Prom Night (1980) Review

Most of the horror films associated with the explosion of the genre as we know it today have been done to death.

The notable horror films from the 70’s and 80’s have been played to exhaustion on our networks and remade/remixed/reimagined until the ideas in them have become so dilluted that it’s hard to feel scared or excited by them anymore.

One of the greatest challenges today is to discover Prom Night 1980 movie posteran unwatched movie from this period which is a good as the rest but hasn’t been played out. I hoped that Prom Night might be one such film.

Starring iconic scream queen Jamie-Lee Curtis, the film follows a group of kids that grow to be teenagers harbouring a horrible secret – that they were party to a horrible thing. During a game of ‘killer’ (hide and seek with a malicious edge) a girl falls from a winow and dies.
The kids responsible and those who witness it decide to forget the whole thing, leaving a guilty, black void in their souls and leading to a local man being prosecuted for the crime in error.

Years later the now teenage kids prepare for their prom night, but a dark and misterious person is spending their time preparing for something else – Murdering them all. It’s a revenge thing, for the kid that died… Or something.

Cue lots of teenagers (played by actors that are far from being teenage) running around a school pursued by a mysterious person in leather gloves. Will anyone make it through their prom alive and who is that naughty killer?

Prom Night 1980 horror film Prom Night Horror 1980 Jamie Lee Curtis

Prom Night seems as though it HAD to be a key influence for Wes Craven’s Scream – a slasher film with the heroine, the teens, the secret past, the phone calls and the numerous suspects.
On the face of it, Prom Night is a decent slasher movie which is bolstered by the fact that it was released in that classic era of horror.
But at the same time, as is common with other films of the period, it is weak in places. Almost to the point of being silly which can be irritating or entertaining depending on what mood you’re in.

First up, the death scenes are pretty lame in that you don’t really see much – the edits seem to hide any blood, guts or violence.
The killer draws out every murder to the point that they actually get tiresome. How long do you really need to stalk someone before you finish them off?!
Also, the mysterious murderer seems to be almost omnipresent judging by the speed in which they move from one victim to the next, often in totally different locations.

Prom Night 1980 movie horror

Yes, you should probably watch Prom Night. It has Jamie Lee Curtis in, it’s an 80’s slasher movie and it is enjoyable.
But don’t set your hopes too high, this horror film is some way off its peers and lacks the originality to leave a lasting impression… Even though it is way better than its 2007 remake.

Movie Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

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Trailer:

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Tom Atkinson

Tom is one of the editors at Love Horror. He has been watching horror for a worryingly long time, starting on the Universal Monsters and progressing through the Carpenter classics. He has a soft-spot for eighties horror.More

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