Prom Night (film)
Encyclopedia
Prom Night is a 1980 Canadian horror film
filmed in Canada
and directed by Paul Lynch
and starring Leslie Nielsen
and Jamie Lee Curtis
. The original music score is composed by Paul Zaza
and Carl Zittrer.
The story concerns a group of high school seniors who are targeted by an unknown killer in revenge for their culpability in the accidental death of a young girl. The anniversary of the incident falls on their high school's prom night. The older sister of the dead girl is being crowned prom queen. Her brother is the disc jockey
at the event.
Six years later Robin's family attend her memorial on the anniversary of her death. Robin's teenage sister and brother, Kim and Alex, are also preparing for the school prom to be held that evening. Their parents will also attend, as their father is the school principal.
Kelly, Jude and Wendy receive threatening phone calls, while Nick misses the call intended for him. Kim and her boyfriend Nick will attend the prom together. Jude is asked by goofy jokester Seymour "Slick" Crane who she meets by chance that morning. Kelly will go with her boyfriend Drew Shinnick. He's preoccupied with having sex with her that evening, despite her objections. Nick's ex-girlfriend, the beautiful but scheming Wendy, has no date so asks the school rebel, Lou Farmer. She devises a scheme with Lou to embarrass Nick and Kim.
In the change room after gym class, Kim and Kelly discover the locker room mirror severely cracked and a shard missing. The sex offender blamed for Robin's death has escaped and Lt. McBride, Nick's father, investigates. During the senior prom Kim and Nick perform a dance number to impress Wendy who had insisted Nick would be getting back with her after the prom. Kelly and Drew make out in the school changing room, but Kelly refuses to continue to full sex. Drew angrily leaves. As Kelly gets dressed, a masked killer slits her throat.
Jude and Slick have sex and smoke marijuana in his van outside school grounds. However, they are being watched by Kelly's killer, who kills Jude by stabbing her throat. Slick brawls with the killer while attempting to drive away. The killer escapes from the van as it tumbles off a cliff and explodes, crushing and burning Slick to death in the flaming wreckage. McBride, staking out the prom, is informed that the sex offender blamed for Robin's death has been caught. He is relieved and ends his scrutiny of the event.
Wendy is confronted by the killer in the bathroom and is chased through the school. After evading the killer several times she stumbles upon Kelly's body and, distracted, is hacked to death with an axe (offscreen). Kim and Nick prepare to be crowned prom king and queen. Wendy's plan is put into action by Lou and his lackeys who tie up Nick with Lou taking his crown and assuming his position back stage. Thinking he is Nick, the assailant sneaks up behind Lou with the axe and decapitates him.
Lou's head rolls onto the dance floor and sending the panicked partygoers fleeing in horror. Kim finds Nick and frees him. As they prepare to escape, they are confronted by the killer who attacks Nick. Kim eventually grabs the killer's axe and hits him on the head with it. As Kim and the killer stare at each other for a moment, Kim realizes who he really is. He runs outside where the police have arrived. As McBride tries to shoot, Kim stops him and the killer falls to the ground. Kim unmasks the killer, revealing Alex in make up, had witnessed Robin's death and dies in Kim's arms after he cries and tells Kim what happened to their sister just before the credits roll.
in the documentary Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006), he was having difficulty securing financing until Jamie Lee Curtis
signed on. Once the film was shot, Paramount
expressed interest in distributing the movie. However they only wanted to open it in 300 theaters whereas Avco Embassy Pictures offered to release it in 1200 theaters. As a result Avco released Prom Night. Paramount
released another independent slasher film, Friday the 13th.
.
The Prom Night soundtrack is highly sought after, by fans of the film and disco fans alike. It was released only in Japan on LP and cassette. A 7 inch single of "All is Gone" b/w "Forever" was also released, however neither of these songs appears in the film. Many bootleg CD releases have also found their way onto the marketplace, but Prom Night has never been issued on CD. Some of the music used in the film was used in Canadian horror productions that Paul Zaza scored as well, 1981's Ghostkeeper
and 1983's Curtains
. The Song "Prom Night" was featured in "Cabin Fever 2".
on DVD
on February 18, 1998, and was one of the company's first releases. This edition went out of print within a couple of years, and the film was nearly impossible to find on DVD. It was released again on DVD by Alliance Atlantis
in March 2004, but the print used was from a worn-out VHS
release, and was thus of very poor quality. Echo Bridge Entertainment re-released the film on DVD on September 4, 2007 in a high-quality, newly re-mastered print. Unfortunately, it features a PAL-NTSC transfer.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
filmed in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and directed by Paul Lynch
Paul Lynch (director)
Paul Lynch is a director and most recently that of the Sci Fi Pictures original film, Savage Planet. He is also the director of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes The First Duty, 11001001, The Naked Now, Unnatural Selection, and A Matter of Time.-External links:* – Canadians in the Movies*...
and starring Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
and Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
. The original music score is composed by Paul Zaza
Paul Zaza
Paul Zaza is a Genie Award-winning film score and songwriter. In 1980 he won the Genie Award for Best Music Score alongside Carl Zittrer for their work on Murder by Decree. He was nominated for the same award in 1985 for Isaac Littlefeathers. In 1987 he received a Genie nomination for Best Original...
and Carl Zittrer.
