Psycho's Movie Reviews #70: PROM NIGHT (2008)

Prom Night is a 2008 slasher film directed by Nelson McCormick that is a loose remake of the 1980 film of the same title. The film stars an ensemble cast including Brittany Snow, Scott Porter, Jessica Stroup, Dana Davis, Collins Pennie, Kelly Blatz, James Ransone, Brianne Davis, Johnathon Schaech, and Idris Elba.

A high school girl named Donna Keppel (Snow) is traumatized after witnessing her former teacher, Richard Fenton (Schaech), brutally murder her entire family after he had become dangerously obsessed with her. Three years later, as Donna gets ready for her senior prom, Fenton escapes from custody, follows her to the hotel hosting the prom, and kills anybody who gets in the way of his reunion with Donna.

Plot:

High school freshman Donna Keppel (Brittany Snow) returns home one evening to find her father and younger brother have been murdered. She hides under her bed where she then witnesses her mother stabbed to death by Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech), her former biology teacher who has become obsessed with Donna.

Three years later, Donna lives with her Uncle Jack and Aunt Karen. She and her friends prepare for their senior prom. Meanwhile, Detective Winn (Idris Elba), who imprisoned Fenton three years earlier, learns Fenton has escaped from prison.

At the hotel where the prom is being held, Fenton arrives disguised as a man named Howard Ramsey and reserves a room on Donna's floor. In order to gain a master key, he stabs a housekeeper to death. Donna's friend Claire (Jessica Stroup) has an argument with her boyfriend Michael (Kelly Blatz) so Donna accompanies her to their room to calm her down. After Donna leaves, Fenton enters the room and kills Claire. Michael later goes up to the room to look for her and he is also murdered by Fenton.

Knowing Fenton will come for Donna, Winn arrives at the hotel with his partner Detective Nash. Donna's friend Lisa (Dana Davis) and her boyfriend Ronnie (Collins Pennie) bump into Fenton on their way up to their room; Lisa recognizes him but does not know where she has seen him before. Soon after, she realizes it is Fenton and flees the room to warn Donna, only to be trapped in the stairwell by Fenton. He chases her into the basement where he finds her and slits her throat.

Winn finds the body of the real Howard Ramsey in his car trunk in the parking lot. He then goes up to the room booked under Ramsey's name and finds the housekeeper's body. He sounds the emergency alarm and has the hotel evacuated. Donna quickly goes back up to her room to retrieve her mother's shawl, but runs into Fenton. After a short chase, Donna escapes. Winn orders the SWAT team to search the hotel, but they find no sign of Fenton.

Donna and her boyfriend Bobby (Scott Porter) are escorted back to Donna's house, where Winn orders back up to keep Fenton away. Inside, Donna experiences a bad dream and awakens suddenly. She then discovers Bobby is dead after having his throat slashed. She sees a shadow in the hallway and retreats to her closet to hide, only to find it is Winn coming upstairs. Before she can leave, Fenton appears in the closet and prepares to kidnap her. Donna begins to fight him and a violent struggle ensues. As Fenton is about to stab Donna, Winn returns and shoots Fenton several times, killing him.

As Donna mourns over Bobby's body and is joined by her Aunt and Uncle, Winn consoles her and tells her it is finally over.

Production:

The film was originally announced in 2004 with the script being written by Stephen Susco. The final script was written by J. S. Cardone. The budget for the film was $20 million. It was produced by Original Film and Newmarket Films in association with Alliance Films, which holds the rights to the original franchise, along with sequel rights.

The film was mostly shot in Los Angeles, with overhead shots taking place in Newport, Oregon.

Release/Reception/Box Office:

Prom Night was released by Sony Pictures and Screen Gems. The film grossed $20,804,941 in 2,700 theatres in the United States and Canada, ranking #1 at the box office in its opening weekend and averaging $7,705 per theatre. It grossed $43,869,350 in the U.S. and a $12,728,210 in other territories for a worldwide total of $56,597,560.

Prom Night was not screened in advance for critics, and was universally panned. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 7% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 67 reviews. The critical consensus states: "A dim and predictable remake of an already dull slasher film, this Prom Night fails to be memorable." On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 17 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike".

My Review:

Omg...Guys this was the best ever Horror movies I've ever watched in my life! I'm surprised how good it came, I was going crazy when I watched it and all I have to say is that the camera quality was so good like it was so perfect.

I first watched this with my older sister and my Mom a good few months back, and I've pretty much watched this film around 11 times since then - I love this film, one of my favourite Horrors. It's not very scary for a Horror, I mean the concept/plot is a scary thought, but I'd say this is more of a Thriller than a Horror. {You can watch it now, on Netflix}.

Johnathon Schaech did an incredible performance as the sick, obsessive, yandere Richard Fenton. He is more of one of the highlights of the film. {I'm sorry but the only thing that holds me back from Fenton is because his name reminds me of that viral video on Youtube of a man chasing his dog called Fenton as it's chasing a huge herd or deer and repeatedly shouts the dogs name to no avail - Type In 'Fenton' on Youtube and you'll see what I mean}.

The rest of the cast did a good job too; Brittany Snow did a decent job as the lead, although she's nothing too special (in a sense that she's not very different from most Horror/Slasher movie victims (Amber from Hairspray, that's what you know her from). FUN FACT: This is one of Idris Elba's first acting roles, it shows. But he does a really good job as the heroic, detective trying to hunt Fenton down.

But also this has a very, very good soundtrack to it - it introduced me to a few good tunes which I listen to daily: Time Of The Season - Ben Taylor Band (a cover of The Zombies) and Paralyzed by Rock Kills Kid, mainly.

Overall, I highly recommend you watch this film if you haven't already - it's on Netflix right now so - 10/10.