How about a little nostalgia?
Since everyone seems to be trying to recapture the vibe of 1980s horror, I decided to give Prom Night a go. We have the original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis as Kim, but first we introduced to a bunch of other kids. When they were younger, the main teens were responsible for the accidental death of a child. In freakish calmness the kids make a vow of silence, and now six years later it seems someone is out for revenge.
Kelly is friends with he sister’s murderers (perhaps murderer is too strong a term?). Anyway, the film plays a lot like I Know What You Did Last Summer. We have a past crime that is now being avenged.
We have a lot of familiar 1980s tropes here, including the dense boyfriends, overly concerned girlfriends, absent-minded parents, and a fun soundtrack. We also have the police chasing an innocent man who was thought to be guilty of the original killing. This works as a fun distraction, but with us knowing the truth it smacks a bit too much of just a red herring.
One of the most enjoyable things about watching these old movies is how absurd many of the things seem today. The men are all way too pervy, and everyone seems way too old to be in high school. It is weird that there seems to be so much care in the craft, but they choose to cast people who are old enough to be teachers.
The movie is about what you would expect, but I find something endearing about this slower paced horror films of the past. The plot is predictable, but we get to know the characters well enough to care about what happens. The cheese is enough to be enjoyable, and this is in large part to the writing at least being competent. It is also interesting to see the crazy world that filmmakers imagined high school to be.
The most surprising aspect of this movie is how boring it actually is. You’d think a movie with prom in the title would get to the prom a little quicker. Instead of a slasher, we get a stereotypical view of high schoolers for the majority of the film. Even when the killings do finally occur they aren’t exactly exciting. The cartoony movements and violence shatter any suspense on may have felt.
Once the nostalgic charm of the films wears off (which happens rather fast) we can truly see this movie for the contrived mess it is. Now, I did not go to my prom, but this has to be the worst dance ever. No one seems to be having any fun here. Isn’t that kind of the point of this movie? If the prom is the target for the revenge shouldn’t it be something that people seem to enjoy? Also, have these young men been taught anything about consent?
I guess this gave me my nostalgic fix, but it leaves a bitter aftertaste. 3/10
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