On Screen
Prom Night
BY Philip Brown April 12, 2008 17:04
Sometimes it’s really hard to like horror movies. For every gem like Inside, audiences suffer through dozens of Prom Nights. Occasionally bad horror movies will cross the camp barrier and enter the “so bad it’s good” category, but this is not one of those cases.
How bad is the movie? Bad enough that it makes the original Prom Night (a completely generic '80s slasher flick) seem like a classic. Brittany Snow plays a high-school senior whose family was killed by a teacher who became obsessed with her. Three years later he breaks out of prison to reclaim his obsession on prom night. In terms of plot development and character motivation that literally covers the entire film. The teacher never provides any reason for his obsession. He just wants the protagonist for no apparent reason and is willing to kill for her. Every other character onscreen is either a victim or potential victim.
The cast is comprised exclusively with attractive and vapid young actors (including the bitchy Brianne Davis, who, despite being in her early 20s, has seemingly been the victim of some bad plastic surgery that is far more frightening than anything in the movie). Every actor struggles with their completely unrealistic characters and at times it’s almost embarrassing to watch them give what will undoubtedly be the worst performances of their careers.
The direction is standard issue and hits on every single horror cliché ever captured on film with one exception: oddly, the movie is almost entirely without the gore and teen sex that define the slasher genre. Presumably this is to lower the rating to PG-13 to allow more teens to see the movie, which is a little disturbing. How is it better for young audiences to watch a movie filled with the unmotivated slaughter teenagers simply because the actors don’t take their clothes off or get decapitated? Just because exploitative trash is cleaned up and polished doesn’t mean it isn’t trash. It just means that audiences are denied the few empty pleasures they expect from their garbage. Kind of like if McDonald's sold a sandwich that was just lettuce on a bun.
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