You're the parents, or in this case the aunt and uncle, of a teenage girl who has had a traumatizing event happen to her. So much so that the littlest things could trigger bad memories. Why in the world would you be sneaking up on her as she's in the bathroom? Because it's a movie of course and the director is going for the cheesy sudden camera shots that are supposed to dominate these type of slasher flicks. Especially the remake of "Prom Night".
Donna Keppel(Brittany Snow) has survived a terrible tragedy, but now the time has come to leave the past behind and celebrate her senior prom in style. When the big night finally arrives, Donna and her best friends prepare to enjoy their last big high-school blowout by living it up and partying till dawn. But while Donna is willing to look past her nightmares and into a brighter future, the man she thought she had escaped forever has returned for one last dance. An obsessed killer is on the loose, and he'll slay anyone who attempts to prevent him from reaching his one and only Donna.
It was good to see Jason Street (Scott Porter) from "Friday Night Lights" in something different for a change. Not because he was a favorite or anything, but just because for a minute there, I forgot that he actually can walk in real life. He's been in that wheelchair on the show for so long that he needed this.
Even if Donna didn't know the killer guy had gotten out, which she didn't, why would she be going around the hotel by herself? Isn't prom supposed to be the one time when guys are supposed to be chivalrous? Street should have went with her whenever she had to go back to the room to get something. At the very least, her friends should have. Especially given her history.
I will give them props for the scene where the killer emerges from the darkness of the closet. Not that it was original, it was just shot particularly well. It gave the impression that the killer was a hunting machine, like Predator, rather than a stalker. Which also reminded me that it still would have been better to have be a faceless and/or masked killer to add to the mystery. A dude in a black baseball camp just was not very intimidating.
For a slasher flick, it really wasn't so much. There really isn't much gore shown at all as they opt for more of a suspense thriller approach. That's evidenced in the aforementioned comment regarding one of the better kill scenes. It was also pretty clear the main reason they did it was to maintain a PG-13 rating to further ticket sales.
Sista girl had the right mindset with wanting to be Prom Queen. Not sure about the whole theory behind being proud of it 20 years later though. I'm 20 years removed from high school and I can't remember who ours was. Anyway, with her being that geeked about getting it, why would she leave the prom early to miss the presentation? Huge plot hole right there.
The police get the right idea with having all the students evacuate the building once they learn the killer is loose. Almost. That makes no sense to do it before first securing the primary one they know is in danger. Now they have a flood of students leaving and have to sift thru all of them to find the one they actually need to be protecting.
Of course a movie like this is going to bring back memories of my own senior prom. A pretty uneventful evening if I recall correctly. There was no limo, no hotel room for an after-party, no alcohol. Then again, I was a rather goody-twoshoes in high school. My date was the only other sista in the school not related to me: Stacey Gray We went as friends. Along with my sister. I wish I could find that prom pic that the three of us took. But no matter how uneventful it may have been, at least we didn't have some psycho killer stalking us.
My rating: C-
