PROM NIGHT is not really a remake but more of a reimaging of the 1980 film starring Jamie Lee Curtis of the same title. Now that I have seen both, it’s hard for me to compare the two. I kind of like this new one better and found it to more entertaining than the original. In retrospect both films did very good box office numbers. The original PROM NIGHT grossed almost fifteen million and was produced for only 1.8 million, this new version was made for about 18 million and grossed close to 44 million and was even at the top of the box office the week it opened; not bad for a film that was made on such a small budget.
PROM NIGHT starts off with a bang as Donna (Brittany Snow) watches her family killed by a guy named Richard Fenton, whom was a teacher of hers in school that had a major obsession with her. Years later, and now living with her aunt and uncle she is a senior in High School and the night of her prom is here. She is with her boyfriend and close friends and they are out to have the time of their lives. Their prom is being held in a nice hotel and the crew even rented out a suite for the evening. However Richard has escaped from prison, and is on his way to find her. Now the night that was supposed to be full of fun and good times is now turning into a nightmare, and Donna has no clue that her past is about to come back and bite her in ass on her prom night.
Predictable, unoriginal and redundant are words that come to mind when I think about the script for this film, sure; it’s a movie with a plot we’ve all seen before. It’s just another one of those teen horror films like I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and SCREAM. Yes! it had a bunch of teenagers getting knocked off one by one by a killer. it’s everything we’ve all seen before in a teen slasher film. But besides the obvious, what I liked about PROM NIGHT was hoe straight forward it was. It didn’t try not to be a teen slasher film, it let you know it was. You knew from the get go who the killer was, you knew who were the expendable characters, and you have a feeling you know what’s going to happen in the end. But, it was a movie that didn’t cut any corners, and while it did have a few small surprises, those surprises actually helped the film, rather than hurt the plot or make the audience groan at another dumb plot twist ending. There is none of that in this movie. Everything that goes on in this flick is all stuff that can happen in real life, and I have to applaud the writers and filmmakers for giving it a feel of this really could happen.
The overall, acting was pretty impressive. Going into this film I thought that it was going to be another film with stars from those former WB sitcoms, especially when I heard Brittany Snow was in the lead. You figure a girl who was on a critically acclaimed television show like AMERICAN DREAMS and NIP/TUCK would of passed on a role like this. But she took it with open arms and worked with it, and gave a pretty decent performance. I was very surprised to see Johnathon Schaech in this film as the killer Richard Fenton, you figured the filmmakers would go with an unknown face in this role but instead they bought in Johnathon, who’s no stranger to horror, and let him run with the role. I found his performance along with Idris Elba who played Detective Winn gave the best performances in this film. The rest of the supporting cast was decent as well, but you’ll always have those jock type kid roles with actors who really ham it up to the point they look like fools. And yet again this film does have those kind of actors in those roles.
Overall, PROM NIGHT does play off an alright movie. It had good production value and the effects although pretty basic worked. It’s a movie that’s straight forward and gets to the point without taking you on a major rollercoaster ride. I found it to be an entertaining movie that I’m sure the basic of horror fans will enjoy. It’s nothing great and it does hold all the clichés of a teen slasher movie. But for some reason this one is not as bad as the others ones we’ve seen out there today.
I reviewed the Unrated version of the DVD which I’m guessing is a bit more graphic than the film released in theaters, but the DVD has a few features such as deleted scenes, alternate ending, gag reel, four behind the scenes featurettes, director and cast commentary and more…
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
