Prom Night
Movie Review
"Prom Night"
Review by Eric D. Snider
Grade: D+
Rating: PG-13
Released: Friday, April 11, 2008
Directed by:
Cast:
One of the production companies for "Prom Night," a painfully by-the-numbers teen-slasher flick, is an outfit called Original Film. So the movie starts out with a logo that says "ORIGINAL FILM," and I thought: This film's been mislabeled.
Beyond the basic "deadly prom night" scenario, the film bears no resemblance to the 1980 Jamie Lee Curtis movie of the same name and is not, officially, a remake of it. Instead, it's a remake of every slasher film of the last 30 years -- why remake one film when you can remake them all? -- but with the gore and sex toned down for the sake of the all-important PG-13 rating. Now it's a wholly acceptable teen date movie for girls to scream at and their boyfriends to laugh at, and if that's what you need, more power to you.
It is not, however, a good movie. Heavens no. Not by any stretch. My goodness, no, no, please. Don't even think it. Cast that idea from your mind! Good? Mercy me. Not at all.
Written by J.S. Cardone ("The Covenant") and directed by highly prolific TV director Nelson McCormick ("E.R.," "Prison Break," "Nip/Tuck," etc.), it is a film entirely devoid of mystery, as we are shown up front who the killer is. His name is Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech), and three years ago he became obsessed with a high school student, killing her whole family before being captured and sent to a high-security mental hospital. Now he has escaped (this is easy, apparently) and is coming for the object of his affection, Donna (Brittany Snow), now a high school senior who's struggling to put the memories of her past behind her and enjoy tonight's prom.
Richard actually escaped three days ago. He has remained on the loose, however, because no one bothered to look for him in the one obvious place that was he obviously going to go, i.e., the hometown of the girl who everyone knows he wants to kill (or whatever it is he wants to do with her). In fact, no one even told local law enforcement until tonight. Det. Winn (Idris Elba) is furious that he wasn't informed sooner, but he's not much better himself: He barges over to the hotel where prom is being held and says, "If there's some chance the bastard decides to come here, we want to be ready for him!"
"Some chance"? You mean, if there's a slight chance the guy who's obsessed with Donna might show up at the one place where he knows she is? Yeah, I guess there might be a sliver of a possibility there. Nice work, Columbo.
In what I can only assume was an intentional effort to prevent us from being frightened by him, the movie gives us lots of face time with Richard the maniac. We even see him check in to the hotel where the inadequately chaperoned prom is being held, for crying out loud. He is mildly creepy, the way all cold-eyed movie killers are, but scary? Dear me, no. Goodness no! The only suspense is over who will die and in what order, and even then a veteran viewer of slasher films could probably put together a pretty accurate itinerary. (Hint: Start with the characters who are close to the Primary Target but whose names we don't know and who don't really have any lines.)
So we hang out for a while with Donna and her sensitive boyfriend Bobby (Scott Porter) and her best friend Lisa (Dana Davis) and Lisa's boyfriend Ronnie (Collins Pennie) and another couple, Claire (Jessica Stroup) and Michael (Kelly Blatz). Lisa has a years-old rivalry with a mean girl named Crissy (Brianne Davis), in a subplot that truly and completely goes nowhere and serves no purpose except to kill time.
And the movie is bad in the usual ways and at approximately the usual level. I can't quite muster the energy to hate it. It's too bland for that. One thing made me laugh, though. You know the cheap trick that lame horror movies use where the heroine turns around and is startled by something or someone that turns out to be harmless, and it makes the audience jump, too? Yeah, that happens to Donna about 10 times. One time it turns out to be, no kidding, a houseplant. As jumpy as she is, you'd think she'd be on stronger drugs. And as far as screamers go, she's no Jamie Lee Curtis.
Grade: D+
Rated PG-13, a little profanity, moderate violence, some blood, mild innuendo
1 hr., 28 min.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
This item has 64 comments
April 11, 2008 at 3:20 pm
i do not believe these reviews this movie looks awesome i dont care what you say i am going to see it
April 11, 2008 at 4:34 pm
A houseplant?! Geez...
