‘It’s not who you go with, honey. It’s who takes you home...’
Despite definitely being part of the ’80s slasher canon, it has taken me years to finally get around to watching Prom Night. Released less than a month before Friday the 13th, Prom Night must have seemed like a safer bet to become a hugely successful franchise out of the two of them. Not only was it released first, but it also boasts Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis in the principal cast and a killer with a bag on his head years before Jason Vorhees pulled off the same trick in Friday the 13th Part II. It’s probably because, in reality, Prom Night simply isn’t as good…
A bunch of horny teenagers led by Curtis, Anne-Marie Martin and Mary Beth Rubens prepare for their senior prom against the backdrop of a distant tragedy and a newly emerged killer. Elsewhere, Leslie Nielsen appears as the school principal and Robert A. Silverman lurks as the creepy janitor (who may as well have RED HERRING printed across his forehead ).
Prom Night is a cynical mash-up of Carrie and Halloween that doesn’t have anywhere near the imagination of either. The characters are thinly drawn and forgettable. The death sequences uninspired. The cinematography flat and derivative. And yet, it has endured in horror circles, This is probably because there are some memorable moments. A severed head skidding across a dancefloor. A girl proclaiming “This is the best night of my life” before being brutally hacked to pieces. The absolutely preposterous theme song that plays incessantly throughout the second half of the movie (the idea of teenagers listening to a song called ‘Prom Night’ on their actual prom is suitably absurd). In the end, though, Prom Night lacks the original premise of Terror Train, the NYC scuzziness of Basket Case or the batshit craziness of Sleepaway Camp. While it deserves its place on the ’80s slasher B team, Prom Night is at the bottom end of the teamsheet.