I found Prom Night (1980) on Amazon Prime the other night...

That was hilarious! God, Jamie Lee Curtis has had so many horrifically embarrassing performances on her resume, it's amazing she's been able to have such a long career.

Haha R1, she's [italic]loving[/italic] her time on the dance floor! 😂

“Let’s show them what we can do!”

I had no idea Jamie Lee Curtis was a triple threat! She's like Liza! She should do a cabaret show.

I can't stop laughing about the fact that it's a slasher movie that just stops in the middle for this!

Apparently the movie was filmed with real disco songs, and then they realised they couldn't afford to pay for them, so they got someone to make some tracks that stayed so close to the originals that they ended up getting sued.

The song that was originally over this scene was Cheryl Lynn's "Star Love".

I can't get this song replacement out of my head now. "Prom night..."

This is one of OP's agenda threads. Just a few more scripted responses.

Wait for it...

Has anyone seen the sequels to this film? I watched 2 and 3 recently, they have nothing to do with this first movie, apart from, I think, being set in the same school.

Her dance partner had an ass on him. He died of AIDS in the mid 80s.

Oh, that's so sad, R9.

He actually looks very similar to my father in 1980, so much so I sent him the clip to ask if he'd been moonlighting in Canada before I was born, haha!

Did Jamie Lee tuck her huge cock for this number?

Even if tucking, I imagine it would've flipped out during those high kicks if she had one, R11!

I'm not sure which film is worse, this one or 'Terror Train.'

Prom Night is a classic, r13. Terror Train is worse...you just brought me back to watching Terror Train on HBO in the 80's when I was a kid.

Jamie Lee's not a terrible dancer. She moves pretty well.

The movie itself is a favorite due mostly to nostalgia. It's a little too slow for most horror fans. I haven't seen it in awhile, but I don't think anyone dies until an hour into the movie. It is one of the only slasher movies to end on a really tragic note. That took guts.

I'll have to watch Terror Train, it's also on Amazon Prime.

It's funny, but I got nostalgia watching this movie and I wasn't even born then haha. The disco stuff I know is cheesy, and yet I think enough time has passed at the same time. I actually kinda wish we had dances now, like couple dances you could do like this. If my history is right, disco was the last time there really was something like this?

I also find it kinda refreshing that the dancing in this isn't over-choreographed. Like, you can imagine as Prom King and Queen them doing their own routine to show off, but it's not like it's something that looks like they had to hire someone for it, you know?

The movie was interesting from a social history of the slasher film perspective. It really doesn't follow the rules that would later become a thing. As a poster said above, no one is killed for ages, it's pretty slow. And I kept thinking, if this were remade today, the same story but updated, well the janitor would've been killed, the douche boyfriend, probably the principal... just for a higher body count. But it makes no sense really. Here the killer just wants to off the kids that killed the girl at the beginning, and two others get killed, one because he was a witness to a killing and the other by mistake (but also when you think about it, he did molest JLC's character too, so probably would've had it coming too).

I thought it was interesting watching it through a modern lens like that.

There's an interview out there of JLC talking about her early horror movie phase, and she says Prom Night is the first time she actually made a little bit of money (I think it was her third movie after Halloween and The Fog).

R13 Terror Train is pretty bad, but hey - it has Vanity and David Copperfield and a tranny!

As a kid this movie was confusing because her date and brother looked too much alike.

Her brother was much better looking. He aged really well too.

[Quote] Has anyone seen the sequels to this film? I watched 2 and 3 recently, they have nothing to do with this first movie, apart from, I think, being set in the same school.

I watched Mary Lou last week and the only actor i recognized was Michael Ironside. Not sure why they made it a supernatural story or made the locker room scene so long.

[Quote] And I kept thinking, if this were remade today, the same story but updated, well the janitor would've been killed, the douche boyfriend, probably the principal... just for a higher body count. But it makes no sense really.

Prom Night was remade in 08 with Brittany Snow and Jonathan Schaech. It was shit and even worse - no disco sequence.

Fuuuuuuck. The guys in this (and in "Happy Birthday to Me" - another early '80s Canadian slasher) are sooooo goddamn hawt!!!

Oh yes, I noticed that R21 - it's a completely different story though, isn't it?

I watched Prom Night 2 and 3 only a few nights before finally watching the first movie. Those sequels are completely different stories, except for the line "it's not who you arrive with, it's who you go home with". Even the character of Mary Lou was inconsistent between the 2 and 3 movies. In 2 she was a proud slut, in 3 she was obsessed with the one guy and being in love with him. I'll need to watch the 4th one sometime if I can find it, just to be complete about it.

[quote]her date and brother looked too much alike.

I know it was a jokey scene, but I liked the bit where her date told her brother to kiss him... on the lips. I was thinking: "aww, why don't you?" Hehe.

Seeing as this is a gay site too, it would be remiss of me not to mention that in Prom Night 3, the main character wakes up nude at school, wrapped in the flag. When he gets up he drops the flag for a moment and you see his ass. But then, when he hurriedly bends over the pick the flag up again, his balls pop through his legs too, haha.

Clearly the director was like: "second take? what do you think we are - made of money?"

The majority of the responses are coming from the same person. The OP wants you to believe this is an active thread when in reality hardly no one is replying, so they have to reply to themselves.

R1 stupid comment. The film was a hit. That’s what Hollywood cares about. The movie may be stupid but it’s considered a classic and was a hit.

Just counted up my responses and they don't even make half on this thread, my man.

What's it like being such a miserable narc? You can change things around you know, give yourself a better life.

Just remember, whenever you complain to yourself about all the bad things that happen to you, it's a case of what you give out, you get.

Stop being paranoid about other people's motives, jump into the conversation, and enjoy!

R25 can't read. I was commenting on Jamie Lee's embarrassing performance, not the movie.

Do go on about being stupid, though.

[Quote] it's a completely different story though, isn't it?

A very cliche one. At least Idris Elba was hot.

But the tune is Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," r6.

R29 No, the tune is clearly stolen from "Star Love." The opening line, even - "Come with me tonight...."

Here, have a listen and compare:

The first one is decent, but Hello Mary Lou is probably the best one in the series. It's just so entertaining.

^I couldn't believe it when she makes out with her father, and he doesn't seem to mind! Hahaha!

The brother and the boyfriend didn't look the same except for their hairstyles; one of them should've had a shorter cut. (Pictured: JLC and Michael Tough as the brother.)

Casey Stevens as the boyfriend.

Below is an interview with the director of Prom Night, Paul Lynch. Apparently Casey Stevens was a really shitty dancer but literally worked his butt off to nail the routine. Oh, and there was a dance double.

This was the brief era when lots of boys got perms. Anyone else remember when a guy at school suddenly turned up with a head full of curls?

Ummmm the remake was better r

Prom Night is my favorite of JLC's non-Halloween Horror films (the Fog doesn't count, she's barely in it) but I agree Part 2 is the better film. Mary Lou FOREVER! I can't believe it's never had a Blu-ray release. It was a cover story in Fangoria this year.

As mentioned above, it's the first film she got real money on, her costar couldn't dance for shit and she had to carry the disco scene. Eve Plumb was cast as Kim until Jamie expressed interest and then they threw Eve out the door.

