It’s the time of the season…

It’s that time of year again, and while the senior prom is supposed to be a memorable experience, Nelson McCormick’s movie “Prom Night” fails to be very memorable at all.

            Donna Kempel (Brittany Snow) is supposed to be having the best night of her life, but a sadistic teacher from her past has escaped from jail and has different plans for her and her friends.

            The movie throws the viewer right into Kempel’s tragic history with her teacher, but does not include enough information about why he is so obsessed with her and why he brutalizes her family in an attempt to get to her. 

            The plot makes just enough sense to get through the film, but eventually some of the killings become senseless.

            This PG-13 remake shows very little graphic violence while still managing to offer up some good suspense.  

            However, if McCormick wanted to keep the violence subtle, he should have kept it subtle all the way.  He shows the murders happen, and the results of the murders, but there is very little blood. 

            It is a very talented killer (played by Johnathon Schaech) who can kill so many people with so little mess.

            It would have been more realistic not to show the dead bodies at all.

            The only real blood shown is when the director attempts to make it stylish.  For example, when a girl’s throat is slit, she is merely a blur in the background while her blood splashes onto a wall. 

            An off-screen death shows a man lying in a pool of blood, while all the deaths preceding it had very little blood at all. 

            While the “gore” is appropriate for a PG-13 film, it should have been kept consistent. 

            One thing this film can boast is it’s killer soundtrack.  Pun intended.  Just as this movie is a remake of sorts of the 1980s film, several songs from the time have been modernized as well, such as Ben Taylor’s rendition of “Time of the Season” or Quietdrive’s version of “Time After Time.”  In addition to these are many alternative tunes that move the plot right along.

            Another thing it can boast is the interesting camera angles sometimes used, especially when the SWAT team is called in, and the camera moves through the floors of a hotel while they’re trying to flush the killer out.

            While this movie is full of terrible clichés (the lesbian physical education teacher, the “hot blond” and her jock boyfriend, the intended proposal to a doomed loved one, the mirror scenes, the killer who always walks but always catches up, the dream sequences, etc.), it is still an entertaining enough movie, overall, but mainly for the audience it seems to be intended for – teenagers who enjoy mind-numbing and pointless entertainment.

 

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