night" come from Paul Lynch's frequently moody direction. He mines quite a bit of sinister intent out of long shots of empty high school hallways. The killer's first appearance is stretch out nicely, the death coming as a shock, the murder scene fading to red. The creepy phone calls are handled nicely, with extreme close-ups on a pencil thumping at a pad of paper. The ending is surprisingly sincere, playing the material for pathos instead of blatant shocks. While "Prom Night" doesn't quite earn that emotion, the attempt is still appreciated.

The movie's camp factor is probably more entertaining. I hope you kids like disco because this movie is full of it. There are long sequences of cast members dancing to cheesy, canned dance music. Have you ever wanted to see a pre-comedy-career Leslie Nielson boogie his heart out? You've got it. The killer's sparkly ski-mask proves a somewhat comical disguise. Pre-dating "Scream," the slasher is borderline incompetent. He gets beat up by a nerd. The hilarious van crash has little to do with the killer's attempt to sneak inside. He nearly forgets his axe during a chase scene. He routinely gets beaten and battered by the film's heroines. This is probably intentional, considering the murderer is just another teenager.

"Prom Night" is hardly a gory film but what kills it has are quite clever. A shattered glass throat slashing is memorable. The van face stabbing generates a shock or two. The decapitation, the severed head landing on the day-glo dance floor, is darkly humorous. It's no surprise that "Prom Night" was a big hit in its day and would, years later, spawn the required slasher franchise. The movie's nothing special but I can see why slasher fans consider it nostalgic horror comfort food.

Alister

Take a dash of Brian de Palma's "Carrie," blend in a hint of John Carpenter's "Halloween," sprinkle in a healthy pinch of "Saturday Night Fever" and you may end up with a concoction very much like 1980's "Prom Night," a mildly effective thriller that just narrowly manages to get the job done. In this film, an ax-wielding maniac targets four high school students who had inadvertently caused the death of one of their friends six years before. One of the unlucky quartet, Nick, is the boyfriend of prom queen Kim, played by Jamie Lee Curtis; what a shame, then, that the anniversary of the tragedy coincides with the night of the big school bash.... Anyway, this film really is a mixed bag at best. It rarely goes far enough in terms of excitement and violence, is filled with false shocks and red herrings, and has a slow buildup that is barely paid off in the picture's final third. With the exception of the plight of Wendy, the bitchiest of the four, whose pursuit by the killer throughout the school and in an underground garage IS quite suspenseful (probably because Wendy is the only one who lasts long enough to show any sign of fear!), and a bravura final five minutes that are memorably off the wall, the picture generates little in the way of thrills. (PERSONAL NOTE TO ASPIRING FILMMAKERS: If a character in a horror picture is not afraid, the audience won't be either. Imagine the shower scene in "Psycho," if "Mother" had merely killed Marion Crane while her back was to him. How less effective that scene would have been, without Janet Leigh's classic scream and the fear that was so well conveyed! Sure, the scene would still have been suspenseful, but not nearly as memorable and harrowing. Fear is communicable, and without that identification on the part of the viewer, there are no scares; just buildup and butchery.) What's worse, a side issue regarding Kim becoming aware of Nick's involvement in her sister's death is never resolved, and the talents of both Leslie Nielsen and Antoinette Bower (who will always be "Star Trek"'s Sylvia the witch woman to me!) are squandered in teensy roles. Still, there are compensations. The picture looks great and is well acted by its mainly young cast, and the identity of the killer (virtually every character is suspect) will most likely come as a surprise; I felt sure that I had guessed it for a change, but was wrong, as usual. Director Paul Lynch has given his film some interesting touches also (love that slow dissolve into a blood-red punch bowl!). Thus, "Prom Night" isn't TOO bad a teen/slasher flick; certainly better than some I've seen. If anything, the film demonstrates that disco music is good for something after all: It makes an impressive backdrop for watching a psycho go berserk!

Jonide

Prom Night came out at the height of the slasher film parade in the late 1970s/early 1980s initiated by the one-two punch of Halloween and Friday the 13th. It also had the distinction of being headlined by the reigning scream queen of the era, Jamie Lee Curtis. Nowadays, some of its attributes are certainly not as novel (especially after Scream), but one most really give kudos where due in that it did put its own spin on the genre without ever getting due credit. The film opens with the accidental death of a young girl during a hide-and-seek-type game that spins drastically out of control. The perpetrators agree never to reveal their culpability and the victim's family, high school principal dad Leslie Nielsen, edgy wife Antoinette Bower and their surviving children (later played by Curtis and Michael Tough), are suitably shell-shocked. Years later on prom night, a killer begins targeting those responsible and anyone who accidentally gets in the way of the quest for vengeance. For a slasher film, the end product has its moments of dread, but is surprisingly fun (some of the more humorous moments restored to the TV print actually enhance the affability of the film as a whole). Unlike its precursors, Prom Night was arguably the first slasher flick wherein the killer was both not an unkillable monster and whose identity was hidden until the climax, so it became the first to combine elements of mystery in the mix. And there are a fair enough share of suspects to keep the average viewer wondering (is it Nielsen's too-good to be true dad, Bower's unhinged mother, Tough's brooding brother, the escaped nut, the creepy janitor, another minor character, or perhaps even one of the original perpetrators suffering a guilt trip?). Ironically, it is also interesting that lead Curtis never appears to be an intended target, but the filmmakers never suggest the possibility that she could be the killer. Cast is uniformly strong, despite some of them looking a good 10 years beyond high school age. It is also a stretch to imagine that three of the perpetrators would end up being best friends and boyfriend to the sister of a girl they inadvertently killed (wouldn't they have avoided her?). A pre-Naked Gun Nielsen provides some much-needed gravity, although he vanishes for most of the second half. Curtis is classy as always. Casey Stevens is appealing as her conscience-stricken boyfriend. Anne-Marie Martin (then Eddie Benton) deserves special praise expertly playing one of the most repellent and arrogant shrews to populate horror films - the kind of character so noxious (and well-played) that one must hang in just to see her get it. A really great job on her part. The deaths are grisly without being stomach-churning and there are at least two really suspenseful drawn-out chase scenes. The ending is a bit of a downer, but this film is definitely one of the better entries in the genre. Sadly the recent in-name-only PG-13 remake has neither the style nor the effect of this one.

