Antonio
09-29-2002, 07:22 PM
PROM NIGHT (1980). Directed by Paul Lynch. Starring Leslie Nielsen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Stevens, Anne-Marie Martin, Michael Tough, Robert Silverman, Pita Oliver, David Mucci, George Touliatos, Jeff Wincott, Marybeth Rubens, Joy Thompson, Sheldon Rybowski and Antoinette Bower. Effective little whodunit that rode the wave of success of the slasher revival spawned two years earlier by John Carpenter's trend-setting classic HALLOWEEN. The film's story, written by William Gray and Robert Guza Jr., centers around a masked assailant stalking four teens during their senior prom as retribution for their part in the death of a young girl six years earlier. Not on the hit list but caught up in all of the murder and mayhem is reigning "Scream Queen" of the time Curtis, who plays the film's heroine, Kim Hammond. Curtis is every young man's dream date...smart, tough and sexy. Nielsen is fun in a glorified cameo (although he received top billing) as Curtis's father, principal of the high school which provides much of the film's action. The rest of the cast, I suspect, is Canadian, since the flick was filmed in Toronto, and they are all excellent, especially Tough as JLC’s innocent younger bro, and Martin, who is superb as sexy bad girl Wendy. The script boasts: five major suspects, two of whom are obvious red herrings (escaped mental patient, creepy school janitor); one harrowing chase through the deserted campus (run Wendy, run!); interesting relationships among the interconnected characters; and a creepy opening flashback scene involving most the main characters as children, playing a twisted version of hide-and-go-seek in an abandoned convent (“Killers are coming!”). Paul Zaza and Carl Zittrer are responsible for the moody, ominous "love it or hate it" disco score. I loved it. The chilling title song is a cross between "Born To Be Alive" by Patrick Hernandez and Gloria Gaynor's infamous "I Will Survive". What separates PROM NIGHT from the countless number of PSYCHO and HALLOWEEN clones are the sympathetic characters and the killer’s motive (revenge is a dish best served cold!). My grade: A