April 11, 2008 at 5:36 pm
The Commercial for this movie (which is usually the very best parts of most movies these days) looks absolutely retarded. I guess there might be a market for that.
But seriously all those who are actually gonna throw their money away by going to see this film are fools getting parted with their money.
April 11, 2008 at 8:41 pm
I saw this movie today, and I completely agree with everything you typed.
I'm 13, and came with my friends, thinking it might be OK, but I was not
pleased with any aspects of the movie. It was very predictable, Donna was
an idiot, the acting was very off key ( everyone in the theater laughed at one
murder), the detectives were very inept, and the subplot bore me to tears.
There were so many cheap scares that you just didn't expect him to ever
show up. The subplot was the most annoying thing ever. The murder has
the ability to disappear. The movie also had many things in common with
Halloween. When she looked in the mirror and he was there, but when she
looked again he was gone. Escaping from an insane asylum. Being shot six
times.
This movie was a waste of time and if you are looking for a scare please do
not even consider wasting your time with this poor excuse for a horror movie.
April 11, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I have one word to say about this movie. FUN!!!!! It was a blast. If you want to have a great time, and jump out of your seat a few times, see Prom Night. As for you critics.....sometimes you guys can be a bit too deep. Why don't you get a real job!!! Instead of spending time trashing other hard working people's good work. Usually, you kill a fun movie before it even hits the theatres....but not this time. So, grab a date, or grab the kids.....popcorn.....and have some FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Watch PROM night
April 11, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I actually thought the movie was pretty good (I might be a bit biased though, since the entire cast of "Prom Night" bought Platinum travel packages through me).
I have 18,000 reasons to speak well of 'Prom Night' :-).
April 11, 2008 at 10:43 pm
I already had low expectations for this film, based on the fact that it was/or at least used the name "Prom Night". Already, we have a tired trend of Hollywood remaking 20 year old films, as opposed to coming up with anything new or at least homage-driven fun(Doomsday, for example). Rob Zombie's Holloween, for example. Was fans REALLY tearing down the doors to studios in order to have this film made? No...not really.
But, unlike Rob Zombie's Halloween, which at least managed to provide some fun for the veteran slasher fan(Micheal Myers' chokeslamming a man DOWN A HALLWAY, for example), this movie...was simply a bore. I guessed every scare and every time the killer would strike, no boast. I found myself annoyed everytime the young girls in the audience would screech at the fake scares...it was like they never seen a slasher before.
And unlike Myers, the killer did not even seem to...well...have fun with the kills. Every kill was...unimaginative. I remember being horrified similarly by a old slasher called "Sorority House Massacre", where the killer simply killed his victims with a knife(and he was revealed the same way...in fact...whoa...the same elements!). I was literally in the audience chuckling "Kill, Kill"...but the movie dragged with the boring conversations.
I'm presently working on a prose project right now that's inspired/an homage to slasher movies...and i am very, very tempted to take it to Hollywood instead...if the best they can come up with is this Sweet Valley High-inspired drivel...
April 11, 2008 at 10:56 pm
I know I'm probably in the minority on this, but seeing a GOOD movie is usually more fun for me. I'm crazy like that.
April 12, 2008 at 12:43 am
Wow, Eric's getting all the dumb tween commenters today (though Cristina is decently well-spoken for a 13 year-old). Methinks someone linked to this review on their MySpace page or Daily Kos diary, hopefully there will be more of them!
BTW kids, in case you were wondering, Raven Symone's e-mail address is symone.raven@gmail.com.
April 12, 2008 at 2:14 am
wow... I'm pretty sure lalalala is retarded if he/she actually wants to see this movie. I mean, come ON! There 100's of older horror movies that do the same thing, but better. Whatever, its your 10 bucks... but seriously, I'm pretty sure Prom Night can rival Superhero Movie as worst movie of 2008...
April 12, 2008 at 5:32 am
Ok, i think this review is really harsh!
