Prom Night (1980)

Director:

Paul Lynch

Writers:

William Gray (screenplay)
Robert Guza Jr. (story)

Release Date:

18 July 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

If you're not back by midnight... you won't be coming home.

Plot:

A masked killer stalks four teens responsible for the accidential death of a child six years earlier at their high school's senior prom.

Plot Keywords:

Teenage Sex | High School Sweethearts | High School Prom | Mystery Killer | Hide And Seek

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Leslie Nielsen	...	Mr. Raymond Hammond
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Kim Hammond
Casey Stevens	...	Nick McBride
Anne-Marie Martin	...	Wendy Richards (as Eddie Benton)
Antoinette Bower	...	Mrs. 'Vi' Hammond
Michael Tough	...	Alex Hammond
Robert A. Silverman	...	Mr. Sanford Sykes (as Robert Silverman)
Pita Oliver	...	Vicki Cantrell
David Mucci	...	Lou Farmer
Jeff Wincott	...	Drew Shinnick
Mary Beth Rubens	...	Kelly Lynch (as Marybeth Rubens)
George Touliatos	...	Lt. Darryl McBride
Melanie Morse MacQuarrie	...	Henri-Anne Weller
David Gardner	...	Dr. Rupert Fairchild
Joy Thompson	...	Jude Cunningham

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (uncut) (1981) (theatrical release) | France:-12 | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (2005) (DVD) | Finland:K-18 (heavily cut) (1983) (video) | Singapore:NC-16 | Norway:15 (DVD rating) | Australia:M | Norway:18 (1980) | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 (nf) | Iceland:(Banned) | Sweden:(Banned) (original rating) | Sweden:(Banned) (re-rating)

Filming Locations:

Don Mills Collegiate, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Quadrant Trust Company

Trivia:

The line, "It's not who you come with, it's who takes you home," appears in all the Prom Night movies.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When Kim is in the empty gym dancing, Wendy shows up to confront her. When the camera is on Kim you can see the boom mike coming from the bottom of the screen.

Quotes:

Young Nick: [after Robin falls out the window and dies] We've got to get somebody, quick.
Young Wendy: Are you crazy? They'll put us in jail. If we tell anybody they'll say it's our fault. Who would believe it was an accident?
Young Nick: But what if...
Young Wendy: Listen to me, we'll go home now and never ever tell anyone. No one but us will ever know. Jude, swear?
Young Jude: I swear.
Young Wendy: Kelly? Kelly!
Young Kelly: I don't want to go to jail!
Young Wendy: Swear?
Young Kelly: I swear.
Young Wendy: Nick? Nick!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Indian Lady (1981)

"Prom Night" is a standard, talky slasher movie.

Five children, who are playing a hide-and-seek game in an old house, accidentally kill one of their friends when she crashes out of a window. Six years later, someone knows about the crime, grabs an axe and a ski-mask, and proceeds to stalk the teenagers during prom night. This movie starts out slowly, with many boring scenes, but slowly degenerates into a quite watchable film. There are some good shocks, and the chase scene through the campus is riveting. It would have been better if it had better lighting though. Plus, the sound and picture are not very good. Overall, a mild film that takes to long to start, and just when it gets good, it ends too quickly. A must for Jamie Lee Curtis fans!