The 4 films only have the setting (Hamilton High) and one cast member in common for all 4 films. The producer's son played the young boy killer in the opening of the original and the blowjob guy in Part 2. Never watched 3 or 4.

Yes, 2 is better.

R39 but to be fair, they're VERY different films. 2 is batshit crazy (in a great way).

Wendy is a DL icon.

R37 how was the remake better? It was a generic teen slasher. The opening credits were a rip-off from IKWYDLS.

R36 yes it was right after Blue Lagoon. All the boys had perms, my mom wanted me to get one but I refused. My Asian dentist got a perm then & he looked terrible!!

I listened to "Star Love" long before r30 and r30 is dead wrong.

r29 was correct to say "the tune is 'I Will Survive.'"

Lyrics are different than tunes.

Have a listen, you tone-deaf, Philistine ignoramus.

R44 Listen to the music, you idiot. It's "Star Love" they're recreating.

Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night 2>Prom Night

The remake was terrible. It was a generic stalker thriller that paid zero homage to the original.

Plus, no disco dance.

Is this you, OP?

Clearly not R48, as that article starts out talking about how he "rewatched" the movie, and I'd never seen it before last week.

The song was absolutely "Star Love" before being changed. You can even see JLC singing along to it during her routine.

[quote]one cast member in common for all 4 films. The producer's son played the young boy killer in the opening of the original and the blowjob guy in Part 2.

Oh wow, so young Nick in the first ended up playing the computer votes doofus in the second then? That's so interesting! He was definitely in the third movie, as the cop who the main character kidnaps to get him to the prom. I haven't seen the fourth movie yet.

Terror Train isn’t good, but at least it has HART BOCHNER!

Prom Night > The Fog (because Jamie Lee is barely in it) > Terror Train

Prom Night chat begins at 9:03, after The Fog discussion. I always like hearing JLC talk about her career. There's no BS

She's so refreshingly honest. Not nasty, either, just says it how she sees it.

R53 totally. In an interview on her career:

Q: Did you have a feeling when making “Halloween” that it was the thing it would become?

A: Nothing. All I can tell you is that my [character’s] name was on every page of the script, and that it was thrilling to actually create something as a character.

Q: Do you know why you got the job?

A: I auditioned many, many, many times. And then it was between me and one other woman, whose name I know but I will never say publicly. I’m sure the fact that I was Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis’s daughter, and that my mother had been in “Psycho”—if you’re going to choose between this one and this one, choose the one whose mother was in “Psycho,” because it will get some press for you. I’m never going to pretend that I just got that on my own, like I’m just a little girl from nowhere getting it. Clearly, I had a leg up.

Thanks for sharing that R54! I find people who talk about their work honestly like that so much more interesting to listen to. Usually they have better stories and insights behind their projects too.

I liked her criticism of The Fog above too. I felt similarly after I watched it for the first time this year. Great atmosphere though.

1:29-1:37 - I'm obsessed with this move, haha!

Some of us got into the business on pure talent, Jamie!

R56 You mean the karate chopping-style moves? :-)

Those are the ones, R58. The arms going up and down, the hips swaying and the legs lifting, haha.

I just watched this again tonight on Blu-Ray. BTW, the Synapse Blu-Ray edition is fantastic. If you're a fan of Prom Night, I recommend buying it. It has a 20+ minute reel of outtakes including footage of the famous dance.

It's definitely Star Love that they're copying for the Prom Night dance song. They're very similar.

I really enjoy the film but there are definite flaws. Leslie Nielsen completely disappears from the film midway through (did they run out of budget to afford more scenes of him?), and how was the killer supposed to get away from their other duties and be able to kill five people in all that time?

But I do like that it ends on a tragic note. The ending does set it apart from other slashers. However, it's glaring that Leslie Nielsen's character is not there at the end considering he's the principal and there's a killer on the loose at the school; and did Kim ever find out about Nick?

The chase sequence with Wendy remains brilliant, and the Sarah Michelle Gellar chase sequence in I Know What You Did Last Summer plays homage to it.

I decided to watch the Prom Night movies solely because they were discussing them on Werewolf Ambulance, a horror review podcast that always makes me laugh. I'm glad I did, these movies may not be the best movies ever made, but they were entertaining and an enjoyable way to while away a few hours.

I think Kim did find out about Nick - Alex tells her he killed them because they all killed Robin, and he had clearly been trying to kill Nick in that final scene.

The movie just ends abruptly, but I think you can surmise that she started to figure it out in that moment. Also, Nick was on the edge of telling her about it earlier in the film, I imagine he would've if she hadn't worked it out. It would've become clearer as things were discovered afterwards; at the end of the movie, Kim has no idea yet that the other three girls were killed.

Thank you, R60.

Take that, R44, you tone deaf cunt!

R44 I Will Survive was another song they did rip off, though. Only it was for "Love Me Til I Die."

Love me 'til I die and keep me satisfied. I'll tell you why. Love me, love me, love me 'til I die.

[Quote] The chase sequence with Wendy remains brilliant, and the Sarah Michelle Gellar chase sequence in I Know What You Did Last Summer plays homage to it.

SMGs sequence reminds me more of Halloween.

It's a mixture of both.

Whatever happened to a good slasher movie chase scene? They rarely have them anymore and, when they do, you blink and you miss them. Then again, they rarely make slashers these days outside of no-budget movies.

The Wendy and Helen chase sequences are great because they have lots of atmosphere and suspense. And they are long, so there is some hope they may escape. Another favourite of mine is the one from Cat People where Annette O'Toole is being stalked by someone (or something).

You've guys have made me realise too, how much atmosphere can be built from a long chase scene like that too. While jump scares have always had a place in these movies, they used to be used a lot more sparingly and with different methods of ramping up tension too, it seems to me, as I watch through these old movies. Around my generation's horror (00s) it seemed like it was just jump scare after jump scare, which I don't really respect as a method of making a scary movie.

This discussion of the famous jump scare in Wait Until Dark (major spoilers if you haven’t seen it) talks about how overused and misused they are in modern cinema.

I watch this scene at least 3 times when I watch the movie

For me, once SMG is out of IKWYDLS, the film is dull and pointless. She was much more interesting than JLH, and Hele's chase scene is so good, there's nothing afterwards that quite compares.

At least with Prom Night, you get the coronation after Wendy's scene.

BTW, we cannot discuss Prom Night without discussing the actress who played Wendy -- Anne Marie Martin (credited in the film as Eddie Benton). What an interesting career. She did Prom Night, a tiny cameo in Halloween II and was also a cast member on Sledge Hammer. She married and then divorced Michael Crichton. During their marriage, she wrote the screenplay for Twister. She must have gotten a huge settlement in her divorce from Crichton.

R67 Cat People is a terrible movie but it's not the worst remake I've ever seen. I doubt the incest element would fly today.

R71 i agree, Helen's relationship with her sister was also more interesting than Julie's dead father. She probably didn't have alot of time due to Buffy.

Personally I love Cat People r72! But I get why some people don't like it. I love the New Orleans setting, Nastassja Kinski was perfectly cast, the Giorgio Moroder score. I just love the whole vibe of it.

