Rish Outfield's reviews
Six years ago, a sweet blonde little girl was inadvertently killed by a bunch of her nasty schoolmates. Well, this year, on the night of the big dance, someone is bumping off each of the guilty parties (now all in high school and prone to isolate themselves at opportune times). Is it the creepy janitor? Is it the man who was accused of the crime, now back in town for revenge? Or could it be the father of the dead girl, none other than Leslie Nielsen?
A bit of history: Back in June of 1998, tyranist and I rented three movies: Splatter University, House, and The House on Sorority Row, to start our new horror website. But just before that, we rented a few other horror movies which gave us the inspiration for what was to come. Among them were Return to Horror High, The Haunting, and Prom Night. Recently, at the end of our Thanksgiving Marathon, we got Prom Night again, and it's interesting to discover how much we have changed in these past couple of years.
After being deluged with terrible horror films, and seeing some that were more than a chore to view, I have to admit that our standards have dropped a bit (see our reviews for Sorority House Massacre 2, for example). In ‘98, we found Prom Night to be predictable, poorly-made, dull, and annoying. In 2000, I found it to be surprisingly intelligent, watchable, well-written and thoughtful. Things that made us groan two years ago (such as someone walking off into the distance to see what made that scraping sound) make us laugh today. Things that we rolled our eyes at back then (such as two girls changing their clothes together right after worshipping the devil and seeing one of their friends possessed) makes us applaud today. I guess that's weird, and should make me feel bad, but it doesn't. I think we've come to appreciate good horror films even more, since we've trained ourselves to try to appreciate the positive in every one of these suckers.
Anyway, this was a pretty good movie. Granted, there were a good half dozen red herrings provided, but most of them were GOOD red herrings. Who is the killer?
Jamie Lee Curtis didn't shine in Prom Night like she did in Halloween, but the role was a different one, complete with dance numbers. Leslie Nielsen is a grandfather-figure of mine (how many of those do you have?), so it was cool to see him in this, even if he was the least-explained of said red herrings.
Best Scare: Probably the extended disco sequence. Although the idea of being killed with a broken pane of glass is pretty scary. After that, I'd say when the killer first calls his victims--that was well done.
I'd Recommend It To: Slasher fans, definitely. It's not a classic, but it's good.

The tyranist's thoughts
Rish and I watched this one together not too long before we started the Horror Film Compendium back in 1998. We were both a little high on horror but hadn't immersed ourselves in it the way we have now. Years later, we finally picked it up to watch for review here and it is amazing how our opinions changed.
I remember really disliking Prom Night the last time I saw it. For some reason it just didn't work for me. A lot of it was too dark to see what was going on and the characters just didn't seem right. The production values looked too low for a good movie. Many little things bugged me.
This time, after many, many bad horror movies, the plot was nice and the red herrings not as distracting. The characters seemed much more sympathetic and well acted. The effects were better than so much I've seen. The ending was even touching. Even knowing how it all turns out I was drawn in and felt danger for characters who were never threatened.
I regret my earlier loathing. We had a better copy this time and the dark spots were still to dark, but at least we could see a little of what was happening. I heartily recommend seeing this one to any slasher fan. It still really doesn't connect with the sequels that follow it, but at least it is a movie well-worth the time spent to see it.