Prom Night (2008 film)

Last updated
Prom Night
Prom Night.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Nelson McCormick
Written by J. S. Cardone
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyChecco Varese
Edited by Jason Ballantine
Music by Paul Haslinger
Production
companies
Distributed by Screen Gems [3] (through Sony Pictures Releasing [3] [2] )
Release date
  • April 11, 2008 (2008-04-11)
Running time
90 minutes
Countries
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million [3]
Box office$57.2 million [3]

Prom Night is a 2008 slasher film directed by Nelson McCormick. It is the fifth and final installment of the Prom Night film series. It is a reboot film, mainly taking inspiration from the original 1980 film. The film stars an ensemble cast including Brittany Snow, Scott Porter, Jessica Stroup, Dana Davis, Collins Pennie, Kelly Blatz, James Ransone, Brianne Davis, Johnathon Schaech, and Idris Elba.

Contents

The movie's score is composed by Paul Haslinger of Tangerine Dream fame.

The film was released on April 11, 2008, by Screen Gems. The film received negative reviews from critics for its lack of originality, screenplay, editing, direction, plot, and performances. Despite this, it was also a box-office success, grossing $20,804,941 in 2,700 theaters in the United States and Canada.

Plot

High school freshman Donna Keppel returns home one evening to find her father and younger brother have been murdered. She hides under her brother's bed where she then witnesses her mother stabbed to death by Richard Fenton, her former biology teacher who had become obsessed with Donna.

Three years later, Donna lives with her Uncle Jack and Aunt Karen. She and her friends prepare for their senior prom. Meanwhile, Detective Winn, who arrested him three years earlier, learns Fenton has escaped from the mental hospital.

Knowing he will come for Donna, Winn arrives at the hotel with his partner Detective Nash. Fenton breaks into the friends' shared hotel suite, where he first kills Donna's friends Claire and Michael. Later, Donna's other friend Lisa and her boyfriend Ronnie bump into Fenton on their way up to the suite; Lisa recognizes him but cannot recall from where. Soon, she realizes it is the assailant and runs to warn Donna, only to be trapped in the stairwell by Fenton. He chases her into the basement, where he slits her throat.

Winn finds the body of the man whose name Fenton has been using in his car trunk in the parking lot. Winn then goes up to the room Fenton booked and finds the housekeeper's body. As he has the hotel evacuated, Donna goes back up to her room to find Lisa and retrieve her mother's shawl, where she runs into Fenton and escapes. The SWAT team search the hotel but find no sign of him.

Donna and her boyfriend Bobby are escorted back to Donna's house, where Winn orders back up protection. Inside, Donna has a dream that Fenton is in the bathroom with her. Waking up, she goes to the bathroom and closes the window. Upon heading back into her bedroom, Donna discovers Bobby's corpse, his throat slashed. She retreats to her closet to hide, only to find Fenton inside already. Winn shows up and looks for Fenton, realizing his partner Nash is dead. Donna tries to escape Fenton as he is about to stab her, Winn shoots Fenton several times, killing him.

As Donna is joined by her Aunt and Uncle, Winn consoles her and tells her it is over.

Cast

Production

The film was originally announced in 2004 with the script being written by Stephen Susco. [4] The final script was written by J. S. Cardone. The budget for the film was $20 million. [3] It was produced by Original Film and Newmarket Films in association with Alliance Films, which holds the rights to the original franchise, along with sequel rights.

The film was mostly shot in Los Angeles, [5] with overhead shots taking place in Newport, Oregon. [6]

Release

Prom Night was released by Sony Pictures and Screen Gems. The film grossed $20,804,941 in 2,700 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #1 at the box office in its opening weekend and averaging $7,705 per theater. It grossed $43,869,350 in the U.S. and a $12,728,210 in other territories for a worldwide total of $56,597,560. [3]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 9% of 69 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3/10.The website's consensus reads: " A dim and predictable remake of an already dull slasher film, this Prom Night fails to be memorable." [7] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 17 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". [8]

Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "This is as listless, mindless and utterly useless a piece of corporate brain-clog as one is likely to come across for quite some time." [9]