R73 have you seen original?

R72 it was shot during the summer hiatus. She's a huge part of the film, unlike her brief but memorable appearance in Scream 2

R75 I think SMG made a big impression on Wes to be mocked in Scream 3.

I have seen the original r74. I love both. I think they're very different films.

I love the end credits song. If you listen to the lyrics, it tells the movie from the killers perspective

Who didn't know that Jamie Lee could move?

R79 Perfect should be a DL fave.

I read the script of the original ending online and it would have been so much better. The circumstances are pretty much the same - Kim finds out who the killer is - but the way it was written in the original ending made it even more emotional and satisfying. Both Kim's mother and father were outside with the police and the crowd. I still think it was a mistake to not have them in the scene.

Welp, she’s no Travolta.

It isa weird movie. It is like the film makers were inspired by Carrie and Saturday Night Fever and wanted to find a way to mash them up.

Why did Leslie Nielsen disappear from the movie?

Im guessing the only criteria of the knock off disco songs was that they had the same BPM as the originals to match the speed and moves of the dancing.

I think they ran out of money to pay him or he wasn't available that day r84. Maybe he was too busy shooting Airplane lol

Aside from Curtis and Nielsen, the rest of the cast were mainly community theatre people, I believe.

"Prom Night" is one of my favorite slasher movies--probably in my top 5. I love the atmosphere, the goofy disco music, and the centerpiece chase scene. It's also well-shot, and the ending is very poignant/depressing for a movie of this type. Jamie Lee is likable in it as always. The sequels have no real consistency, but I do also like "Hello Mary Lou", which is hilarious and fun. The third one is also a dark comedy, while the fourth is a completely different story.

For those who were around at the time, can you tell me: had the disco backlash already happened by the time this movie came out? I'm wondering how the movie would've been taken in that light. Or did it just sneak in? Wasn't Diana Ross' album Diana released the same year and there was a whole thing about how she "de-discoed" the songs due to the backlash?

The infamous Disco Demolition Night happened a few weeks before Prom Night began filming.

Prom Night was released in July 1980. Disco had just had its last hurrah when “Funkytown” spent the month of June at #1. Top 40 was now dominated by rock, mellow pop, and country.

The rocking horse in part 2 was hilarious.

Adam Driver should’ve done this in his horse perfume commercial

Not community theatre r87, but Canadian actors. The movie got a tax break for shooting in Canada, but the production had to have a mostly Canadian cast. Curtis said her and one other actor were the only Americans the film could use.

84 He disappears because both he and the mother are suspects. It's assumed he took her home. They could have shown them at the end but I think it works better with just Kim.

Mary Lou is funny when the blond seduces/kisses her father.

You can tell the guy playing the dad was totally into it. He probably popped a stiffie.

This was a pretty good jump scare.

This scene reminds me of Prince Of Darkness.

[quote] I can't stop laughing about the fact that it's a slasher movie that just stops in the middle for this!

Actually there's a long tradition of that. Some of my favorite MST3K movies were the early '60s cheapo monster from outer space movies, where the monster is just some guy walking around in a rubber costume and they ALWAYS had an extended dance scene with people doing the twist, just because the twist was huge back then.

Hahah is that so, R99? I love that! Hahaha!

I can’t find part three on Prime. Does anyone know where else it might be available?

I watched 1 and 2 yesterday. One was pretty good, but it was weird how Leslie Neilson just disappeared halfway through. I would’ve had such a crush on Alex if I knew him. What a cutie. Slick’s van was sweeet.

Part 2 was hilarious. Mary Lou was such a bitch! Haha. The boyfriend I recognized as Sarah Polley’s husband in the Dawn of the Dead 2004 remake. My favorite death was the guy who got fried by the computer. Those were actually good graphics.

I’d like to see part three, but I guess I’ll skip it and continue on to part four.

I hope they release 2, 3 and 4 on Blu-Ray someday. They would be perfect for Scream Factory.

I have all four on DVD but the transfers are pretty weak.

I’m partial to the original. The chase scene with Wendy and the killer is edge of your seat tense, and Jamie Lee is great as usual. Also love the cheesy disco music.

I love the brother's super tight shirt at the cemetery.

I've heard there are weird rights issues with 2-4 which explains the hold up on Blu-Ray releases. Also heard something about not having proper materials for part 2 which doesn't make sense. What print was the MGM DVD sourced from? That print looked good and certainly way better than the shitty VHS rips they have on all the streaming sites and budget DVD releases.

R24 Tim Conlon, the lead in Part 3, was a hottie. I remember renting it on DVD when I was maybe 14 or 15, and getting rock hard seeing him bend over ass-naked, balls hanging between his legs. It was one of the defining "okay, I am definitely gay" moments for me. I am sort of surprised they left it in the movie. It's definitely not a body double either—it all happens in one continuous take. Those are his nuts.

Tim was really cute. He still looks good.

R101, I watched Part 3 on YouTube, at the link below.

2:26 - "Now, everybody!"

[quote]Werewolf Ambulance, a horror review podcast that always makes me laugh

Hmm, gonna give that a listen. I'm running out of back episodes of Horror Virgin.

You should. It may not be your thing, but I enjoy it because they just laugh through the whole thing.

And I'll give Horror Virgin a go.

Just to add here R110, if you haven't listened yet, try their episode on Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama. I was struggling, and failing, not to laugh out loud on the bus on the way home tonight, haha.

Haven't listened yet but I was skimming their episodes and noticed they described one of the Conjuring films as "Ed and Lorraine are back with more bullshit" so I think I'm gonna like it.

In the past two nights, I've watched some pretty B-grade horror films. I'm getting the feeling that by the mid-late 80s, the steam was running out of the horror thing. I think I read somewhere that the 90s was pretty bad until Scream came back, doing it with tongue in cheek. Of course there was The Blair Witch too.

But the ones I recently watched? Chopping Mall - didn't like this one much at all, not even to laugh at really. By contrast Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama was funny to me, and an enjoyable way to pass the time, despite being crappy. I also saw an earlier one The Slumber Party Massacre, I enjoyed this more.

I think what I realise is that I can forgive a lot in horror from the 70s and early 80s, I like the style of it, the film quality, the atmosphere, the soundtracks etc. Once we get too far into the 80s though, it seems to have too much of that 80s look that I just don't like, and by the mid-late 80s there's not a lot of sincerity in the work anymore. If I'm making any sense here haha.

I hear you R114. While I do love the big hair and bright pastel Over Our Heads look of the 80s, I don't like it in my horror films.

I get what you mean r114. Just look at the progression (or decline) of the Friday the 13th series. The first two started off with lots of atmosphere and then they progressively got more cartoonish and as the '80s went on, the soundtracks became slicker (Alice Cooper sang the theme for one of the entries).

Nightmare on Elm Street was the same. Part 1 was imaginative and creepy; four years later, the 4th entry was like a music video.

The early 80's horror films have such a different look, feel, and aesthetic to the ones post '85 or so. The colors got brighter, the hair got bigger, the characters became more like cardboard cutouts, and the scripts didn't take themselves as seriously and/or phoned it in. There are a few excellent films during that time, but as a whole, it was goodbye to scares and hello to cheese.

