How does this sequel manage to be better than the original? By ignoring the story and tone of the first installment altogether.
I first saw Prom Night II as a pre-teen. I was visiting my cousin and we huddled down with several of her neighborhood friends to watch it in the middle of the day. It was probably the perfect movie for such a scenario (although would have been better at night, natch), because it’s never boring and not too scary for a twelve-year-old. A living room full of cute girls probably didn’t hurt the experience, either. When I started dating my now-wife, she happened to have the movie on VHS (yes, VHS… how have we been together for so long?) and we definitely watched it one or more late nights hanging out after I got off work. With such positive memories associated with the movie, I wondered if my fondness for it was just the rosy haze of nostalgia or something that the film deserved on its own merits. The truth is, I’ll probably never be able to fully extricate personal experience from my enjoyment of Prom Night II, but having re-watched it for this review, I’m confident that anyone reading this type of blog will not regret the ninety-minute investment of time to check it out for themselves.
Much like its predecessor, the film opens with a flashback. This time the setting is prom night at Hamilton High, at some point in the 50’s. The titular Mary Lou is pretty, popular and fast, and she is about to be prom queen. She has a doting boyfriend and a bad boy on the side. About the only thing that Mary Lou doesn’t have going for her is being inflammable. Unfortunately for her, a prank by her jealous boyfriend goes awry and ends up setting her ablaze in front of her horrified classmates. It’s a real reverse-Carrie situation. Her gruesome death closes out the opening scene, and we are ushered ahead to modern-day (1987) Hamilton. We meet a handful of teens as they navigate classes, relationships and the ever-contentious race for prom queen. Vicki is Mary Lou’s opposite in most respects, a sweet Mary Ann to her Ginger. However, once Mary Lou’s spirit is unleashed on the unsuspecting student body, Vicki starts to undergo a transformation. The action culminates, of course, at the prom where the evil spirit plans to reign down death and mayhem on the whole community.
Prom Night II is a delight. It’s a supernatural slasher film, maybe my favorite sub-genre, and it clearly has its eye on Nightmare on Elm Street as the gold standard. It can’t clear the bar for creativity set by that film, and completely lacks the darkness, but it wins definite marks for effort and imaginative imagery. The late 80’s was a prime era for fun, slightly demented horror flicks, and this film fits right in next to such classics as Night of the Demons and Child’s Play. While the movies from this time might not always be scary, at least they’re not predictable. You never know what batshit scene or set piece might pop up. In this case, it’s the only specific element of the film that has stuck with me from that very first adolescent viewing. Our possessed protagonist stalks her friend through the school locker room in what may be the most gratuitously lengthy nude scene in horror movie history, before killing her in a hilariously squishy way. It’s sublimely depraved and silly at the same time. They just don’t make them like that anymore, which is why we return to these films over and over again.
Comments