Prom Night (Screen Gems)
Its A Scream!
Back in the old days there were slasher movies about kids at camp, living on Elm Street, or baby sitting. In those movies the trashy kids were generally the ones who got sliced up. Sex equaled death in some instances. But in the re-make of the Jamie Lee Curtis thriller Prom Night it is the good kids who end up dead.
Brittany Snow stars as Donna Keppel, a teen-ager with a violent past. Three years ago one of here teachers (Jonathan Schaech) became obsessed with her and killed her entire family while trying to get to her. She escaped and he was locked up for life. She still has some psychological scars but is trying to maintain a normal life while living with her aunt and uncle.
Now it is prom night and she is going with her boyfriend Bobby (Scott Porter). They have two other couples along in the limo and have high hopes for a great night. However when they arrive at the hotel where the prom dance is being held someone else arrives too. It is the killer and he has escaped and is is on the loose. Once again his only intent is to get to Donna.
Snow makes an appealing heroine and Idris Elba is quite good as the detective who is determined to keep Donna safe. I also particularly liked Dana Davis who plays Donnas friend Lisa. She is one of the stars of the TV series Heroes and she is interesting there too.
The logic of the movie is not one of its strong points. It is amazingly far-fetched as to how the killer moves from one place to another without being seen or apprehended. But if it were logical it would probably be a very short movie.
The film is rated PG-13 for violence and profanity.
As horror movies go this one is less explicitly violent than others, and it has a good lead in Brittany Snow. The supporting cast is also competent. It is just too much like every other slasher flick you have seen in the past ten years or so. You could just as easily put Jamie Lee Curtis back in and have it about a thirty year reunion dance. As a matter of fact that might have made an even better movie.
I scored Prom Night a dressed up 4 out of 10.