Enone

Granted, as a horror movie, Prom Night does not succeed (half of the "horror" is obscured by terrible cinematography and lighting, you're kind of guessing what's going on as if it's an abstract painting or something...), but, for disco fans this movie is truly unique. Yes, by 1980 disco as mainstream was pretty much dead, it "sucked." But for anyone who has never lost their like for disco music and enjoys discovering the nostalgia of it all, Prom Night offers something interesting. For anyone who really knows disco (I know, scary thought...) you'll recognize the music as a blatant ripoff of Patrick Hernandez' "Born to be Alive" which was immensely popular by 1980. And also I think it's pretty creative to have the movie's disco love-theme titled, "Love Me Till I Die" playing during the final stalking/killing scene..I mean, come on, it's cheesy but so brilliant! My only question: does a soundtrack exist on vinyl, cassette or CD? I'd love to have it!

Beazezius

In truth, this is standard fair for a slasher. Only slightly above the level of many other slasher outings at the time. The killer only gets active during the last half hour of the movie, his identity easily guessed in the end (naturally revolving around a trauma from his past). The red herring is also very obvious. Lots of disco-dancing too in this one. At the time, I imagine it became mildly notorious because of one decapitation scene and gained a little recognition because of scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis starring in it. If you're a slasher fan, this is one you ought to see, even if it's not the most exciting watch you'll ever have.

Runeterror

*Prom Night SPOILERS*

In 1974, four kids (three girls (Wendy, Kelly and Jude) and a boy (Nick)) inadvertently caused the death of a young girl, Robin Hammond, while playing a macabre game.

Flashforward six years later, the anniversary of Robin's death. Everybody at Alexander Hamilton High is getting ready for the Prom, which is going to be that very night, and as rivalries are born (between Kim (Jamie Lee Curtis), the principal (Leslie Nielsen)'s daughter, Robin's older sister and a grown-up Nick (Casey Stevens)'s new girlfriend and a grown-up Wendy (Eddie Benton), Nick's ex, who then decides to ally with bully Lou (David Mucci) for a prank on Kim and Nick, who are going to be queen and king of the Prom), loves are born (between a now-adult Jude (Joy Thompson) and a goofy guy called 'Slick') and problems are had (a now-adult Kelly (Mary Beth Rubens) is deathly afraid of having sex with her boyfriend, Drew (Jeff Wincott), while that is all he thinks about) someone who was there and knows the truth about Robin's death begins to call our core four, saying 'Tonight, it's my turn'.

And that night, he decidedly plays 'killer', but this time, for real...

'Prom Night' is one of the best chiller of the '80s, even if it has a lot of ideas copied from HalloweeN, and has some decidedly cute girls going out with quite ugly boyfriends (Kelly and Drew, as an example).

On the good side, it manages to get some tense stuff in, like the phone call scenes, some of the murders and Wendy's chase scene and has a moving ending, while on the bad side it's weirdly tame for an R-rated movie, has way too many red-herrings (the sexual maniac, the janitor, Kim, her father, her mother (Antoinette Bower), and the one which is the actual killer -

SPOILERS

Alex (Michael Tough), Kim's younger brother and Robin's twin brother)

SPOILERS

one of which (the sexual maniac) is very loosely related to the story, nobody notices the girls' disappearance (except for Wendy's, which is noted by one of Lou's friends) and it copies an awful lot, mostly from 'HalloweeN' and 'Carrie'.

Still, it's a quite enjoyable movie, even if a little cheesy.

Prom Night: 7/10.

playboy

This movie moves slow to a great ending. When I was eleven or twelve I had my mom rent this movie for me just because I was some what of a Jamie Lee Curtis fan and loved her work in the Halloween films (The First Two, 7 and 8 don't count in my book.) When I put this in I was sorta board for about the first thirty minutes or so but then the movie picks up the pace and finishes fast and bloody. If you have never watched this be patient during the beginning as you will be rewarded. I love Jamie in this as the last girl as she always is. The saving grace of this film though is the character of Slick, he is funny and I wished he had lived so he could maybe have been in the movies follow ups. Watch for him in his van, you'll laugh forever. One problem I've always had with the film is what the heck happens to Lesily Nielsons character, does he die, or go home. I guess it will never be solved. Watch this movie for the splatter and a good story.

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