Home media

The DVD and Blu-ray Disc was released on August 19, 2008, in theatrical (88 minutes) and unrated (89 minutes) versions. Both formats contain deleted scenes and an alternate ending. It was released in Australia on Blu-ray and 2 Disc DVD Edition on August 27, 2008. In F.Y.E. stores in the U.S., the unrated edition came with a bonus disc called "Body Count: Investigating the Murders of Prom Night," a 22-minute documentary about the murders of various characters in the film, as well as various techniques the director used to make the murders scarier. The home media release also includes interviews with Nelson McCormick (director) and other members of the cast of the film.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnathon Schaech</span> American actor (born 1969)

Johnathon Schaech is an American actor and screenwriter. He has been working as an actor since the early 1990s.

<i>8mm 2</i> 2005 thriller film

8mm 2 is a 2005 direct-to-video thriller film directed by J. S. Cardone and starring Johnathon Schaech and Lori Heuring. The film was distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

<i>Dead Silence</i> 2007 film by James Wan

Dead Silence is a 2007 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell. The film stars Ryan Kwanten as Jamie Ashen, a young widower returning to his hometown to search for answers to his wife's death. It also stars Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg, and Bob Gunton.

<i>Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II</i> 1987 film by Bruce Pittman

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II is a 1987 Canadian supernatural slasher film directed by Bruce Pittman, and starring Michael Ironside, Wendy Lyon, Louis Ferreira, and Lisa Schrage. It follows a high school student who becomes possessed by Mary Lou Maloney, a student who died at her high school prom in 1957. A sequel to the slasher film Prom Night (1980), it was originally intended to be a standalone film titled The Haunting of Hamilton High, but was retitled in order to capitalize on the success of the original Prom Night. The only story connection between the two films is that they are set at the same high school. However, both films were executive produced by Peter R. Simpson.

Living Hell is a 2008 horror television film written and directed by Richard Jefferies, which stars Johnathon Schaech and Erica Leerhsen. It premiered on Sci Fi Channel on February 23, and was released on DVD on June 10, 2008.

<i>Night Game</i> (film) 1989 film by Peter Masterson

Night Game is a 1989 American slasher film directed by Peter Masterson and starring Roy Scheider, Lane Smith, Karen Young, and Richard Bradford. It follows a police detective attempting to stop a hook-handed serial killer whose murders coincide with nighttime baseball games at the Houston Astrodome.

<i>10 to Midnight</i> 1983 film

10 to Midnight is a 1983 American neo noir-thriller-horror film directed by J. Lee Thompson from a screenplay originally written by William Roberts. The film stars Charles Bronson in the lead role with a supporting cast that includes Lisa Eilbacher, Andrew Stevens, Gene Davis, Geoffrey Lewis, and Wilford Brimley. 10 to Midnight was released by City Films, a subsidiary of Cannon Films, to American cinemas on March 11, 1983.

<i>Gutterballs</i> (film) 2008 Canadian rape-and-revenge slasher film directed by Ryan Nicholson

Gutterballs is a 2008 Canadian rape-and-revenge slasher comedy splatter film written and directed by Ryan Nicholson. The plot is centered around two rival teams at a bowling alley, Xcalibur Bowling Centre, spending a night after-hours to play against one another. Following a planned sadistic rape against one of the teams members, everybody on both teams begins to get brutally killed one by one by an unknown killer the following night.

<i>Quarantine</i> (2008 film) Film by John Erick Dowdle

Quarantine is a 2008 found footage horror film directed and co-written by John Erick Dowdle, produced by Sergio Aguero, Doug Davison, and Roy Lee, and co-written by Drew Dowdle, being a remake of the 2007 Spanish film Rec. The film stars Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez, Columbus Short, Greg Germann, Steve Harris, Dania Ramirez, Rade Šerbedžija, and Johnathon Schaech. It follows a reporter and her cameraman assigned to a pair of Los Angeles firemen who follow a distress call to an apartment building where they discover a deadly mutated strain of rabies spreading among the building's occupants; escape becomes impossible once the government descends upon the building to prevent the virus from spreading beyond it, and the pair continue to record the events that unfold inside, of which the film itself is the result. Quarantine features no actual musical score, using only sound effects, and differs in its characters, dialogue, and explanation of the virus from its source material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brianne Davis</span> American actress, producer and director

Brianne Davis is an American actress, producer and director, known for her roles in films Jarhead (2005), Prom Night (2008), and American Virgin (2009).