I want to see this movie and i will see it
This review was just some words and acutally i was clicking around to see the tralier but, instead i found this. I got a mouthful of endless criticisem and, considering that the actors and crew worked really hard on this.... Too bad, I'm seeing it anyway. The add was good, I liked it, and when you like something, you see it.
April 12, 2008 at 8:07 am
Cristina, your comments were very well written, but I just had to laugh at the line: "the acting was very off key." Thank goodness Simon Cowell is not a movie critic.
April 12, 2008 at 9:37 am
Hail Cristina! An intelligent teenager who uses punctuation and proper capitalization! And with nary an exclamation point in sight! (I'm looking at you, Tonya...) After reading the puerile comments teens leave for movies like "The Covenant" and "Just My Luck," not to mention "Children's Letters to Raven Symone," Cristina gives me hope for the future of humanity.
April 12, 2008 at 9:43 am
well i saw it last night and i wasn't even scarey it wsa really funny when everyone kept hering vocies
April 12, 2008 at 5:18 pm
wow people will complain about anything!
its a great movie.. and WHO CARES if they use the old killer in the mirror trick.. or bumping into something thinking its the killer.. IT WORKS! it makes you jump..which is the point right?
April 12, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I like how several of these commentators think we should see the movie because hey, the cast and crew worked hard on it.
Sometimes it takes a lot of work to produce crap, but that doesn't keep it from still being crap.
April 13, 2008 at 3:19 am
@Tonya:
Prom Night Criticism
by e. e. cummings
so
grab a date, or
grab the kids
.....popcorn.....
and
have
some FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
watch PROM night
April 13, 2008 at 10:37 am
"wow people will complain about anything!" (lmac)
You mean like reviews of bad movies, for example?
April 13, 2008 at 11:54 am
Yeah, I went to see this movie opening night with a bunch of friends, heres a little tip, if your between the ages of 13-16 go for it. This review was completely accurate! If you really really want to see it anyway (because, yeah, the previews are really good) please wait untill it becomes available to rent. This is not a movie you want to spend $10 to see. Especially with the teeny bobbers giggling and exagerating screams during to movie, it was a completely non-enjoyable experience. And, I had to laugh too how often the girl jumps at something in the mirror.
April 13, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Screw all of you guys. I say this movie today and thought it was amazing. You all need to learn to have a little fun. I thought the movie was awesome. The plot itself was very good along with the actors. so for all you guys sitting at home trashing the movie screw you and get a life.
April 13, 2008 at 5:34 pm
My "having a life" is precisely the reason I don't waste my time watching crappy movies.
When someone sees a movie like this and calls it "amazing" and "awesome" with good actors and a good plot, one thought keeps coming into my mind:
Have they ever seen a good movie? Maybe they just don't know any better.
April 13, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Oh my all of you people that said bad things about it. I thought it was a good movie. I liked it and i would recomend it to anyone. If your looking for a movie that's not that scary, but is jumpy, GO FOR IT!!! I liked it a lot. Go see it.
April 13, 2008 at 6:11 pm
this movie was amazingg, i aboustly loved it, & im SO gonna buy it when it comes out on DVD :]
April 13, 2008 at 8:51 pm
i thought the movie was awesome. it may not have been the best but it was good.
but the killings happened so quickly. it was one death after the next which began to get a bit boring.
im still glad i watched the movie.
if you wanna have some fun with your friends go out, and watch the movie. =]
April 14, 2008 at 8:35 am
thought it was way to predictable, I know exactly when he was going to strike. How many times are they going to pull the " close the mirror killer behind the trick"? Be serious you know it was coming. Give the killer some secret idenity it wasnt fun at all to just kill with out a mask or costume or something, sorry but this was plain horrible, not well played out
April 14, 2008 at 8:37 am
you know what "waste of time" means?????=prom night
'!!!:-(
April 14, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Methinks this movie is either made for you, or it isn't. Eric's review received a more or less equal amounts of positive AND negative feedback. I guess it all depends on what you look for in a horror movie and what your expectations are. You expect them to play the killer/mirror trick. Granted, they did it so many times that all the jumps lost their effect. Some people enjoy a little cheese in their movies. I can honestly say that I do not.