As others have said, one can see this progression in all the big franchises. Friday the 13th was still pretty scary up until part 5 and the first three Nightmare movies were creepy until they turned Freddy into a standup comic. After that, some of the movies can still be enjoyed for the fun trash they are, but there was definitely something lost.

I really hate what the Halloween reboots have become, just unscary bloodbaths. The body count in the first Halloween was, I think, just 4 -- the most recent one (2018), the kill count is 18, and it looks like the upcoming film has a kill count somewhere in the 20s. That's not scary, just repulsive.

R118 I'm very much looking forward to Kyle Richards' grisly death scene.

[quote]was like a music video.

Yes! This is a good way to put it. Like a music video, or like a video game. Some of them come across more like action movies even. There's nothing remotely creepy at this point in the horror genre.

I agree with what everyone is saying above, glad it's not just me who felt that.

[quote]That's not scary, just repulsive.

What gets me too, is that this leaves NO time to build up atmosphere. In Halloween, those scenes of Laurie seeing Michael outside the school, in the street, in the car... those work so well to build up tension. Newer films don't scare me - they can gross me out or whatever, but that's not a pleasant scare to me, and doesn't make the story any better, don't think. No wonder there was such a reliance on jump scares at one point, the films weren't scary so they had to make you jump somehow.

What's funny in my case is that I grew up in the era of these unimpressive horror films, but I keep going back to the ones from before I was born. You'd think I'd get some nostalgia benefit from the ones I grew up with in the 00s, but I don't really.

[quote] That's not scary, just repulsive.

Like armadillo cakes with gray icing.

I finally watched Prom Night on Prime last night.

God, it was awful. Acting, script (what there was of it), directing - a shit show from beginning to end. And surprisingly dull. Hell, the first murder doesn't even happen until almost an hour into the movie. It didn't help that all the the "teenagers" in the movie looked like they were in their 30s.

It was like Halloween meets Carrie, but without any of the fun or excitement. And yes, the best part of the movie was the big disco dance.

^Michael Chrichton

Prom Night is awesome.

r122 probably didn't get to go to their prom and sat at home, wishing they could bust some moves like Jamie Lee!

So tonight I got around to watching Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil. By coincidence someone had uploaded it to YouTube today, which was helpful.

Look, I won't claim any of these films are classics or anything, but honestly? I enjoyed going through them all. There was a lot of male butt in this one too, which is always nice. The son of the producer played the priest here.

The only one I haven't seen now is the remake, and by all accounts it's not worth it. At least there was cheesy fun in 2, 3 and 4.

R124 The only thing awesome about Prom Night is how awesomely bad it is. Not quite at "Showgirls" level bad, but definitely a contender. The "let's show 'em what we've got" disco dance sequence definitely puts it up there on the list.

The first girl who gets killed in the movie, the one who had the awful braids and turn of the century dress in the opening scene as a little girl, was a terrible actress. Not surprised her career went nowhere after this movie. And she had the ugliest tits ever - like two thick spaghetti noodles with huge red knobs on them. Whose idea was it to show those things off? Blech.

We didn't get a single hot male ass in the movie. I really wanted to see some flesh from Jamie's boyfriend and brother.

I also love the part where Jamie Lee is dancing with her father played by Leslie Nielsen. It's obvious that the song we hear is not the same song they're dancing to since Jamie Lee is dancing to a completely different tempo. And her dance moves are bizarrely sexual to be dancing with one's father like that. And Leslie looks completely embarrassed to be in this piece of shit and having his movie daughter dancing seductively.

R28 Oh, God, yes! It was like a scene from one of the Naked Gun movies!!

Prom Night III starred Princess Zelda.

All the Prom Nights are fun in their own ways with Hello Mary Lou easily being the best. It's got the best script and style.

4 gets dumped on a lot, but is no worse than a lot of slasher films.

As someone who prefers slasher over supernatural horror, the original PN gets my vote. That lengthy cat-n-mounse scene where Wendy (a real bitch) is being chased through the dark, empty school by the killer was a nail biter and excellently directed.

R132 That was the dumbest scene of the movie. Girl goes to the restroom - obviously it was easy for her to get there from the gym without any trouble - but suddenly, she's chased by a killer and can't seem to find her way back to the gym. Instead, she ends up in a ridiculous labyrinth with paths that lead to nothing but padlocked doors, auto shop class, and the chemistry lab. For some reason, she just can't seem to find that path back to the gym, even though you can hear the music from it thump-thump-thumping close by, almost as if it's right around the corner.

Anne-Marie Martin (aka Eddie Benton) had an uncredited bit part in Halloween II as Nurse Karen's friend in this scene.

[quote][R132] That was the dumbest scene of the movie

Your taste is nil.

R135...says the queen who thinks "Prom Night" should have won an Oscar. :-)

[quote]Did Jamie Lee tuck her huge cock for this number?

Qiana can hide a multitude of sins.

Prom Night is one of the most polarizing slasher movies from that time period. I never know if a horror fan is going to shit their pants with excitement if I bring it up or want to slap me for even mentioning such a piece of crap in their presence. Many gay horror fans seem to enjoy it due to all the cheesy teen drama, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the campy dance sequences.

And the brother in the tight shirt.

And the boyfriend in the tight trousers.

No love for David Mucci as Lou and his jeans with the ass patch? He's was like the poor man's version of Travolta's Billy Nolan in CARRIE.

Sorry but David Mucci looked like an ape. No way in hell would hot Wendy strut into that prom room in that scorching red dress with that lug.

And it's a shame that the movie never let Wendy and Kim have a showdown. The movie seemed to tease it for the first half.

Wendy's line about prom night should be a DL classic: "It's not who you come with, it's who takes you home".

[quote]Wendy's line about prom night should be a DL classic: "It's not who you come with, it's who takes you home".

This is the one thing that unites movies 1-4; that someone says this line at some point in the movie.

R141 No. No love. Fat, ugly, bad teeth, bad actor.

No love at ALL, R141!

J'adore the confession scene at the beginning of Hello Mary Lou:

[quote] Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been three months since my last confession. I've disobeyed my parents many times. I've taken the Lord's name in vain. Many times. I've had sinful relations with boys at my school. Many boys. Many times. Father, there's one more thing...I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

Does anyone buy that after letting all the boys in school nut in her, Mary Lou would've still been Prom Queen? That's not how it seemed to work at my school, anyway...

For an '80s movie, Hello Mary Lou is pretty audacious. I just loved that Mary Lou was a bitch and a tramp but you had to admire her. Vicky was such a mouse that when she exhibits Mary Lou's tendencies she also becomes a bitch and that scene with her father is something else. It was a very bold movie.

[Quote] The only one I haven't seen now is the remake, and by all accounts it's not worth it.

Unless your a huge fan of Johnathon Schaech or Idris Elba i wouldn't bother.

Mary Lou is excellent. The actress who plays Vicki is truly brilliant in the way she embodies both the mousy wallflower and the bitchy sex fiend. Great acting!

