Prom Night (1980)

Director: Paul Lynch

Starring: Leslie Nielsen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Stevens

At a high school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years previously.

Until now I’ve never seen this original ‘Prom Night’ (I saw the 2008 remake). I always believed this original to be a classic, and a cult film at that…but what the hell??

The film starts off with a fairly good story, nicely fleshed out characters and fine performances. However, after an interesting opening the film becomes more of a drama than anything else, revolving around conflict between students – and jealousy. Jamie Lee Curtis does steal the show with her natural acting style, but unfortunately the film itself never lives up to its potential.

In fact, the film becomes a bit of a drag – for a horror film. If intended as a drama, I’d have understood, and accepted the slow pacing. But for a film known as a slasher film… uhm, no. The first killing only happens over an hour into the movie. The killer is also a very weak character. Ok, it does give the killer more realism, but I suppose we just expect to see a stronger antagonist.

A lot of screen time is taken up by dancing. Yup, you heard correctly: dancing!! It’s like the horror version of ‘Saturday Night Fever’ – pun intended! Saturday Night Fever on acid!! Ultimately, I found the film boring and the big reveal just didn’t do it for me. The 2008 remake might not have been a movie to rave about, but I did find it more entertaining than this yawner…

‘Prom Night’ was a box office success, earning nearly $15 million on a $1.5 million budget.

Would I watch it again? Yawn, no.