.jpg)
Prom Night (1980)
Perfectly Cheesy Slasher Stuff
Directed By: Paul Lynch
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Leslie Nielsen, Casey Stevens, & Eddie Benton
MPAA Rating: “R”
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Leslie Nielsen, Casey Stevens, & Eddie Benton
MPAA Rating: “R”
Here is one of the many slasher flicks to come out of the eighties, a time of abundance for nudity-laced, blood-splattered shockers. Much like all of the others, it shows no real originality or creativity, instead opting for just offing teenagers along a very specific formula. However, with the amazing Jamie Lee Curtis in the lead and a mean streak that runs directly through it, Prom Night (1980) manages to be a head taller than all of the others...unless, of course, that head has just been severed and is rolling across the stage. It isn’t particularly intelligent or gruesome (the blood is restrained here, but the brutality is displayed brilliantly...with the exception of the now-famous decapitation), but Prom Night is one fun movie to watch.
Six years earlier, four young children accidentally killed another girl during a game of hide-and-seek when, while taunting her, happened to send her falling through a second-floor window and to a bloody death below. Now, on prom night, the sister of the deceased child, Kim (Curtis), is dating Nick, (Stevens), one of the guilty children. Everyone is just trying to ignore the fact that this is the anniversary of the accident...except for a masked killer who wants revenge. He (or maybe she) makes obscene phone calls, posts mysterious yearbook photos in lockers, and plots to turn this prom night into an evening of blood, terror, and suspense. As all of those responsible begin to die off one-by-one, the remaining survivors must try to survive and discover the identity of the killer before it’s too late. Oh yes, and Jamie Lee Curtis proves that she can disco right beside John Travolta all night long.
The motive for our killer is established within the first few minutes of the film so the rest of it all is just stalk and slash with some groovy (or the eighties alternative for that word) dancing sprinkled around. It nails every slasher movie cliché imaginable, including sinister phone calls and a shadowy killer who seems to everywhere all at once. Prom Night takes nearly an hour before the slasher starts slashing, but it is difficult to get bored when we are treated with such vibrant and nostalgic teen melodrama. The heated tension between Jamie Lee Curtis and Eddie Benton is like an episode of Laguna Beach except with better writing and better actors...ahem, real teenagers. We almost hope that the two lovely ladies will begin an all-out slapping war that results in Ms. Benton losing a swatch of hair and getting a black eye (After all, Jamie Lee Curtis beat the one and only Michael Myers so a skinny slut clad in red sequins should be a piece of cake). Instead, an axe-wielding maniac shows up...if only all high school dramas were this interesting.
The larger-budget, teen-oriented remake of this film just slashed its way into the box-office and, though I did actually enjoy it for what it was (cheap, mindless entertainment), it is sad that so many young audiences will never even hear of this film because of it. I wish that I had been old enough to partake in this reign of the slasher that occurred during the eighties, because, even if they are all the same thing with different packaging and even if many of them were terrible, there is still just something fun about movies such as these. They are harmless, never really trying to change anything. They are joyfully violent, blood-soaked and some of the easiest horror watches imaginable. Prom Night (1980) is no different. In fact, it is perhaps more fun and more joyful in its carnage than most of the others.
Six years earlier, four young children accidentally killed another girl during a game of hide-and-seek when, while taunting her, happened to send her falling through a second-floor window and to a bloody death below. Now, on prom night, the sister of the deceased child, Kim (Curtis), is dating Nick, (Stevens), one of the guilty children. Everyone is just trying to ignore the fact that this is the anniversary of the accident...except for a masked killer who wants revenge. He (or maybe she) makes obscene phone calls, posts mysterious yearbook photos in lockers, and plots to turn this prom night into an evening of blood, terror, and suspense. As all of those responsible begin to die off one-by-one, the remaining survivors must try to survive and discover the identity of the killer before it’s too late. Oh yes, and Jamie Lee Curtis proves that she can disco right beside John Travolta all night long.
The motive for our killer is established within the first few minutes of the film so the rest of it all is just stalk and slash with some groovy (or the eighties alternative for that word) dancing sprinkled around. It nails every slasher movie cliché imaginable, including sinister phone calls and a shadowy killer who seems to everywhere all at once. Prom Night takes nearly an hour before the slasher starts slashing, but it is difficult to get bored when we are treated with such vibrant and nostalgic teen melodrama. The heated tension between Jamie Lee Curtis and Eddie Benton is like an episode of Laguna Beach except with better writing and better actors...ahem, real teenagers. We almost hope that the two lovely ladies will begin an all-out slapping war that results in Ms. Benton losing a swatch of hair and getting a black eye (After all, Jamie Lee Curtis beat the one and only Michael Myers so a skinny slut clad in red sequins should be a piece of cake). Instead, an axe-wielding maniac shows up...if only all high school dramas were this interesting.
The larger-budget, teen-oriented remake of this film just slashed its way into the box-office and, though I did actually enjoy it for what it was (cheap, mindless entertainment), it is sad that so many young audiences will never even hear of this film because of it. I wish that I had been old enough to partake in this reign of the slasher that occurred during the eighties, because, even if they are all the same thing with different packaging and even if many of them were terrible, there is still just something fun about movies such as these. They are harmless, never really trying to change anything. They are joyfully violent, blood-soaked and some of the easiest horror watches imaginable. Prom Night (1980) is no different. In fact, it is perhaps more fun and more joyful in its carnage than most of the others.
0 comments:
Post a Comment