Director: Bruce Pittman
Starring: Wendy Lyon, Lisa Schrage, Michael Ironside
Year: 1987
If Prom Night was a ripoff of Carrie & Halloween, then Prom Night II was a theft of Exorcist & Nightmare on Elm Street, a complete recycling that didn’t add anything extra. Well, no, there were extra pieces, but only in the way we would use the word ‘extra’ now, to mean over-the-top, useless, and rather ridiculous. This franchise was doomed form the start, because it’s simply taking strong ideas from others and leaving nothing solid behind. It’s a semi-famous cult series, but it really shouldn’t be, and all the Prom Nights can be forgotten as easily & cheaply as they were made.
In 1957 at a high school prom, a promiscuous girl named Mary Lou was murdered by a jilted boyfriend. She liked to have fun, liked to live on the wild side, but Billy wanted revenge, and although he didn’t mean to kill her, that didn’t matter in the end. Thirty years later, as another prom approaches, the spirit of Mary Lou awakens and begins to enact her vengeance. She inhabits the body of a potential Prom Queen named Vicki, and makes her do unspeakable things, as another dance comes to a deadly end.
How very silly. The first one was so 1980, this one is SO 1987, and it’s fun to see the difference a few years makes, in fashion, music, style, attitude, everything. And then there’s the 50s element as well, this time around, which is interesting, but ultimately not enough to get the story on track. The plot is all over the place, with so many people dying and characters reacting, like there were a hundred writers with a thousand ideas. At least there’s some cool blood, a bit of special effects, they were trying at something, but simply failing more often than not. Also, god was every piece stolen, and that’s hard to forgive, especially as you sit there listing off every “reference” and “homage”. After a while it just becomes forgery, and that’s unforgivable.
My rating: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