Here's my take on this new release movie: (spoilers duh)
Welll, I went to Blockbuster today and rented Prom Night on Blu-Ray. The movie is a remake of an old Jamie Lee Curtis slasher starring Brittney Snow (Hairspray) and pretty much no other notable names. The basic story goes: While in High School on of Donna's (Snow) teachers becomes obsessed with her. As she returns from the movies one night she finds members of her family murdered and witnesses the teacher murdering her mother and demanding to know where Donna is. Years later, he is in an asylum and she is preparing for her senior prom. Of course, he shows up at prom looking for Donna and killing anyone in his way.
I'll start by saying that the picture on this disc looked phenomenal. Really, this movie looked better than it has any right to. Colors were spot on, blacks were great and the picture was very clear. I noticed a little bothersome noise but it could be how I have my tv set. I can't comment on the sound as I didn't watch it on my surround sound setup but, I had no issues with it. The extras were pretty good too...of course there were deleted scenes, and alternate ending, and a commentary. However, Sony put alot of next-gen extras in as well. There is a picture-in-picture mode and a bunch of blu-ray live extras.
My thoughts on the actual film: The title of this topic may be a little harsh but I'll explain. I felt that a few glaring logic gaps hurt what was otherwise a very enjoyable teen slasher film. The movie is Pg-13 (the disc is the unrated version, still though) the violence is pretty clean. Other reviews I have read concerning the movie stated that in the theatrical version the violence is so heavily edited you can't even see the act taking place. In the version I saw, the actual kills were very clear and IMO kind of visceral for a pg 13 movie. There is a minimal amount of blood or gore though. The bulk of the movie takes place at the actual Prom in the fictional Pacific Grand hotel. This is easily the best part of the movie. The scenes that are done right are very tense and suspenseful. Unfortunately, there is an abundance of WTF were the characters thinking moments.
My biggest gripes are the following (from leat to most stupid moments)
- Donna seems to keep wanting to reassure herself that everything is ok when things are obviously falling apart around her. This begins when she enters her suite alone at the hotel and clearly hears noises made by someone in the hotel. "Is anyone there?!" "Claire....is that you." NO DONNA, its obviously not your friends. Why would they even attempt to scare you or eb sneaky after they know what you went through. Now, at this point Donna doesn't know that the killer has broken free and is after her but still...I think she would be a bit more suspicious. This is forgiveable though
- Donna's friend Claire enters the hotel suite. She hears the same noises as Donna. Of course she thinks its her boyfriend trying to scare her. The killer (dressed in a hat and some dingy jacket) rounds the corner and walks right toward claire. It takes her a good 10 seconds of staring at him and saying "Mr. Fentin??" (the name of their murderer teacher) to realise that maybe she should run. Of course, she dies.
- Lisa spots Mr. Fentin in the elevator. Later as she is making whoopee to her boyfriend in the hotel suite she suddenly realises who he is and has to get to Donna. Of course she cant wait 10 seconds for the elevator so she has to run dow the stairs. Wouldn't you know he is waiting for her AND he heel breaks and she falls down the stairs. And then, instead of exiting the stairwell at the lobby she decides to run into the abandoned part of the hotel undergoing renovations. Dead.
- When the hotel is being evacuated Donna thinks she needs to go upstars and get her mothers shawl from the suite. I understand it was a cherished item of her mothers but...the whole hotel is ebing evacuated. There is an emergancy! Leave! Come back for it later!
- Lastly, and worst of all: Donna and her boyfriend are taken by the police to her house where her aunt and uncle are living with her. Okay, her friends were just murdered and the killer is on the loose and you know all this. Why the **** would you stay at your house that night?! Stupid cops, why would you think thats a good idea?! Stick her and her family in a hotel until he is caught. And let me add this is the house he originally killed her parents in so OF COURSE he knows where it is. Her boyfriend and a few cops end up dead because of this before he is finally killed
Overall I give the movie a 7/10. The disc more than makes up for the stupidity of the movie and the film remains very enjoyable despite.
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