R138 there is definitely a camp factor that I think appeals to a lot of gay horror fans, but I love numerous elements of it aside from that—for one, Paul Zaza's haunting score (he did similar work on a number of other Canadian horror flicks from this period--"Ghostkeeper" and "Curtains"). There are also so many effective sequences filled with small (but powerful) details throughout. The killer making those sinister phone calls the morning of the prom and scratching out their names with the pencil, twirling and tapping the eraser while making the calls; the ominous scene in the locker room where the mirror shatters, and Jamie Lee and Mary Beth Reubens find the shard of glass missing; Reubens' subsequent murder in the locker room, where all we see is a close up of her face as she is getting her throat cut, after which she collapses and the screen crossfades from her body into a blood-red punchbowl; Annie-Marie Martin's extensive chase sequence throughout the school; and, of course, the grand finale in which the school bully gets his head lopped off, and it goes tumbling down the runway in front of the whole prom. Then, during the confrontation with the killer, there is the moment that Jamie Lee realizes that she's just clobbered her little brother in the head with an axe—that pan & zoom to her face as they make eye contact priceless. It's only about 5 seconds long, but it's one of those minor details that pack a powerful punch.

For me, it really is one of the best films of its type. It has so many effective stylistic touches, and an emotional intelligence that you don't see in most slasher movies.

^Agreed.

The Mooch cleans up well.

He must have gotten plastic surgery because he looks like a completely different person.

I'm listening to an episode of Werewolf Ambulance and enjoying it. I'll be checking out some more eps. Thanks for the rec!

No problems, R155. I was listening to more of it yesterday, their takedown of Conjuring 2 was so funny. But what I really enjoy is that it is just two friends chatting, they don't seem like they are trying to be funny, more that they just ARE being funny.

I liked their Suspiria one too, where Katie is doing imitations of the dubbing actresses, hehe.

[quote]appeals to a lot of gay horror fans

I'd love to find a good podcast of gay horror fans talking about movies, that could be interesting. On The Evolution of Horror podcast a number of the guests are LGBT and I remember one saying how common it was for gay men to grow up being into "Agatha Christie, Doctor Who, and Horror films". While I wasn't a huge Doctor Who fan, I can see what he meant.

There are quite a few gay horror podcasts. Horror Queers, Homos on Haunted Hill, Gaylords of Darkness, Frigay the 13th, etc.

I regularly listen to the Hysteria Continues, which profiles (mainly) slasher movies. It is hosted by four men, 3/4 of whom are gay, so I suppose it qualifies as a "gay horror" podcast. It's a lot of fun. They just released an episode on William Friedkin's "Cruising" this weekend. They've also of course done a "Prom Night" episode, way back.

The Hysteria Continues also does great commentaries on several slasher Blu-Ray releases. Really enjoy their work.

R159 indeed. I have a region-free Blu-ray player and have purchased several Region B discs just for their commentaries.

R154 it looks like he probably just lost weight. I'm guessing he was fairly young in Prom Night. Probably lost the baby fat in his face. It can dramatically change the way one looks.

I listen semi-regularly to Horror Queers. It's pretty good. Have tried a few of the others but none really clicked with me. Though The Hysteria Continues doesn't sound familiar...maybe I missed that one.

I'll put in another plug for The Horror Virgin. Not queer but I find it funny.

[quote][R154] it looks like he probably just lost weight. I'm guessing he was fairly young in Prom Night. Probably lost the baby fat in his face. It can dramatically change the way one looks.

This is exactly what I was going to say to the pathetic queen at R154, but you've saved me the trouble.

I attended a retrospective/reunion screening of Prom Night in Toronto a few years ago. I can't remember exactly when. It must have been 2015 or so?

I believe Mary Beth Reubens was present and a few other cast members, whose names escape me. Nice things were said about Jamie and Casey.

Carl Zittrer was there. There was a Q&A after the film. I asked him if the soundtrack was going to be reissued (at this point the soundtrack had never been released in North America, only on vinyl in Japan!). He said there was hope it would be released, and sure enough, it was issued on CD and vinyl a few years later.

I have a special edition vinyl of the soundtrack which I bought at FYE when I was in Buffalo a few years ago.

Thanks for the podcast recommendations, guys! I shall get listening, see what I think. Will definitely check out Horror Virgin and Horror Queers. I actually just realised I listened to The Hysteria Continues last night... I was looking for a podcast that covered The New York Ripper, which is a movie ripe for Werewolf Ambulance to do, but while they have done a number of Fulci, I seem to recall Allen saying he didn't recommend Katie watch it, I guess because of the misogyny? But honestly, I think elements like the quacking killer and weird dialogue: "I was just thinking of Boston", "I put it in her fat little hands earlier", etc, would balance that out. Maybe I can make a recommendation (though I really want them to do Phenomena sometime).

[quote]It is hosted by four men, 3/4 of whom are gay

Just curious, do you know which one isn't gay? I just looked up their pics, and they all pinged to me. Maybe my gaydar needs a tune up, haha.

I'm scrolling through the episode list of The Hysteria Continues and damn....there have been a lot of slasher movies. I used to work at a video store (remember those?) and I never heard of some of these.

Another good gay horror podcast is Dirty Little Secrets. They do a range of horror movies, not just slashers. They weren’t huge fans of Prom Night.

R166 it's one of the American hosts—I think Nathan. Justin and Eric, who are English and Irish, respectively, are both gay.

That's interesting R169, I assumed he was gay, to be honest, due to his voice, but I guess that's just his accent.

Thanks R168, I will check that one out too!

[quote]Mary Lou is excellent. The actress who plays Vicki is truly brilliant in the way she embodies both the mousy wallflower and the bitchy sex fiend. Great acting!

I love how her hair gets so much better once she gets possessed!

R170 I stand corrected, I listened to an episode where Joseph mentioned finding one of the women in a film attractive, so it's not Nathan--Joseph is the only straight one.

I really have to question the judgment of whoever recommended Hysteria Continues. I was curious, so I downloaded their episode on Scream. It's listed at about 3 hours long which, while longer than the movie, did seem like a reasonable conversation to have. However, 50 minutes into the episode, when they were all still listing off their "#3 Favorite Scene In A Post-Scream Slasher," I had to give up. It shouldn't take an hour to get to the actual subject of the episode.

I watched Prom Night 3 last night. SNOOZE. Nowhere near the fun of 1 or 2.

[quote]I love how her hair gets so much better once she gets possessed!

Hey, it can happen sometimes!

I’m with you on that, r173. I don’t mind the general conversations sometimes but it would be nice if they listed in the description the time code where the actual discussion of said movie begins so you could forward if you want to. That goes for a lot of podcasts, not just Hysteria Continues

R173 / R176 they started reposting their podcast episodes on YouTube with time stamps—I listen to them there because of that.

Well you might not like Dirty Little Horror. I listened to their episode on The Invisible Man and it was very meandering. I'll probably give it another try though...eventually.

No, I can deal with a little meandering, even if they start meandering during the discussion of the topic, because that's at least in the context of whatever the movie is. What I can't stand is when podcasts decide to do bits like needed to do listicles like "Three Favorite Scenes in a Post-Scream Slasher" and then are only on the first item on those lists after an hour, which is already a third of the episode's runtime.