Get Hep to Love is a 1942 musical film starring Gloria Jean, Donald O'Connor, Jane Frazee, Robert Paige and Peggy Ryan. The film was directed by Charles Lamont.

<i>Splendor</i> (1999 film) 1999 film by Gregg Araki

Splendor is a 1999 romantic comedy film directed by Gregg Araki and starring Kathleen Robertson, Johnathon Schaech, and Matt Keeslar. The film deals with an open relationship between the three leads.

<i>ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2</i> 2011 American film

ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2 is a 2011 American slasher film written and directed by Robert Green Hall, and co-written by Kevin Bocarde. It is the sequel to 2009 film Laid to Rest.

<i>Gemini</i> (2017 film) 2017 American film

Gemini is a 2017 American mystery thriller film written, directed and edited by Aaron Katz. It stars Lola Kirke, Zoë Kravitz, Greta Lee, Nelson Franklin, Reeve Carney, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Ricki Lake, and John Cho. The plot follows the assistant of a Hollywood actress who must clear her name after her starlet boss is found murdered in her home.

<i>Reprisal</i> (2018 film) 2018 film by Brian A. Miller

Reprisal is a 2018 American action thriller film directed by Brian A. Miller and written by Bryce Hammons. The film stars Bruce Willis, Frank Grillo, Johnathon Schaech, and Olivia Culpo.

<i>The Night Clerk</i> 2020 film directed by Michael Cristofer

The Night Clerk is a 2020 American crime drama film, written and directed by Michael Cristofer. It stars Tye Sheridan, Ana de Armas, John Leguizamo and Helen Hunt, and follows a hotel night clerk who becomes the center of a murder investigation. The film was released on February 21, 2020, by Saban Films. On June 6, 2020, Netflix released the film on its platform. The film has received negative reviews from critics who criticized it for its lackluster story, derivative, and undeveloped characters; however, Sheridan's performance did receive praise.


The Last Witness is a 1999 made-for-TV movie which was originally titled Caracara. It was written by Craig Smith and directed by Graeme Clifford. Release date was 1 December 1999. The cast included Natasha Henstridge, Johnathon Schaech, and Lauren Hutton.

<i>Prom Night</i> (film series) Canadian horror film series

Prom Night is a Canadian slasher film franchise that comprises a total of five feature films, the first four of which are centered around events at the fictional Hamilton High School. The first film, Prom Night (1980), was a slasher film directed by Paul Lynch and produced by Peter R. Simpson, focusing on teenagers being stalked and murdered by a masked killer at their prom. The film was a box-office success, grossing nearly $15 million. The following sequel, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987), was envisioned as a standalone film, but producer Simpson and his company, Simcom, refitted it as a sequel to the original Prom Night. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, a supernatural-themed slasher film, introduced the character of Mary Lou Maloney, a vengeful young woman who died on her prom night in 1957; its only connection to the first film was that both films take place in the same high school.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Grierson, Tim (14 April 2008). "Prom Night". Screen International . Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Prom Night at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Prom Night (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 2018-10-20. Retrieved 2013-04-02.
  4. ↑ LaPorte, Nicole (5 October 2004). "Moritz shingle asks scribe to 'Prom'". Variety.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  5. ↑ Blake, Lindsay (2018-06-18). "The 'Splitting Up Together' House". iamnotastalker. Archived from the original on 2019-10-23. Retrieved 2019-01-10. the house is located at 1947 Oak Street in South Pasadena
  6. ↑ "Film: Movies that make Oregon famous". UWire. March 14, 2013. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Prom Night". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved March 31, 2024. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  8. ↑ "Prom Night". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  9. ↑ Mark Olsen (2008-04-14). "The 'Prom Night' not to remember". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2021-05-25. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.