Prom Night (1980) AVCO Embassy/Horror RT: 93 minutes Rated R (language, violence, nudity, sexual content, drugs) Director: Paul Lynch Screenplay: William Gray and Robert Guza Jr. Music: Paul Zaza Cinematography: Robert C. New Release date: August 15, 1980 (Philadelphia, PA) Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Leslie Nielsen, Casey Stevens, Anne-Marie Martin (as “Eddie Benton”), Marybeth Rubens, Joy Thompson, Michael Tough, Antoinette Bower, David Mucci, George Touliatos, David Gardner, Sheldon Rybowski, Jeff Wincott, Robert Silverman. Box Office: $14.8M (US)
Rating: ***
By now, you all know how much I love slasher flicks from the early 80s. It’s probably- scratch that, likely- because all of them were rated R and I wasn’t allowed to see them when they played in theaters. They were forbidden fruit.
Prom Night, a low-budget Canadian production, is a pretty good one. Directed by Paul Lynch (Bullies), it’s a crass attempt to cash in on the teen slasher craze of the time. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis whose early career was defined by such movies beginning with the original Halloween, the one that started it all.
It may not be the best of the Halloween/Friday the 13th knock-offs, but Prom Night still holds a special little place in my black heart. It was my first slasher movie. I don’t know how many of you remember, but it premiered on network TV (NBC) on February 22, 1981, just six months after it played in cinemas. Usually, it took about two years for a theatrical film to show on television. I couldn’t believe my luck. I was psyched to watch it even though I knew the violence and nudity would be excised. Still, it was a chance to see a real “dead teenager” movie. Of course, I loved it at the time.
Prom Night starts with a group of schoolchildren- Nick, Kelly, Jude and Wendy- playing a game in an abandoned convent. A younger girl named Robin tries to join the game, but they all turn on her and she falls out of a window to her death. Even though it was an accident, the kids are scared of getting blamed for it. They make a pact to never tell anybody what happened. After they flee the scene, it’s shown that somebody else witnessed the incident. Ultimately, Robin’s death is blamed on a known rapist. When the police chase him, he gets into a car accident that leaves him horribly disfigured. As far as everybody is concerned, the case is closed.
Jump ahead six years to the day of the prom which just happens to fall on the anniversary of Robin’s death. The four kids, now seniors in high school, are looking forward to the big night. That morning, they all receive threatening phone calls from an unknown caller. It hardly fazes them with all the prom drama going on. Good-natured Jude (Thompson) doesn’t find a date until the 11th hour when she’s accosted by a guy in a van, Slick (Rybowski), on her way to school. Neurotic Kelly (Rubens) is contemplating having sex for the first time with her boyfriend Drew (Wincott). Wendy (Benton/Martin), a bitchy and conceited schemer, tries to make her ex Nick (Stevens) take her, but he’s already going with his girlfriend Kim (Curtis) who just happens to be Robin’s older sister. Nick and Kim are king and queen of the prom. Not one to accept defeat gracefully, Wendy asks school hoodlum Lou (Mucci) to help her in her plan to humiliate the couple at the prom.
The police, represented by Nick’s dad Lt. McBride (Touliatos), have just been informed the rapist believed to be responsible for Robin’s death has escaped from a mental institution and might be headed their way. When a body is found in the old convent, he decides to keep a lid on it as he doesn’t want to cause a panic. He orders his men to quietly search for the escapee without setting off any alarms. He doesn’t want anything to ruin the prom.
Like clockwork, a masked killer appears once the festivities begin and sets about killing the teens responsible for Robin’s death. Now let me stop here and say something. There’s really no suspense here. The identity of the killer is obvious early on. That means there’s a red herring or several including one great big one. You’ll know it when you see it. In fact, I may or may not have already mentioned it. I don’t consider this a spoiler; chances are you’ll figure things out long before the prom begins. It’s too easy.
The violence in Prom Night isn’t all that gory. The only really bloody scene is when a victim is decapitated and the head lands on the dance floor. The rest of the movie is the usual silliness. It’s the kind of movie when a character says she’ll remember this night for the rest of her life, you’re tempted to loudly point out her life expectancy is about ten seconds. There’s an extended scene of the killer chasing a victim-to-be all through the school building. It’s fun even though you know exactly how it’s going to end.
Curtis’ presence in this movie makes perfect sense. She was the go-to Final Girl at the time. She was good at screaming and acting scared. At the same time, she could hold her own against any killer no matter how unstoppable he seemed. Before Airplane redefined Leslie Nielsen as a bona fide comedy star, he took any role he could get. He plays Mr. Hammond, the school principal and father to Kim, Robin and her twin brother Alex. He’s pretty good as is Antoinette Bower (The Evil That Men Do) as the still-grieving mother. The rest of the cast…. eh, does it even matter? They’re fine even though they all look too old to be playing high school students.
Prom Night is hilariously dated. Look at the outfits that the characters are wearing. Listen to the cheesy disco music. Watch the teens dancing like they’re auditioning for Dance Fever. It’s the most laughable part of a dopey scary movie. The funny thing is I like Prom Night. It’s a fun and entertaining teen horror that neither reinvents nor improves the wheel. It has a great sad closing song (“Fade to Black”) by a singer named Gordean Simpson (never heard of her). To its credit, it’s much better than the dull PG-13 remake from 2008. I know that’s not saying much. It’s a back-handed compliment, but a compliment nonetheless.
