It is supposed to be the night of every high school student's dreams. Girls trounce about every mall in town in search of the perfect rhinestone-encrusted dress. Boys enlist their mothers to take them to the florist and pick out the perfect matching fuchsia-colored corsage. Pictures are taken. Limousines are rented. But the wonderful night always has the possibility of encountering a few snafus. Perhaps the limo comes late. Maybe the cheerleader and the quarterback predictably win prom queen and king. Or maybe, the psychotic science teacher that thought he was in love with you and killed your whole family escaped from jail. This last idea is the basis for the newest horror film in theaters, a remake aptly titled Prom Night.
It is important to note that Prom Night is rated PG-13. This means that, although there are quite a few killings, the gore factor is extremely low. There are only small stab wounds on each of the victims and very little blood overall. The movie studio clearly sacrificed some of the staples of the genre to draw in younger crowds - not a quality-based decision.
The cast should have been the first indicator that Prom Night was made for the teeny bopper demographic of the movie-going audience. Brittany Snow, formerly of the NBC throwback show American Dreams, plays the lead character Donna Keppel. Snow did the best with what she had, but her acting chops did not match up to her performances in American Dreams or Hairspray. The majority of the actors are young unknowns, completely dispensable in the eyes of the horror genre.
One interesting casting choice was Scott Porter in the role of Snow's boyfriend, Bobby. Porter is best known for his role as the paralyzed Jason Street in another NBC drama, Friday Night Lights. But while Porter plays a high school student in Lights, he is at least surrounded by other older people to make his 29 years less obvious. In this movie, however, he looks like a 29-year-old creeper who is scamming on the 21-year-old Snow. The acting abilities of Porter are far superior to any of the other nameless actors playing high school students, but he looks supremely out of place.
2008 Woodie Awards
