1980 Simcom Productions
A young girl named Robin (Tammy Bourne) falls to her death during a child’s game gone wrong and six years later a killer is on the loose, 
murdering the teenagers who once promised each other never to tell. Will the killer be caught or will everybody die?
Prom Night is a very dated horror movie, make no mistake about that! With the ‘love’ van, the disco music, and bad hairstyles you automatically know that this takes place in 1980. Bloofer Lady actually remembers that time, and my goodness does she get flashbacks watching this film! By the process of elimination it’s sort of obvious who the murderer is and some of the casting is way off, but it still makes for a cheesy good time.
William Gray is the author of the screenplay, which is based ona story by Robert Guza Jr. The whole idea of a killer going around and getting revenge on a group of people isn’t that new of an idea these days, in fact it is probably the most common horror movie scenario right now. Back then though it was more of an original idea. I think that this film helped along the ‘bad kids will get what they deserve at the end of the film’ theme, which in my humble opinion is quite stale and overdone these days. You have all sorts of stereotypical characters in this including a drunk witness that nobody believes, a slut, a virgin, and of course the couple who looses their virginity to each other. Watching this film you would think that every single teen is a walking hormone and just wants to screw. Okay, some do, I’ll admit that. What is never fully explained in the screenplay is where the hell did the killer go when they originally witnessed the death of Robin? One minute they are in a scene, they wander off, and then at the end of the film we find out that they watched her fall. Um….okay. Don’t expect great character arcs or a totally original story. What you are going to basically see
are horny teens getting killed on a prom night six years after the death of a playmate.
Prom Night is directed by Paul Lynch and has the look of a TV movie, which really isn’t that surprising considering that after this film that is what he mostly directed. Oh my goodness, the disco scene! Lynch spends at least three or four minutes circling around Kim (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Nick (Casey Stevens) as they do some choreographed disco dancing at the prom! It makes me laugh like mad crazy every single time because it is too damn long and the music so achingly bad. It makes for a very cheesy scene that leaves me wondering what Lynch was thinking when he did that shot. Then there is the whole van scene in which it goes round and round in circles, seemingly forever before it finally falls off a cliff and explodes. It doesn’t even wait till it hits the bottom to do that, it does it as it’s going down. Maybe they made it explode too soon and they didn’t have the money to shoot it again?
Jamie Lee Curtis is okay as Kim even though his stiff backed disco dancing is pretty funny to watch. I feel that there is some serious miscasting going on in this movie though. Bad girl Wendy is played by Anne Marie Martin and she looks way too old for the role. She was only 23 when the film was made but she looks at least 30 for whatever reason. Then there is poor David Mucci who plays Lou. Dear god, this guy can’t act his way 
out of a paper bag let alone the fact that the guy has a uni-brow! Now, I know he’s supposed to be the trouble maker and all but does he really have to look like a neanderthal? Couldn’t they have let him wax or something? The most surprising person in this film is Leslie Nielsen who plays Kim’s dad Mr. Hammond. He seems kind of awkward like he’s thinking about why he appeared in this movie. The bad acting is the primary reason why this film is a cheesy good time.
Bloofer Lady thinks that there is a lot wrong with Prom Night, but that’s what makes it fun to watch. Sometimes you have to throw logic and good taste out the window and just enjoy yourself.
You can buy Prom Night here: Horror Movie Empire
Bloofer Lady
Horror Crypt