I've listened to a few episodes of Horror Queers now, thanks to the recommendations above. They seem like nice guys, with easy to listen to voices, good chemistry and the ability to have interesting discussions. Unfortunately they don't cover many of the movies I would be interested in listening to them talk about (and a number of the ones I was are Patreon episodes), but I am sure many out there will get a kick out of their podcast.

I'm glad this thread inspired me to check out some new podcasts.

I noticed that Attack of the Queerwolf had Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Freaky, etc) as a guest. Gonna listen to that next.

I love the shots during the disco dance of the random actors playing teens on the sidelines, clapping and dancing along. They love it! Hahaha.

In real life, they'd be rolling their eyes and wondering how much longer they had to watch these two showing off.

In interviews, the director Paul Lynch has said that JLC was like the Jennifer Lawrence of her day. They do have a similar personality and charisma. JLC was pretty famous, but no Oscar nods nor a blockbuster franchise. She made some odd choices (a TV movie and a dumb family comedy after True Lies?) but it was also another time. And the Academy had a different taste.

It’s raining on prom night I just took a big shit.

These films aren't scary to me, but serve as a nostalgic time capsules of the the styles and music of a simpler time. I had older sisters in high school at that time and it all makes me a little misty.

Since all the actors were closer to 30 than 17, they should have just gone whole hog and called it "Disco Night". Had an illegal rave-type club in a converted warehouse, and a killer soundtrack of original dance songs. After all, music was going to be the music of the 80s...

So, it was mentioned on this thread and I thought I'd add here rather than create a new one, but I got around to watching Terror Train tonight.

Pretty much as everyone (and JLC herself) have said. Not a great one. Like, so many of these older horrors can be cheesy in places, but it's part of the charm, or it's still good in other places, but this one seemed a bit more... confused, I'd say.

Look, the idea of it wasn't so bad. In a way, this is more a contender for a remake than others, because it could really be altered and improved in a way that I don't think would piss people off too much.

I spent a lot of the time watching it thinking how I would do things if it was me. I think there's a missed opportunity there, when they realise something bad is happening and put all the remaining kids in one carriage - that'd be perfect for some kind of massacre, or even just uncoupling that last carriage so it goes over a cliff or something.

I could tell who Kenny was pretty early on, not sure if it was meant to be a huge surprise or not, though the reveal at the end made it seem though. All the characters pretty much were horrible in this, so who cares if they died really?

JLC as always, is the standout. Who was the other American actor in this, I know they were allowed to have two, with the rest being Canadians. By the way, her cunt of a boyfriend/fiancé whatever, that actor is REALLY familiar to me, I'm sure I've seen him in something before.

Are frats really this, well, almost sociopathic? I'm not referring to murders, you understand, just general behaviour. We don't have them in my country. I would assume, being a guy who spent a lot of time around guys at that age, that frat guys could be dickheads, obnoxious and do stupid things, but these movies almost make them seem pathological!

There was a fruit bowl involved R174, so there was that at least! ;)

[quote] Who was the other American actor in this, I know they were allowed to have two, with the rest being Canadians. By the way, her cunt of a boyfriend/fiancé whatever, that actor is REALLY familiar to me, I'm sure I've seen him in something before.

Film actor Ben Johnson was the other American star. He played conductor Carne. Jamie Lee’s boyfriend Mo was played by Canadian actor Timothy Webber, but the cunt was Hart Bochner, the hottie known for Supergirl, Apartment Zero, The Wild Life and Die Hard. Also in this was David Copperfield and Vanity (billed as DD Winters) in early roles.

I didn't realise that was actually David Copperfield until the end. I thought it was that the magic was provided by him (ie that he showed the actor how to do the tricks) but no, it was him!

I have no idea who Vanity is, I'm afraid.

Really interesting the part where the guy 'Doc' tells his best friend that he'll always be there for him. It seemed laden with homoeroticism, like not that I'm imagining it, it seemed that was what the story wanted us to believe. When you think of it like that, you see his pranking his friend and Jamie Lee's relationship all the time, and especially encouraging his friend to fuck around in a totally different light. Also, he REALLY snuggled with his friend's dead body.

With all the horror remakes in the last 15 years, I'm surprised Terror Train was left off the list.

There was a 2009 movie called Train with Thora Birch that started out as a Terror Train remake. It eventually became more of a Saw/Hostel on a train story

[quote] I have no idea who Vanity is, I'm afraid.

You’re either very young or have been living under a rock for the last 40 years, no?

Vanity and Hart. Now those would have been some pretty babies.

Brock Simpson was the only actor to appear in all 4 Prom Nights - was the evil kid in part 1 and the computer geek in Hello Mary Lou.

Prom Night is probably my favorite Jamie Lee slasher after Halloween, but Terror Train is also pretty good. It's a weird movie—the whole scenario is so bizarre (a group of college kids having a New Year's Eve rager on a train—aren't most people back home for Christmas? And why on a moving locomotive?), but the movie has its moments. The finale with Jamie Lee being chased through the train is really effective, and the twist ending with the killer-in-plain-sight (in drag!) is a surprise.

I agree, R191, I think this one is definitely ripe for a remake and I wonder why they haven't either - the one time they were going to it changed completely. Used properly, the train is a very claustrophobic space. By the way, I kinda liked how in this movie the train was pretty run down looking inside, more like what you'd expect a group of college kids to be able to afford if they were going to do something like this.

R193, that rings no bells.

R195, yep, and he was the policeman in part 3 and the priest in part 4.

R193 Vanity was a Prince protege and first found success as part of the girl group "Vanity 6," which had a hit with this racy song.

She then struck out on her own and recorded some albums and continued working as an actress (The Last Dragon, Action Jackson). Then she went full blow nuts and became a crazy born again Christian minister. She denounced her earlier career, denounced Prince, and then died at age 57.

[quote] [R193], that rings no bells

You’re either very young or VERY white.

R199 and R193 And here she is after she went full-on crazy Jesus freak:

I guess Vanity's from before my time, but still, I've heard of Prince, and I know about Sheila E and Sheena Easton, for example. Just never heard of this Vanity woman.

In terms of Terror Train, she was a pretty shit friend. Charged with looking over a distraught JLC, she just... leaves her there? Once JLC's asleep? Great friend there!

So Apollonia’s not in your realm of knowledge, either?

I don’t like to think of her as crazy, it’s just that she found a purpose in life that wasn’t inside a pipe.

Remember when JLC was in the Jermaine Jackson video?

R203 No doubt about it, she was cray cray. You should go back and see some of her post-born again interviews, or better yet, some videos of her preaching.

Nuts beyond nuts.

R204 That's because it was a video from the song "Perfect," the movie she starred in.

What I remember most about this video is several glimpses of Jermaine's giant cock bulge in that white spandex he was wearing.

^Yep, I know it’s the theme to the movie. The film wasn’t as bad as everyone made it out to be.

[quote] You should go back and see some of her post-born again interviews

I’ve seen them. I used to love her “Vanity” era interviews. She was a fun, flighty mess.

R208 Yes, she was much more fun as a coked-up slut.

R202, no idea who Apollonia is, either?

R204, JLC sure did a lot more dancing in her younger days than I expected.