The story concerns a group of high school seniors who are targeted by an unknown killer in revenge for their culpability in the accidental death of a young girl. The anniversary of the incident falls on their high school's prom night. The older sister of the dead girl is being crowned prom queen. Her brother is the disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
at the event.
Plot
11-year-olds Wendy Richards, Jude Cunningham, Kelly Lynch and Nick McBride play hide and seek in an abandoned convent. 10-year-old Robin Hammond joins them but they start teasing her by repeating "Kill! Kill! Kill!". She backs into a window and falls onto panes of construction glass, killing her. The children make a pact not to tell anyone what happened, but a mysterious figure has apparently witnessed the event while a known rapist is blamed for Robin's death and arrested shortly.Six years later Robin's family attend her memorial on the anniversary of her death. Robin's teenage sister and brother, Kim and Alex, are also preparing for the school prom to be held that evening. Their parents will also attend, as their father is the school principal.
Kelly, Jude and Wendy receive threatening phone calls, while Nick misses the call intended for him. Kim and her boyfriend Nick will attend the prom together. Jude is asked by goofy jokester Seymour "Slick" Crane who she meets by chance that morning. Kelly will go with her boyfriend Drew Shinnick. He's preoccupied with having sex with her that evening, despite her objections. Nick's ex-girlfriend, the beautiful but scheming Wendy, has no date so asks the school rebel, Lou Farmer. She devises a scheme with Lou to embarrass Nick and Kim.
In the change room after gym class, Kim and Kelly discover the locker room mirror severely cracked and a shard missing. The sex offender blamed for Robin's death has escaped and Lt. McBride, Nick's father, investigates. During the senior prom Kim and Nick perform a dance number to impress Wendy who had insisted Nick would be getting back with her after the prom. Kelly and Drew make out in the school changing room, but Kelly refuses to continue to full sex. Drew angrily leaves. As Kelly gets dressed, a masked killer slits her throat.
Jude and Slick have sex and smoke marijuana in his van outside school grounds. However, they are being watched by Kelly's killer, who kills Jude by stabbing her throat. Slick brawls with the killer while attempting to drive away. The killer escapes from the van as it tumbles off a cliff and explodes, crushing and burning Slick to death in the flaming wreckage. McBride, staking out the prom, is informed that the sex offender blamed for Robin's death has been caught. He is relieved and ends his scrutiny of the event.
Wendy is confronted by the killer in the bathroom and is chased through the school. After evading the killer several times she stumbles upon Kelly's body and, distracted, is hacked to death with an axe (offscreen). Kim and Nick prepare to be crowned prom king and queen. Wendy's plan is put into action by Lou and his lackeys who tie up Nick with Lou taking his crown and assuming his position back stage. Thinking he is Nick, the assailant sneaks up behind Lou with the axe and decapitates him.
Lou's head rolls onto the dance floor and sending the panicked partygoers fleeing in horror. Kim finds Nick and frees him. As they prepare to escape, they are confronted by the killer who attacks Nick. Kim eventually grabs the killer's axe and hits him on the head with it. As Kim and the killer stare at each other for a moment, Kim realizes who he really is. He runs outside where the police have arrived. As McBride tries to shoot, Kim stops him and the killer falls to the ground. Kim unmasks the killer, revealing Alex in make up, had witnessed Robin's death and dies in Kim's arms after he cries and tells Kim what happened to their sister just before the credits roll.
Cast
- Leslie NielsenLeslie NielsenLeslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
as Mr. Hammond - Jamie Lee CurtisJamie Lee CurtisJamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
as Kim Hammond - Casey Stevens as Nick McBride
- Eddie Benton as Wendy Richards
- Michael Tough as Alex Hammond
- Robert A. SilvermanRobert A. SilvermanRobert A. Silverman was born on February 24, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Robert is one of several actors often cast by writer/director David Cronenberg. Silverman is sometimes credited as Bob Silverman or Robert Silverman. He has appeared in 5 films directed by David Cronenberg...
as Mr. Sykes - Pita Oliver as Vicki
- David Mucci as Lou Farmer
- Mary Beth Rubens as Kelly Lynch
- George Touliatos as Lt. McBride
- Melanie MorseMelanie Morse MacQuarrieMelanie Virginia Sydney Morse MacQuarrie was a Canadian actress.-Background:MacQuarrie was the daughter of actors Barry Morse and Sydney Sturgess and sister of Hayward Morse. She was born in London, England, but lived in Canada from the age of six...
