With the slasher boom exploding in the early 80's after John Carpenter's Halloween became a success in 1978 upon its release, every studio got the craze to rip it off and create their own slasher films. But the slasher films of the 80's had something that Halloween lacked, excessive violence (I'm not complaining, I'm
just stating the obvious).Prom Night is one of the first slashers to rip off Halloween to cash in on it's success. Staring Jamie Lee Curtis, this Slasher film from Canada is a pretty good entry in the genre, more credit should be given to this film as its not as bad as people claim it to be. Sure theres room enough for improvement, but this is still a pretty entertaining horror film. However with the strong succession of slasher films that followed like Friday The 13th, Nightmare On Elm Street, My Bloody Valentine and Terror Train; it's easy to forget Prom Night. If you put this film alongside the most solid slasher films that I've just mentioned, Prom Night may seem kind of weak. At times it does feel that way, but its far from the worst. I loved the film along with it's sequel, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II. But I hated the last two entries of the franchise. This film follows the usual slasher film formula, a killer stalks and kills teens responsible for the deaths of a girl. But setting of the kills is not a nightmare or a campground or a mine. It's a high school prom. The film is enjoyable but flawed. Prom Night is still a fun film to pull out from time to time to rewatch, but it's one of the weaker slasher films of the 80's. Like I've said, the best Prom Night film is the second one. But this film is still worth watching to kill an hour and a half and enjoy something nostalgic from early 80's slashers.
March 22, 2011
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