Prom Night Review
by tom elce (dr-pepperite AT hotmail DOT com)June 6th, 2008
Prom Night (2008)
Rating: 0.5 / 5
Reviewed by Tom Elce
Director: Nelson McCormick
Cast: Brittany Snow, Scott Porter, Johnathon Schaech, Dana Davis, Idris Elba, Collins Pennie, Jessica Stroup, Kelly Blatz, James Ransone, Brianne Davis, Mary Mara, Kellan Lutz, Jessalyn Gilsig, Linden Ashby, Jana Kramer, Joshua Leonard
MPAA Rating: PG-13
BBFC Rating: 15
Even if it would appear to be against the nature of the "slasher" film not to have a fair helping of the red stuff, its still worth remembering that these subgenre efforts needn't be Grand Guignol all around. John Carpenter's "Halloween" is a classic, yet is relatively bloodless. And so can the same be said of many genre gems. The problem with the modern trend of watered-down horror isn't that blood does not drench the screen. Moreso, the problem is the cowardice of these films, zooming in one would-be ominous sequences preceding a character's death before limply backing away to reveal a minimal spatter of blood on a wall, sheet or floor. The cowardice is in how this remake of "Prom Night" looks if only to cover its eyes before the slicing and dicing. In one of the worst horror movies to come along in an awfully long time, this is but one of countless problems.
All the elements of a generic slasher film are presented and accounted for in Nelson McCormick's misbegotten remake of 1980's cult horror item "Prom Night." This in the backstory that lamely links the protagonist - one Donna Keppel (Brittany Snow) - to the antagonist - murderous Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech) - via unpleasant encounter. This in a scene in which Donna looks in a mirror to see Richard's reflection behind her, only to turn in that direction and see him not there (this was probably done more recently than in "Halloween: Resurrection," but that is nonetheless the film this mismanaged scene particularly recalls). This in scenes wherein Donna's shrink talks to her less like an esteemed professional than a soap opera's resident biddy offering up ham-fisted advice. This in further cliched scenes wherein the hapless victims inadvertently run directly into Richard's hands as he sets out to make Donna's titular night memorable for the worst reasons. Hell, "Prom Night" is so contrived and inane in it's every department that it surely should be seen to be believed. So much as the horror genre gets a frequent disregard these days, these levels of genre ineptitude surely haven't been seen to such a degree since a pre-"The Butcher" time in which monumental duds like "Legend of the Mummy 2" shamed even the straight-to-DVD market.
Though I might be getting ahead of myself for making comparisons to the aforementioned garbage (as is, "Prom Night" is better than these films for one reason only: Brittany Snow), it should be stated furthermore that "Prom Night" is just as incapable of scaring the viewer as either of those such films. Geared distinctly towards teenage audiences whose standards are as low as can be, the film comes equipped with all the markings of an inane teenybopper slasher, what with the laughable pop-rock musical score and inane small talk had between the teen characters that the filmmakers must surely hope are echoed by the audience they unashamedly believe to be stupid beyond belief. While it's true that horror movies don't necessarily need to be gorey to work, it still leaves a sour taste in the mouth when a genre film avoids the inclusion of it simply to secure a wider audience demographic. As a result of the "brutal" murders, pathetic imitations of grue come and go with all the unctuousness as most kiddie-horror films combined.
Brittany Snow is the only thing remotely believable or remotely likeable about "Prom Night". That she turns in such a capable performance is ultimately irrelevant, because she's in garbage either way. Her character is written as your typical cookie-cutter protagonist, with ludicrous attempts at depth by J.S. Cardone, who (and here's a shocker) had a hand in the creation of the God-awful, bile-inducing The Covenant, working with all the impact of a moistened paper bullet. His screenplay has it's fair share of jaw-dropping clunkers, for sure. Be it in the pathetically transparent dialogue exchanges between Detectives seeking to hunt now on-the-loose madman Richard down before he gets to target Donna - of them, a comment on how they hope Donna "stays beautiful" feels most like it was pulled from a genre hack's guide to cliche. Donna and her friends - including the gratingly "sassy" Lisa (Dana Davis) - also have been written with next to no regard for how real people communicate and/or deal with increasingly distressing circumstances.
As they plunge towards depths of stupidity that might otherwise have been thought impossible, they put themselves simultaneously in harm's way and ensure that Richard adds a few more to his body count. One thing becomes clear: while these kids don't necessarily deserve to die, they aren't any great loss when they do. Technically, "Prom Night" is an improvement over screenwriter Cardone's "The Covenant" if only because Brittany Snow committs to a thankless role. Otherwise, it is as unthinkably awful as horrors tend to come.
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