Prom Night: Review

The Film

The story is that of a childhood secret coming back to haunt the keepers of the secret. The secret being the death of a young girl as a result of taunts from other children. Those children make a pact to keep what happened a secret. It is those same children’s prom night and a crazy killer is beginning to check their name off a list one kill at a time. While there are definitely a few outdated elements in the movie it is overall an enjoyable experience with good acting and interesting characters that end up making up a strong slasher movie that stands up with some of the best.

This classic slasher features the wonderful Jamie Lee Curtis during her "Scream Queen" era. Of all of the horror films that Jamie Lee Curtis was in during this time, I find Prom Night to be her best in terms of acting. As well the character she plays in the movie is a lot more interesting and well rounded than the others. Prom Night is a top notch slasher that has some of the better acting found in a slasher film and an interesting story that doesn’t feature a whole lot of kills, and the ones it does have are not all that interesting, but offers an entertaining horror thriller that also takes an interesting look at high school life and everything it encompasses. As well, Prom Night features a few humorous scenes that are well done. It is definitely a movie that is a more well rounded movie than other slasher films of the time. However that does come at an expense. In particular, the pace is a little on the slow side compared to other slasher films but once in reaches about the one hour mark thinks pick up quickly.

Synapse Films gets better and better with each of their releases in terms of video and audio quality. The audio and video for Prom Night is amazing and at the absolute best it has ever been since it’s original release. There is great clarity in the image and the few instances of softness found in the movie are original, meaning that was how the movie was made. The grain looks natural. Overall Prom Night is a great looking Blu-ray. As for the audio, it features no background noise or any other audio problems. The audio is very good and greatly supplements the amazing picture quality.

The Extras

The extras for the Prom Night Blu-ray are headlined by a making-of documentary titled “The Horrors of Hamilton High.”  It is a great feature that has a good chunk of the cast participating, the director and a few other crew members participate as well. This making-of packs in a lot of information in its forty minute run time. One of the more interesting tidbits from the making-of is that Jamie Lee Curtis reached out to the filmmakers and expressed her desire to be a part of the film. Some other features are a commentary featuring the director and the screenwriter, addition scenes for the television presentation of Prom Night, and a bunch more. 


Overall: Highly recommended

You can order here: Prom Night [Blu-ray]