April 14, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I haven't seen this obvious piece of garbage, and I probably wont until it's finally laid to rest on network television during Halloween (the holiday) season. I'm sorry, but I grew up with what I feel are classics, and I'm not that old. Give me the ingenuity of Wes Craven's Nightmare on Elm Street and Serpent and the Rainbow, give me the masterful suspense of Alfred Hitchcock, give me the helplessness feeling you get watching a Rob Zombie flick where the bad guy wins at the end. But don't give me tired re-hashed scenes, and for God's sake, don't give me predictable! I like to be scared watching a horror movie, I like the suspense, I like the occasional humor and sex, but it has to balanced with a GOOD plot, and REAL character development that makes sense and follows the plot line. I'm tired of lazy producers and directors thinking that a big rack and pouty lips on some 20 something year old make up for the fact that your movie is nothing but shock value brought out through either gore or some good C.G.I. However, I would watch it if Elvira hosted it, she could make it watchable, she just plain rocks.
April 14, 2008 at 8:17 pm
I havn't seen this movie, (I was scarred for life after seeing Disturbia), but I think that it's a little harsh to trash someone's hard work. I agree completely with Tonya. I'm sure that some of you people that were dissin' the "killer in the mirror" thing were a little scared that night when you were brushing your teeth.
The movie looks good to me, however, I don't think I can handle another scary movie for 3 years!!!!
Eric, you seem smart about your choice of words, but many of my friends said it was the best movie they had ever seen!
April 15, 2008 at 12:50 am
um... PROM NIGHT rocked my socks. okii I saw it twice in the same 24 hours... its awesome.. there have been so many worse movies around.. take a look
go see it
April 15, 2008 at 4:25 am
He was only in the mirror once, and that was a dream. The other times it was just a friend/family member.
April 15, 2008 at 4:34 am
As has been pointed out, it is the end result, and not how hard people worked on it, that matters. If I built a crappy house that was about to fall in on itself, would you buy it just because I worked really hard on it? If I built a car with no brakes, would you buy it just because I worked really hard on it? If I made you dinner out of skunk, lima beans, and enriched plutonium, would you eat it just because I worked really hard on it?
April 15, 2008 at 10:40 am
I went to go see this movie as in some small hope that it would be a good scare. Little did i realize that I would be the only person in the theater that was not a 17 year old girl! The movie was very dry and I may go so far as boring. No character development occured and I for one did not care who died and who lived! A feeble attempt at producing a slasher flick.
April 15, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I love that the 'tweeners all treat the negative review like it's a Parental Command. ("No, you can't see that movie! It looks like garbage. Now clean your room!") And then defend it as if they personally worked on it, just because they are in the target audience or identify with the star - hee!
Kids, you don't have to agree with what other people tell you, You don't have to be persuaded or even swayed by their opinions! A negative review does not, can not, prevent you from seeing the movie if you want to and are otherwise able to. What's more, just because someone else didn't like the movie doesn't mean you have to feel guilty because you do.
That said, you couldn't pay me to see this crap.
Awesome e. e. cummings homage, btw. Heh.
April 15, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Steve, you put that in a great way!
It seems that everyone in my school who saw this movie thought it would be worth it to see it again. I hear my fellow eighth graders say things such as " Oh my gosh, Prom Night was SOO scary!" Or... "Prom night was so, like, good you guys should totally watch it!" I had to inwardly scoff at each remark, for it seems that I am the only one that thought the movie was a piece of crap.
April 15, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Clumpy,
I love you forever. Also e.e. cummings, but mostly you.
April 16, 2008 at 6:35 am
You know, having recently (finally) seen Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, I think I have reached the pinnacle of modern self-aware slasherdom. Old school "bunch of teenagers get killed" movies hold no appeal for me anymore.
People who thought Prom Night sucked, I implore you: watch Behind the Mask if you haven't already.
