When I am in a foul disposition, or not wanting to use much brainpower, I like to curl up and watch a nice teen horror movie, mainly one from my "Friday the 13th" ultimate edition DVD collection.
Not that I’m all "yeah, violence" but there is a cheesy charm that I can’t resist. How can you say no to unnecessary nudity, bloody gore and little, if any, plot?
I was in a mood and decided to check out "Prom Night." From the previews, I knew it would be stupid and I was right.
Three years prior to her senior year, Donna Keppel (Brittany Snow) witnessed one of her high school teachers murder her family because he is psychotic and he wanted them to live happily ever after despite the whole killing off the family thing.
Flash forward to the day every high school student waits for. No, it isn’t graduation where you can get away from that pit of despair – it’s prom night. A night to wear pretty dresses, see the male students in something other than sweat pants and to look over your shoulder for that killer who escaped from the mental institution 3,000 miles away.
Naturally, Donna doesn’t know that part until it’s too late for her and her friends.
That part should cue the bloodshed but it doesn’t. This has to be the cleanest teen slasher movie ever. I know "Prom Night" is rated PG-13, which is a shame for movies wanting to fit in the thriller or horror genre. I kept hoping for a high heel in someone’s eye socket.
That would have made the movie at least somewhat amusing, but no. They completely missed that boat.
While the movie is very bad, (bad dialogue, bad editing, bad acting), there were some very entertaining parts. For instance, Donna’s best friend Lisa (Dana Davis) desperately wants to win prom queen to embarrass her rival. She’s been waiting for this announcement probably for years and before the big moment happens, she decides to go up the suite and fool around with her boyfriend. The suite the killer is in!
However great that part was, it couldn’t beat this one. By far my favorite part is where Donna’s uncle is informed by the police that Richard Fenton (the suspected killer) is loose and he tells them not to go to her prom and tell her about it because "she has been making such progress and he doubts he would come after her anyway." Right, the guy only murdered her family, kept albums full of her photos, sent graphic letters to her and thought about her everyday he was in the institute. Good deduction, Uncle Sherlock. Go puff on the stupidity pipe some more.
While those two parts were very entertaining, it doesn’t make up for the rest of it. Yes, I knew what I was getting into by seeing "Prom Night," but I wished it would have been better. I guess it’s a good thing I went in with low expectations.
I gave this film an L for Lame.
Dedra Cordle is a Messenger staff writer.
