Seen on: April 15, 2008

The players: Director: Nelson McCormick, Writer: J.S. Cardone, Cast: Brittany Snow, Johnathon Schaech, Brianne Davis, Kelly Blatz, Jana Kramer

Facts of interest: Remake of the 1980 film starring Jamie Lee Curtis.

The plot: A high school graduate (Snow) is chased by a ruthless killer on her senior prom.

Our quick thoughts: “Prom Night” is definitely not a night to die for. Screen Gems’ remake of the 1980 thriller of the same name relies solely on a weak script and cheap shock effects to scare its audience, and the result couldn’t be more deplorable. Instead of injecting the genre with fresh ideas, the film sticks to the conventions of your average teenage horror flick, which include following a tedious plot and failing to generate suspense. In short, it’s a party you should skip. 

The story line alone is not exactly promising: a sadistic ex-teacher who’s obsessed with a young teenager (Brittany Snow) shows up at her senior prom and kills everyone who gets in his way. That’s pretty much what goes down during 88 dreadful minutes. None of this is exciting or even remotely suspenseful, and all the movie does is push a handful of high school kids into the deadly grip of a murderous freak. We’ve seen this lame story unfold on the big screen a gazillion times before, but Hollywood just doesn’t seem to get tired of it.

“Prom Night” is not only not scary, but it is also incredible boring. The main characters deliver cheesy dialogue and make the stupidest decisions before dying one by one in unspectacular killings (hey, this is PG-13), and director Nelson McCormick does absolutely nothing to boost the pace of the plot and save his film from heading into disaster. All you’ll encounter at this party are countless screams and laughable shocks, none of which are worth the price of admission.

There’s not much I can or want to say about actors who spend most of a film screaming, running or hiding, except that they don’t help make the movie any better. The script really doesn’t supply them with anything worth taking seriously, which makes it even harder for me to interpret their acting skills. The one thing I can say though, as a guy, is that the female leads (Brittany Snow, Jessica Stroup and Dana Davis) are dressed well and look great. Also starring as a detective who tries to catch the killer before he claims too many victims is Idris Elba, but I couldn’t find anything that would make his performance stand out.  

Freaky quote: "Ahhhhh!” – Dana Davis

The final word: If trashy teen horror movies are your cup of tea, I am sure you will have a blast watching “Prom Night.” The film also debuted in first place at the box office this past weekend, which pretty much explains why they won’t stop making this junk. You may want to attend a real prom instead of wasting your money on this, and if you’re already too old for prom, you may want to consider a different film if you plan on having a good time.