Prom Night (1980) 5.2
A masked killer stalks four teens responsible for the accidential death of a child six years earlier at their high school's senior prom. Director:Paul Lynch |
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Prom Night (1980) 5.2
A masked killer stalks four teens responsible for the accidential death of a child six years earlier at their high school's senior prom. Director:Paul Lynch |
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| 0Share... |
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Leslie Nielsen | ... | ||
| Jamie Lee Curtis | ... | ||
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Casey Stevens | ... | |
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Anne-Marie Martin | ... |
Wendy
(as Eddie Benton)
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| Antoinette Bower | ... | ||
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Michael Tough | ... | |
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Robert A. Silverman | ... |
Sykes
(as Robert Silverman)
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Pita Oliver | ... | |
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David Mucci | ... | |
| Jeff Wincott | ... | ||
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Mary Beth Rubens | ... |
Kelly
(as Marybeth Rubens)
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| George Touliatos | ... | ||
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Melanie Morse MacQuarrie | ... | |
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David Gardner | ... | |
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Joy Thompson | ... | |
For six long years, Hamilton High School seniors Kelly, Jude, Wendy, and Nick have been hiding the truth of what happened to ten-year-old Robin Hammond the day her broken body was discovered near an old abandoned convent. The foursome kept secret how they taunted Robin - backed her into a corner until, frightened, she stood on a window ledge... and fell to her death. Though an accident, the then-twelve-year-olds feared they'd be held responsible and vowed never to tell. But someone else was there that day... watching. And now, that someone is ready to exact murderous revenge-on prom night. Written by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Six years ago four kids make a pack to keep a secret, which involved the mysterious death of child Robin Hammond. They thought that were the only ones who knew what had happened, but some else witnessed it to. Now that person strings them along, to eventually plan their revenge during Prom night.
A real thank-you to the commercial success of "Halloween (1977)" and "Friday the 13th (1980), which saw the influx of slasher films and "Prom Night" was one of the first to step up. Too bad that we have here is an unspectacular so-so, if slick looking slasher effort that got caught labouring along with very little happening and providing us with corny school melodramatics. When it came to the crunch, most of the Prom Night sequences was about getting the groove on and listening to funky dory disco soundtrack. Oh it just makes you want to bogey; well it didn't stop Jamie Lee Curtis from strutting her stuff. However when it came to the good stuff, I thought the novel deaths were soundly executed, and there's a certain unpleasantness about them. When the black hooded killer (who's quite fast on their feet and would make for a good shaker too) is tormenting and stalking the victims (from be it to the phone calls or hanging about in the shadowy corridors) there's an ominous air to proceedings, which director Paul Lynch pulls off rather well. It's just too bad that most of the time is used setting this all up with ineffective red herrings and below par, drawn out script. Too many loose ends creep in, even though the premise is quite slight and you can find yourself laughing at its unintentional goofiness and picking up on it predictability.
Robert New's stunningly vivid camera movements are atmospherically airy and Paul Zaza and Carl Zittrer's sorrowfully twisted musical score gets it cues right. The performances from the cast are acceptable with a likable Jamie Lee Curtis (earning her scream queen tag at the time) proves herself as an upcoming talent. Weak character, but well judged performance. Leslie Nielsen looks awkwardly distracted, and seems to duck off in a phone-in performance and George Touliatos gives the film some solidarity. Anne-Marie Martin is a delight as the scheming sexpot Wendy, David Mucci is perfect as the boorish brute Lou and Casey Stevens is modest as Curtis' prom date Nick.
This post-Halloween slasher is familiar and slowly plotted, but its competent technical handling helps.