This Slasher Movie Franchise Is Still Underrated After 45 Years

Between epic horror films Halloween and Halloween II, Jamie Lee Curtis starred in Prom Night. And, along with The Fog and Terror Train, it helped establish her as the definitive scream queen. It also earned 10 times its budget, which was more than enough to ensure that there would be at least one sequel. However, while the property’s big screen financial viability ended up proving to be a one-off, there were still several of these things, with only the loose connective tissue of a prom and its related booze-swilling festivities existing to bind them. In other words, of the four mainline installments, only the original film is a straight-forward slasher.

The rest were, well, different. But in an admirable way. The fact the follow-ups went the outlandish direction helped cement Prom Night as one of the more intriguing slasher IPs, even if it didn’t rank the A-tier alongside Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street (which it often seemed to emulate down the line).

It Swung for the Fences

The original Prom Night was released in 1980, towards the beginning of the slasher boom. Overall, it’s an effective entry in the subgenre with a bizarrely long dance number and a connection between Curtis’ protagonist and the antagonist that works better than when it was done the following year in Halloween II.

Then there was a long gap before we got Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, which has a fair claim to being the best of the bunch. This even if it has next to no connection to the original film. Most of the typical slasher staples seen in the original are gone. There is still a level of ambiance and build-up in the scares, but instead of a stalker with a knife, there’s an extremely Carrie-esque undead killer who was burned during her prom. Now, she’s possessed the girlfriend of her now-grown assailant’s son. Speaking of that now-grown assailant, he’s become the principal of the very school where Mary Lou Maloney was burned, and he’s played by Paul Verhoeven favorite Michael Ironside (Total Recall, Starship Troopers, Top Gun).

A few things help Hello Mary Lou stand at the top of the heap. For one, when it mimics Carrie and A Nightmare on Elm Street (the third installment of which was released the same year), it does it well. Two, the acting is the best of the series, without a doubt. And, three, Mary Lou makes for a pretty horrifying antagonist when she fully comes back in the third act.

In fact, Mary Lou was so effective here that they brought her back three years later for Prom Night III: The Last Kiss. Like its immediate predecessor, this one is underrated as well. It’s the one installment of the franchise to go for comedy, effectively parodying the two very different movies that came before it. Like The Return of the Living Dead III, it’s a gonzo horror love story that works more often than not.

Which brings us to Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil. The fourth film dropped Mary Lou, turned its back on the comedic undertone of the third entry, and more or less tried to recapture what made the original work. However, as a 1991 release, it was a little late to the slasher party to actually stand out and instead plays as an unspectacular addition to the franchise. That said, its villain is a priest, so it has that going for it.

There Were Still Low Points

Of the five official Prom Night films, there is one clear nadir, and that’s the 2008 remake. But it’s not even a remake as much as it’s an incredibly bland slasher with no real risks taken. Worse yet, it’s PG-13, so the end result is as bland a slasher as a slasher can be. The “remake,” as it were, can be skipped with zero regrets, even for fans of the bad midnight movie terrain.

However, outside the 2008 rendition, there’s something to at least like in the other installments. In that aforementioned midnight movie kind of way, that is. This includes the unofficial Prom Night movie, The Club, released in 1994. It was planned to be an installment of the franchise but producer Peter Simpson realized the Prom Night name had lost most of its financial viability.

But, watching it, one can very much tell that it’s a Prom Night movie in line with the second, third, and fourth entries. It centers around a prom, it has supernatural elements, and the look is, well, charmingly cheap. It also has major roles for Sons of Anarchy‘s Kim Coates and A Christmas Story‘s Zack Ward, so there’s merit to that.

None of the Prom Night movies are truly iconic horror cinema, but as an IP it’s nearly right in line with the best second-tier slashers like The Burning, My Bloody Valentine, and Sleepaway Camp. Speaking of Sleepaway Camp, that’s another underrated franchise, thanks to its inventive kills and the work by both Felissa Rose and Pamela Springsteen as Angela Baker). Just avoid Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor and Return to Sleepaway Camp.

Stream Prom Night (1980), Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil, and The Club for free on Tubi.

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