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Prom Night DVD Review

As a remake of a decent, but not necessarily great horror film, I wasn't particularly looking forward to "Prom Night." I did enjoy the original film as it did have a certain fun factor to it, but it dragged in moments and overall wasn't anything great. The remake looked like a very minimal effort, not very different from other PG-13 horror films that tend to be over polished and lacking of much substance.

"Prom Night" wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. I can't really point out any point that was particularly good, either. It was just an okay movie, although in a very remedial sense. Still, considering what it was, it could have been a lot worse.

Donna (Brittany Snow) has been trying to get over the tragedy of losing her family. She had to hide under the bed as she watched the murder of her mother by an obsessed teacher of hers. The teacher has been locked up, far away from Donna, but knowing this hasn't made the horrid memories of that night go away. She lives with her aunt and uncle now and has been doing a lot better lately. However, the nightmares of him capturing her haven't vanished. Donna wants to forget about all that for Prom Night.

Donna is going to prom with her long term boyfriend and football star, Bobby (Scott Porter), and her two best friends, Lisa (Dana Davis) and Claire (Jessica Stroup), and their boyfriends. They have a limo, gorgeous dresses, and they're having their prom at a very classy hotel with the full red carpet treatment. It's expected to be a night they won't soon forget. However, when Donna's stalker breaks out of jail and crashes the party the memories of this night might not be ones that Donna wants to remember.

The acting really wasn't anything great, but at least it wasn't so bad as to distract from the movie. Most of the characters and how they acted seemed realistic enough to accept, but I can't say I really cared for any of the characters either. Brittany Snow probably could have done a better job as the victim that seems to keep on getting away from the murderer that so easily manages to get everyone else. I probably would have felt for her character more and been rooting for her against the villain if she portrayed more of a strength in her character rather than the very weak one we get. Some of that is just in how the character for this movie was written, because she is easily scared many times through out the film and is somewhat instable. However, Snow doesn't add much to the film at all, we really don't get much emotion that seems authentic out of her.

Although, the characters were pretty hallow, they did seem fairly realistic as did the dialogue and overall event of prom. There were couples embracing the night and enjoying it with each other. We also got the not so bright side of the night such as the catty fights, couples fighting, crying, and all the other drama. There's also a lot of questioning of the future and what it will bring.

Most of this didn't push the movie forward, but it displayed the high school and prom experience pretty accurately. Also, the plans and worries for the future become a bit of a downer to those that get killed, as they clearly won't even have a chance of any future now.

"Prom Night" doesn't seem to make any real effort to add much to the original. It does have a different story, but this really doesn't add on the story of the original. It just replaces a superior story, and rather than building on the potential that it presented, it disregards it. We aren't given any of those themes of the cruelty of children and bullying that the first film was built off of, allowing the viewer to think that the victims might have deserved what came to them.

In the remake the killing feels far too systematic as if there really isn't any reason for any of it. In the beginning, the villain killed the mother since she didn't reveal where her daughter was. However, on prom night, he knows exactly where Donna is at almost any given moment. In fact, he has numerous chances to catch her, but doesn't. Obviously, this is just to keep the suspense heightened and get us to question whether she will be caught by him or not.

The film drags a lot during these parts. It still has a somewhat fast pace, but it's a lot of the same thing. There's some dancing, someone has to go up to the hotel room for something, the killer spots them and either kills them or, in Donna's case, just eyes her and comes close to catching her. Variations of this just happen over and over again. He obviously isn't killing these people to get to Donna and has no reason for killing them. The only one that I can see incentive towards is the boyfriend, who he is clearly jealous of when he sees him with Donna. Since his killings and his mission don't match up, the killer just ends up seeming unrealistic and weak.

The difference in storyline makes it a completely different film that just happens to involve students getting killed on prom night. I am all for remakes changing elements of the story and adding things to improve or add a new twist to the original. However, a remake shouldn't just steal the original's name and completely strip the film. This is what "Prom Night" does and I could almost accept this if it would have at least made a stronger attempt.

The idea of a teacher so obsessed with his student to the point of stalking and murdering has some great potential to be a gripping horror film. The main capacity that this aspect is explored in is the agents describing the original crime while discussing the case. We really aren't shown the obsession by the killer nearly enough and the film really loses out on a chance for some very creepy scenes with Donna and the killer by not developing the storyline through the interactions with the two of them.

The deaths are decent for it being PG-13. They certainly aren't anything great, but they are more satisfying than the sudden fade to tactic that many of these films take. There's nothing graphic, but at least we get to see some blood. Also, since I didn't care about the characters all that much, the deaths were somewhat fun. At least they hinted that we were getting closer to who the killer was after, giving us the hope we could get on with the rest of the film.

"Prom Night" is mediocre at best, no different than any other trendy teen horror flick that presents a spooky environment without getting very graphic. This film is definitely best suited for a young teen audience who can't handle darker themes or more grotesque death scenes. It's also a much worse film when compared to the original.

Few films are ever able to stand up to the original that inspired them, but the original "Prom Night" was a dark, yet fun film that did have room to grow. Unlike most films that get remade, it actually could have used a remake to take the central idea and build off of it. However, few remakes ever do this, and like others, "Prom Night" mostly took the name brand and the night it took place and made an entirely new, but not particularly inspired film. If you were to take the original out of the equation and just watch "Prom Night" as its own movie, it isn't quite as bad, it's not good, but not particularly horrendous either.

Written by: Kelsey Zukowski

Reviewers Rating: 5
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