April 16, 2008 at 10:28 am
i have not seen this yet but im going next week. Some people say its stupid and some people say its good. I hope i dont waste my $$$$$!!!!!
April 16, 2008 at 3:56 pm
im going to see this movie on saturday im 13 the age where all you do is watch horrror movies with friends to get scared well for all those ppl that thought it was funny you can just say that it was a comdey ok whatever its you review i not going to fight with it i dont know about you but i love brittney snow so im going to support her and say that its going to be an amazing movie . so for all those haters out there why dont you go and shot a horror movie an see how it comes out im a actor and it is way way harder than it looks so give them a break i know if you were one of theses actors you would feel horlbile and put down so lets just encorge them to do better next time so ya !!!!!!!! PROM NIGHT ROX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
April 16, 2008 at 6:45 pm
if we cant see the movie what's the point of having this.
April 17, 2008 at 1:10 pm
It's like they made this movie for people who didn't waste enough money on their actual prom night
April 17, 2008 at 2:05 pm
i love your comment lexi im 15 and this movie is amazing and yea l like brittney snow shes hot so go lexi you will love this movie
April 17, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Don't listen to this fat head. He probably doesn't now good movies from a dead rat. I saw Prom night with my friend and is was so awesome. So ignore this movie trasher and go see Prom Night.
April 18, 2008 at 4:20 pm
This movie is awesome,just because some people dont like it doesnt mean that everyone else shouldnt see it.
April 18, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Yes! Continue with your inane, poorly-spelled, and punctuation-bereft comments and perhaps we can get some new pieces in the most commented section.
April 20, 2008 at 6:21 pm
i thought this movie is so flippin awsome. I loved it and totally want to buy it when it comes out on dvd. it was kinda funny but then kinda scary. All the people who didnt like the movie stop wasting time talking about, i mean if you didnt like it why would you give it so much attention. Gosh damn you people piss me off!
April 21, 2008 at 12:59 am
I couldn't muster up enough hate for it to let it out all at once.I have to admit it is really fun to keep stabbing at it. Or maybe I'm bored, and the only thing on my mind is how I wasted 7 dollars on a movie that would make a child laugh at the absurdity of it all. I was their on opening night, and there were about 10 other people in the movie theater.
I think of it as a making up for the time I wasted watching the movie.
Smile :)
April 21, 2008 at 2:45 pm
All the guys in my class dont like it but they thought that the girls were hott! but we (girls) all LOVED the movie!!! and we are gonig to go see it again or rent it when it comes out ... it was cute, scary, and sad but we all loved it !!! even the guys got scred in some parts!! hha
April 21, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I thought that th movie would be scary so i might go and see it tonight but since everybody is just putting it down by saying it sucks then i'll go and see it and see what happens.
April 23, 2008 at 4:12 am
To the commenter lalalala - I HAVE to... no.. NEED to say - thanks so much for supporting movies like Epic Movie & Meet the Spartans. I'd be surprised if you didn't like them.
April 28, 2008 at 12:39 am
Hmmm, I didn't see this movie, but let me guess; the African American characters get killed first. We have never faired well in slasher movies.
April 28, 2008 at 1:23 am
I really hated this movie and found myself laughing at its efforts at scariness. If that makes me a "hater," I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. If you liked the movie, fine. Just don't try to make the rest of us feel guilty for voicing our opinions. We're not stopping you from raving, even though your grammatical errors are making me feel nauseated. My ten-year-old sister writes better than this, for goodness sake. Cristina, you have no idea how relieved I am that there are other teenagers out there with good sense and who make an effort to write proficiently.
April 29, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Being 13 and all-I can guarantee the last thing in my diminutive mind is Raven Symore (or however you spell it). I vaguely remember her from my young, 9 year old childhood.
On more important news-I can guarantee to any decent person who is-not in love with Raven Symore nor enjoy(ed) the Hannah Montana movie-that Prom Night was utter crap.