[quote] [R202], no idea who Apollonia is, either?

You’ve never seen Purple Fuckin’ Rain?? OMG, guy, get out more!

I know the song, "Purple Rain"...

See the movie.

"Prom night! No more feelin' uptight!"

If I hadn't been told the guy was a shit dancer, I wouldn't have really noticed it. I think he acquits himself pretty well - the scene is much more focused on Jamie anyway, and it looks like it's a showcase for her.

I just did a quiz on the highest grossing slasher films of all time, and the remake of Prom Night is right up there. There really is no accounting for taste!

R215 that's kind of the point. Jamie does the dancing and he sways.

^AND karate chops, R217!

I watched Final Exam today. Didn't think much of it, probably the least enjoyable of all the 80s slashers I've been going through lately.

R219 this is an unpopular opinion, but I love Final Exam. It has a weird, creepy atmosphere that I find unshakeable. There are some nice creative touches to it too. The empty campus they used in it is really spooky. Plus, it has the oddball true-crime expert character Radish (that name!?) who reads as a flaming gay, but apparently has a crush on the main girl. Prom Night is a much more fun movie, but I still enjoy Final Exam immensely.

Also, if you are going through '80s slashers R219, I'd recommend the lesser-seen "The Final Terror" (if you haven't already seen it), which has a young Daryl Hannah and Adrien Zmed—it's kind of a cross between the backwoods slasher and a survival movie. It's not without faults, but it's unique. "Just Before Dawn" is in a similar vein, and is also very good (probably better than "The Final Terror").

I thought Radish read as a flaming gay too, R220!

Any other recommendations? I'm working my way through early 80s slashers at the moment. Have seen so far: Friday the 13th, The Burning, Sleepaway Camp, The Slumber Party Massacre, Prom Night, Terror Train, Pieces and Final Exam.

^Talk about well met, I just finished typing that when your follow up post came through! I definitely want to see Just Before Dawn sometime. Also The Prowler, My Bloody Valentine and Friday the 13th Part 2.

R220 Final Exam is an acquired taste but I've grown to really like it.

The beginning of this movie introduced me and whatever friends who watched it with me to that game 'bloody murder' but it had a Halloween and Carrie had a movie-baby kind of vibe.

Hello Marylou Prom Night Part 2 was one of my favorite movies as a kid, that line of hers "it's not who you go with, it's who takes you home" so trashy and so good. Plus there was the creepy Christian mom and a creepy adult sized rocking horse, fun all around

R224 That great line starts in the first film. Wendy says it to Jamie Lee

R225 I know, not much of a Wendy fan (she's like a b-movie Nancy Allen, it's better out of the trashy chick from the 50s, IMO

That line and the one actor are the only element in all 4 Prom Nights

Just Before Dawn is great. He Knows You're Alone is an obvious Halloween rip-off, but it does it well and is more suspenseful than a lot of the others with great characters.

R222, try Happy Birthday To Me. It’s too long for a slasher but has some good kills and campy moments and the ending is…well, watch it and judge for yourself

Oh, definitely have Happy Birthday to Me on my list, thanks R229.

The only problem is I'm slightly hampered by what I can find on the streaming services I am subscribed to, and YouTube (which often have beautifully restored versions of these films uploaded). A colleague of mine is going to loan me a stack of horror for Halloween though, which I'm looking forward to.

I still have to see The Final Terror and Just Before Dawn.

I agree that He Knows You're Alone is an effective slasher. I also like Eyes of a Stranger although it has a gratuitous Jennifer Jason Leight nude scene.

I consider 1981 to be the year of the slashers. My Bloody Valentine, The Burning, The Prowler and Friday the 13th Part 2 are my favourites.

I'm also a fan of Final Exam. Agreed - it's an acquired taste but it's a little bit different but has great atmosphere.

[quote]although it has a gratuitous Jennifer Jason Leigh nude scene

I think she has it written into her contracts that she must be nude and/or raped (preferably gang) in everything she does.

The blonde girl in Final Exam (the one that the main girl was jealous of because she was always flashing her pussy around) reminded me of a younger version of that porn actress who was in Boogie Nights.

I'm getting so used to naked male arse in these slashers, that I felt it's absence in Final Exam.

I've now listened to a couple of episodes of The Horror Virgin podcast (mentioned above) and had a really good laugh (particularly the one on Sleepaway Camp). Thanks for the recommendation!

I know the "Prom Night" song is cheesy as hell, but I find myself listening to it/watching the dance scene every now and then and I'm always smiling.

I also have to say, watching the scene is like it's just watching the two actors have fun, rather than in character, and it feels like the actor playing Nick is just looking at JLC the whole time with that "gay crush" look that gay men get when they meet a girl they really look up to. It's really sweet.

I was just looking at the original vinyl soundtrack to this on YouTube, and apparently this song is not "Prom Night", it's "Prom Night 2"! Haha, there's two prom disco dancing songs?

Those kids on the sidelines are [italic]loving[/italic] it! 😂

The producer of those Prom Night movies, Peter Simpson was apparently a major asshole. Quite possibly the Harvey Weinstein of Canada. You can certainly see it in an interview he did several years ago with a horror website called Terror Trap.

I never understood why Eddie Benton faded to black after that movie. She should have had a career as big as JLC. She stole the show in that movie.

Was the guy that played JLC's boyfriend gay?

She married Michael Crichton, wrote Twister with him, and probably got a shit ton of money from the divorce settlement. It is a shame. She was a great presence on screen.

The disco soundtrack is fabulous!

R239 She changed her name to Anne Marie Martin. Besides what R241 wrote. She did lots of guests appearances on TV, was a regular on Days Of Our Lives and was on the cult TV series Sledge Hammer.

She was also in Halloween 2.

Benton/Martin does a lot with the Wendy role. She takes someone who should be a complete unlikable cunt and gives her a lot of humanity. I'm always on her side during that big chase scene. That takes talent.

She had great hair. I liked it even better in her short uncredited scene from Halloween II. It had grown down some from Prom Night.

What was that song during the infamous Wendy chase scene? "Time to turn around. Get yo feet back on the ground..." was that a real song or just created for the movie?

All the songs were created for the movie as rip offs to real, popular disco songs because they couldn’t afford the real songs.

One thing that never sat well with me, though I loved the movie...why were all of the "killers" so unfazed by the death of Robin, not too many years later? It seems like something that would mess you up, carrying that secret around?

Thank you R248. It does seem to have been made on the cheap.

I watched Halloween 2 for the first time only a couple of weeks ago and when that scene came on was like: "Hey! That's Wendy!" And then she wasn't seen again, unfortunately.

According to the director of Prom Night II, the infamous full frontal nude locker room scene was ad-libbed on the spot and completely gratuitous. He also said the actress was cool with it at first, but later became mortified.

Speaking of Final Exam above, I found this video on YouTube: "If Final Exam Were a Sitcom". It kinda works, haha!

"And I couldn't stop thinking: "what on earth is going on?" when in the middle of everything we stop for a disco dance-off with JLC!"

I hope you stay away from Bollywood movies then, OP.

^I was honestly enjoying it R254. Think of me saying that in an excited "can you believe this?" way.

