Review of Prom Night (2011) by Sean N — 23 Sep 2010

Prom Night, unfortunately, is a film that shows why horror films don't really belong in the PG-13 ratings. Drag Me to Hell is the only film I really know of to be a good horror film in the PG-13 rating. I've never seen the original Prom Night, and after seeing the remake, I don't plan to. It just looks like a typical horror movie where a bunch of partying characters get killed by a psycho killer.

The original Prom Night revolved around the brother of a killed teenage girl as he exacts his revenge against her peers at their prom. It's the same concept technically for the remake, but it revolves around Donna Keppel (Brittany Snow), a young woman who finds her dad and brother dead and witnesses the death of her mother by her former teacher Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech). Still tramautized by the event, Donna prepares for her school prom 3 years after the incident. As Donna and her friends hope to have a great night, Fenton breaks out of prison and heads to the prom looking for Donna.

Like some movie franchises like Robocop and Wall Street, Prom Night the remake gets a PG-13 rating. This is interesting seeing how the original film and its sequels got R ratings. So, there is no real gore in this movie for those looking for that (I don't happen to be one of them). Also, this film lacks a key element in horror movie in suspense.

In terms of the acting, I can't really say much. If I have to say I liked any performances (and as I said in my Starship Troopers review, I don't mind bad acting), it would have to be Brittany Snow and Scott Porter. That's probably it.

Well, that's all I can talk about this movie. It's a movie like this that shows why horror movies work better in the R rated spectrum. I can see the appeal of trying to panner these kinds of movies to a younger audience, but with films like The Unborn and (I guess...) any other PG-13 horror film, Prom Night is an prime example of a poor excuse for a horror film.