Sure-the sub plot was boring in all but did you honestly see it? I gave up ’88 Minutes’ for the crappy remake of the older version. I have seen both versions-and I must say-the latest one was disgusting! You don’t usually interpret that but at least in that version the killer was actually tied up into the story and had a reason to kill the heroine’s friends (he witnessed them killing his younger sister-which was by accident).
So, basically, it was a laugh. A joke, I haven’t laughed as hard since seeing 24 Days Later-and that was a good movie, I just didn’t really enjoy it as much. But this was a laugh-a pure, long laugh. You knew who would be killed off, one by one, you basically knew how they would die, and you knew when, where or why. It was all so just pointless and stupid.
So unless you’re some 10 year old kid and have never seen a good chill (ex. Dawn of the Dead or Saw), then I suggest you go ahead and eat this movie.
Because, frankly, the best thing which can happen to it will be for it to get eaten.
April 30, 2008 at 2:02 am
this movie is so predictable and the only part that i jumped at was when in the begining when she tripped on the bat before she found her brother
April 30, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Watch the movie it is a great one!!!!!!!!!
April 30, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Wow. I hope that some (if not all) of these positive reviews are adults posing as stupid teenagers because I have to believe that our youth aren't really this stupid and uneducated.
May 5, 2008 at 12:35 am
wow, i really enjoyed this movie. If you didnt, well, you should really keep the comments to yourself. So what if you predicted some parts, i think in all movies you can predict something, big deal? If you want to see this movie, please go see it, because it was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 8, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I'm really glad I took the time to read through every comment here. Comic gold
June 8, 2008 at 7:01 pm
this was an awesome movie! i saw it last night and i loved it. you guys, really, why would you say such horrable things about a movie?! So what if you dont like it. You dont have to let the whole world know but such harsh words. i really dont care if you think i'm being "rude" because this was a good movie. yes you could tell when someone was going to die. but watching it in the theaters with some friends was fun. its the kind of movie that makes you want to keep watching it. who cares about all you "haters" that think it is horrable when really it wasnt that bad! the actors did good and i thought it was very enjoyable. i think that you take the time to read these then you know that there are alot of people who dont care for the movie. there are also alot of people who do like the movie. but i think you sould go see it if you havent. if you dont like it then what really have you wasted? alittle bit of money and some time... not a big deal. more than likely, you were the one who wanted to go see it anyway, so why bash the movie when really, it was your fault you didnt like it??. i am 14 and i went to go see it with 2 friends, we all liked it and we already have told friends about it. yes there were some laughs but you also jumped a few times and you cant say that it is a bad movie if you just dont know whats good. i am really glad we went to go see Prom Night. who ever said that Donna was a bad actress in the movie... maybe just maybe that was her script. you have to think, everyone who she cared the most about died. her life would never be the same. and in the acting world... the actors have to act like its there life so it seems more real. do you know how hard the would be? to act like your parents were killed and you witnessed your moms death? you guys who keep haten on this movie have no feelings.
June 13, 2008 at 1:40 am
......and I'm REALLY glad I came back to read that last comment. Heaven forbid people call out a piece of sh#t movie for what it is.
June 14, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Well i saw the film today and i thought it was really good
July 4, 2008 at 5:22 am
"and in the acting world...the actors have to act like its there life so is seems more real. do you know how hard the would be?"
That's my favorite part. Oh Katrina, if you only knew how easy it is when you're getting paid obscene amounts of money!
August 27, 2008 at 1:10 am
That's my favorite part. Oh Katrina, if you only knew how easy it is when you're getting paid obscene amounts of money!
The best part is that you don't even have to do a good job. You can just mumble lines like, "Oh God of My! It am Godzirla!" and shamble awkwardly off the camera and collect billions. That makes me angry.
October 8, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I thought that the movie itself was fairly good.
But as a horror movie, no.
It was predicitable, but it kept me intrested and wanting to keep watching it.
I thought the plot was not that great though. He kills everyone, how fun is that?
Anyway, my point is that it was entertaining, but just not the best. I think it could have been made into a good movie, if they did alot of work.