Watched a few Bollywood films, but have a whole list my friend gave me to watch, that I'll have to make my way through once I've tired of catching up on all the horror I haven't seen.

Hmmm, I wonder if there are any Bollywood Horror movies?

I wanna know more about Casey Stevens. I found his grave. He died in 1994. Also he was adopted and his real name was Steven Paul. The info in the Scream Queen book is a bit Inaccurate...

Casey had a great ass during those prom scenes.

According to IMDB, he died in 1986.

Oh yeah, he wore those pants [italic]well[/italic].

I'm a huge fan of the whole slasher genre, especially late '70s - late 80s. While not the best, Prom Night is up there as a good example of the era. I like Terror Train just as much even with its weaknesses. For those looking to check a less seen gem, seek out Hell Night starring Linda Blair, a cute as fuck Peter Barton and a sexy half naked Vincent Van Patten. Great atmosphere, setting, score, scariness and did I mention hot guys! I love it.

People weren't dying of AIDS anymore in 1994. It was a manageable condition by then. So the date must be wrong.

Excuse me?!

LOVE Hell Night

Thank you for bringing this movie up. My mom showed this to me in the 90s. I was born in 1985. I loved Halloween and had heard about this movie. It was on cable one night so my mom told me. I loved it. The opening with the kids is very disturbing and sad. I loved how it didn’t follow the usual slasher script. I liked how the killer called each person he was stalking and how we saw the list, knew it was revenge and waited for how the killer would strike.

The kill in the van was scary as fuck to my 13 year old self.

Fucking loved Wendy’s chase scene. So well done. They need to do more of these. I swear, every horror movie I have watched I have compared any “chase” scene to Wendy’s. It had that much of an affect on me. I *almost* wanted Wendy to survive it.

It was a bit cheesy, but it was scary and fun. The ending is very unusual and sad.

I’m Team Prom Night.

I really enjoyed Prom Night too (clearly, I started this thread haha). The only bit I didn't like was the boyfriend dumping the girl because she wouldn't have sex with him. That was cruel and made me feel sorry for the girl when I shouldn't really as she killed JLC's sister.

R265 Did they REALLY kill her though? It was an accident. I don’t’ remember them wanting her to fall out of the window (oh SPOILER alert lol).

Actually, I DID want Wendy to survive. It was that good of a scene.

Yeah, you are right there R266, it just seems so weird how they were all pretty much not that affected by it afterwards. I know Nick struggled with wanting to tell JLC, but he didn't seem particularly distressed by it.

I enjoyed Wendy too, bitch though she was. I remember laughing when she recruits that bozo into her plan and clearly thinks so little of him when they're at the burger place. I even got slightly nervous for her when he picks her up that night with his two creepy friends in the back seat, though I am sure Wendy could've handled herself there.

R268 To be fair, the script doesn't give any of them the opportunity to reflect on what happened except for Nick.

R265 and he lives too when poor nice guy Slick gets killed

[quote]and he lives too when poor nice guy Slick gets killed

I know! I liked Slick and the other guy was an arse.

I think I said above already, but if this movie had been remade (like this story remade, not the version they actually did which bears no resemblance), they would've upped the kills and that guy would've definitely been killed too.

^That "I know" was just an emphatic agreeance, by the way, not an angry declaration of my knowledge. I'm sure you got it from context, but just in case. I'm so cautious with how I write online these days, too much can be misinterpreted.

It is odd that chase scenes like Wendy's seem to have disappeared completely from slasher films. The last really good, nail biting ones were Sarah Michelle Gellar's in I Know What You Did Last Summer and Courtney Cox's in Scream 2.

R272 So true. The closest we got in the new Halloween films was the brief "chase" of Lindsay.

Go back to most of the Golden Age of slashers and you'll find that the last 20-30 minutes was usually devoted to the chase and survival of the Final Girl. I miss those sequences in modern horror.

So true, r274. As I make my way through those old movies I've been realising that exact thing - that basically that is what the last 20-30 minutes is all about. And it feels like SMG's scene in I Know... was potentially an homage to the Wendy scene in Prom Night.

I have a confession. My beau will only mount me if the soundtrack from Prom Night is playing.

Specifically the finale- "Prom Night! Everything is all Right!"

Do you know what its like to fuck to that song? EVERY TIME.

And then he spins me on his cock like a top when Jamie Lee does it in the film.

He is obsessed with that film.

He says he wants to decapitate me. I'm all "Next weekend, okay!?"

I find myself revisiting this scene regularly. I noticed tonight as I watched the dance that I had this big, delighted grin on my face the whole time. Something about it just makes me very happy.

PROM NIGHT NO MORE FEELING UPTIGHT!

Then why was Wendy acting uptight during the entire prom?

Look who she had to go with.

[quote]it just seems so weird how they were all pretty much not that affected by it afterwards. I know Nick struggled with wanting to tell JLC, but he didn't seem particularly distressed by it.

It's even weirder that three of the four remained really close with JLC's character. You'd think they'd go out of their way to avoid the family after what happened. Wendy was a bitch but she was the only one wise enough to keep her distance.

Anne-Marie Martin (Eddie Benton) is pretty elusive. She was into Icelandic horses for a while and rode them professionally.

She doesn’t need the cash and had issues with obsessive fans in the 80s, so guess she is done with showbiz.

[QUOTE] Look who she had to go with.

I thought Lou was better looking than those two boys with perms.

R282 I'm sure she got a nice divorce settlement when she split from Michael Crichton, so she can probably do whatever she wants. When they separated, they sold their Bedford, NY house for $21 million and both moved back to Los Angeles.

I love that David Mucci’s IMDb profile pic is his decapitated head on the dance floor

Killers are coming. Killers are coming. KILL KILL KILL KILL!

[quote] I thought Lou was better looking than those two boys with perms.

What?!

Wendy's car in this and Burstyn's Jag in The Exorcist are my two most coveted movie cars.

Love Me Til I Die and Changes are both pretty fab disco songs.

I know you never really loved me baby/Even though I love you-ooh/And now I hold onto ya darlin/Got my whole word turning blue

“Practice makes perfect, and Kim is always *so* perfect.”

This is one of my all-time favorite slasher movies. It has everything: '80s hair aplenty, a cheesy disco soundtrack, menacing phone calls, catty high school cuntiness (with classic one-liners), severed heads, and one of the most ridiculous dance numbers ever committed to celluloid. Also, the ending is unexpectedly tragic. In some ways, I prefer it to "Halloween".

None of those cunts ever felt even a LITTLE bit bad about what they did? Most of them were friends with JLC!

[quote]why were all of the "killers" so unfazed by the death of Robin, not too many years later? It seems like something that would mess you up, carrying that secret around?

I think it was just a product of the script trying to mislead the audience, to add tension and make you wonder if those kids really were the ones from earlier in the film or not. You also start to wonder if maybe they were such awful people that the girl dying because of their stupid antics really DIDN'T bother them at all.

That is a hot ass ride.

Wendy had good taste.

Wendy's dress was fire.

[quote] Her dance partner had an ass on him. He died of AIDS in the mid 80s.

He died in 1994.

The soundtrack that they were sued over was commercially released.

Last Night of the Proms