"Prom Night"
I was in the mood for some shlocky ridiculous 80s horror, so this sounded promising. Spoiler: It did not fulfill its hoped-for purpose.
The Pros:
It had Jamie Lee Curtis in it. Also Leslie Nielsen in a pre "Airplane" role, and seeing him do something that isn't his "straight man shtick" is kind of a novelty these days.
Ends with a shot of a single tear rolling down Curtis's faces and a ridiculous melodramatic sad song playing over the credits. Which can also be filed under "the cons"
The Cons:
The story is contrived, and has a HUGE plot hole. (If you're gonna have Checkov's gun, you need a payoff - but you might want to be sure it's somewhere in that first act as well.)
Dull. So boring. I am totally cool with slow burn horror, but this tries (and fails) to build suspense in the horror sequences. Which then end in pretty PG-13 levels of gore. Lack of gore isn't really a problem for me, and it can definitely be over used, but here it just adds to the overall dullness, and feels like "we didn't have the budget for special effects" or laziness rather than a choice.
The costuming! I mean, I know we've got pushing-30s playing high schoolers here, and it was an 80s movie, but did we have to dress them all as if they were headed to a corporate job interview? And why oh why does Jamie Lee Curtis get a dress that looks like it should be worn by a mother of the bride for the climactic "prom" sequence? (Which I thought would be way more fun and ridiculous than it actually was.)
Ends with a shot of a single tear rolling down Curtis's faces and a ridiculous melodramatic sad song playing over the credits. Which can also be filed under "the pros"
TL;DR: Came for 80s cheese and slasher gore, stayed despite boredom so I could write this blog.
If I were you, I'd skip this one. Are we gonna take a look at any of the sequels or the reboot? We shall see.
The Pros:
It had Jamie Lee Curtis in it. Also Leslie Nielsen in a pre "Airplane" role, and seeing him do something that isn't his "straight man shtick" is kind of a novelty these days.
Ends with a shot of a single tear rolling down Curtis's faces and a ridiculous melodramatic sad song playing over the credits. Which can also be filed under "the cons"
The Cons:
The story is contrived, and has a HUGE plot hole. (If you're gonna have Checkov's gun, you need a payoff - but you might want to be sure it's somewhere in that first act as well.)
Dull. So boring. I am totally cool with slow burn horror, but this tries (and fails) to build suspense in the horror sequences. Which then end in pretty PG-13 levels of gore. Lack of gore isn't really a problem for me, and it can definitely be over used, but here it just adds to the overall dullness, and feels like "we didn't have the budget for special effects" or laziness rather than a choice.
The costuming! I mean, I know we've got pushing-30s playing high schoolers here, and it was an 80s movie, but did we have to dress them all as if they were headed to a corporate job interview? And why oh why does Jamie Lee Curtis get a dress that looks like it should be worn by a mother of the bride for the climactic "prom" sequence? (Which I thought would be way more fun and ridiculous than it actually was.)
Ends with a shot of a single tear rolling down Curtis's faces and a ridiculous melodramatic sad song playing over the credits. Which can also be filed under "the pros"
TL;DR: Came for 80s cheese and slasher gore, stayed despite boredom so I could write this blog.
If I were you, I'd skip this one. Are we gonna take a look at any of the sequels or the reboot? We shall see.