as Henri-Anne - David BoltDavid BoltDr. David Bolt is the founding editor of and the co-editor of the issues on poetry, dependency and cognitive impairment with Jim Ferris, Michael Davidson and Lucy Burke respectively.-Academic work:...
as Weller - Jeff WincottJeff WincottJeffrey Howard Piero Wincott is a Canadian actor and athlete.-Personal life:Jeff is the elder brother of actor Michael Wincott....
as Drew Shinnick - David GardnerDavid GardnerDavid Gardner is one of the three founders of The Motley Fool, established in 1993.He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a Morehead-Cain Scholarship, graduating in 1988. He was a writer for Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street newsletter before joining the Motley Fool...
as Dr. Fairchild - Joy Thompson as Jude Cunningham
- Sheldon Rybowski as Seymour "Slick" Crane
- Antoinette BowerAntoinette BowerAntoinette Bower is a German-born film and television actress, whose career lasted more than three decades. She appeared on the television series Neon Rider for 42 episodes. She is a naturalized United States citizen...
as Mrs. Hammond
Production notes
According to director Paul LynchPaul Lynch (director)
Paul Lynch is a director and most recently that of the Sci Fi Pictures original film, Savage Planet. He is also the director of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes The First Duty, 11001001, The Naked Now, Unnatural Selection, and A Matter of Time.-External links:* – Canadians in the Movies*...
in the documentary Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006), he was having difficulty securing financing until Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
signed on. Once the film was shot, Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
expressed interest in distributing the movie. However they only wanted to open it in 300 theaters whereas Avco Embassy Pictures offered to release it in 1200 theaters. As a result Avco released Prom Night. Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
released another independent slasher film, Friday the 13th.
Soundtrack
Composer(s): Carl Zittrer, Paul ZazaPaul Zaza
Paul Zaza is a Genie Award-winning film score and songwriter. In 1980 he won the Genie Award for Best Music Score alongside Carl Zittrer for their work on Murder by Decree. He was nominated for the same award in 1985 for Isaac Littlefeathers. In 1987 he received a Genie nomination for Best Original...
.
- All Is Gone - Blue Bazar
- Prom Night
- Changes
- Dancing In The Moonlight
- Fade to Black
- All Is Gone (Instrumental) - Blue Bazar
- Time to Turn Around
- Love Me Till I Die
- Prom Night 2
- Forever - Blue Bazar
The Prom Night soundtrack is highly sought after, by fans of the film and disco fans alike. It was released only in Japan on LP and cassette. A 7 inch single of "All is Gone" b/w "Forever" was also released, however neither of these songs appears in the film. Many bootleg CD releases have also found their way onto the marketplace, but Prom Night has never been issued on CD. Some of the music used in the film was used in Canadian horror productions that Paul Zaza scored as well, 1981's Ghostkeeper
Ghostkeeper
Ghostkeeper is a 1981 independent Canadian horror film directed by Jim Makichuk. The story centers on a trio of snowmobilers in the Canadian Rockies who become stranded at an abandoned hotel where an old woman seems to be hiding something. The film is rather obscure and very little-known of among...
and 1983's Curtains
Curtains (film)
Curtains is a 1983 Canadian horror film. Though a fairly obscure film, Curtains has gained some underground cult status among fans of the slasher film genre, many of whom cite the 'ice skating' murder scene as the film's memorable highlight...
. The Song "Prom Night" was featured in "Cabin Fever 2".
Trivia
According to the producer of Prom Night, Eve Plumb [from television's The Brady Bunch] originally auditioned for the role of Kim Hammond.DVD releases
The film was originally released by Anchor Bay EntertainmentAnchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on February 18, 1998, and was one of the company's first releases. This edition went out of print within a couple of years, and the film was nearly impossible to find on DVD. It was released again on DVD by Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. was a Toronto-based media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices in Halifax, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Shannon and Sydney.Alliance Atlantis was acquired by Canwest...
in March 2004, but the print used was from a worn-out VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
release, and was thus of very poor quality. Echo Bridge Entertainment re-released the film on DVD on September 4, 2007 in a high-quality, newly re-mastered print. Unfortunately, it features a PAL-NTSC transfer.
Nominations
- 1981 Genie Awards
- Best Achievement in Film Editing - Brian Ravok
- Best Performance by a Foreign Actress - Jamie Lee CurtisJamie Lee CurtisJamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
Sequels and remake
- Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
- Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (1990)
- Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil (1992)
- Prom NightProm Night (2008 film)Prom Night is a 2008 horror film from Screen Gems directed by Nelson McCormick and starring Brittany Snow. The film is a re-imagining of the 1980 Canadian horror film of the same name.-Plot:...
(2008)