Thursday, July 22, 2010

Prom Night (1980) - Dollar Bin Film

By: Brandon Sites - http://www.bigdaddyhorrorreviews.com/

Back when I was a little kid, I had a big crush on Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween. I watched the film over and over again just to see my favorite leading lady. Back in the early 90's Blockbuster came to town for the first time. I was surprised my mom got a membership there since it was on the other side of town, but she did. She told me to go find something to watch and as I was strolling the horror aisle, I discovered another horror film with Jamie Lee Curtis in it - PROM NIGHT! I immediately grabbed it off the shelf and took it to my mom and later on that night me and her were sitting in the basement eating chedder flavored popcorn to this masterpiece.

The film deals with a group of kids who play a game called Killer in an old abandoned house. The game is a variation on hide and seek. Well, one kid wants to join this group up and play along with them. She sneeks into the house and places herself into the center of the action. Unfortunately for her, these kids don't play well with others and gang up on her resulting in her falling through a window to her death. Skip to years later as this group of kids are now full fledged teens about to attend their senior prom. However, a killer lurks in the shadows ready for revenge for what happened all those years earlier.

This was one of my favorite slashers of all time back when I viewed it as a kid and still remains so to this day. As the film Scream told us, this is the film that introduced the rules to the slasher genre. It also introduced Jamie Lee Curtis's disco dancing skills! I have to say she sure knows how to move it and looks like she is giving her all her to put on a good show. What more could you want- disco dancing from a major league scream queen, creepy kids who cause other kids to fall to their death, and all the rules of the slasher genre fully realized? If that wasn't enough, make sure to stay through with this untill the ending. The identity of the killer is obvious, but the way it is presented, it sure does pack an emotional wallop.

4 comments:

Scare Sarah said...

LOVE this film. Jamie Lee Curtis is awesome. And what a great story! Me and my mum watched When a Stranger Calls when I was about 14! A week later she called me when I was babysitting my sisters and she said "have you checked the children...?" Odd sense of humour, my mum!

MrJeffery said...

I love your nostalgic right up. I am a fan of Part II!

Tower Farm said...

You had a CRUSH on Jamie Lee Curtis?!?!?!?!?

JM

B-Movie Becky said...

Haha. I picked up this movie for the same reason you did...Well not that I had a crush on Jamie, but because Halloween was my favorite movie and thus, she became my favorite actress for a while. So I hunted down Prom Night first, and then much later, Terror Train.

Watching Prom Night again, I can't say it was as great as I remember from my tweenager years, but it's still a fun movie. And that disco song is so damn catchy!