The Llama Ledger - Bard College at Simon's Rock's Student Newspaper

Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Arts

There's more to the movie's utter failure than just a poor script, though. The cinematography is clean but unexceptional, save for one absurdly comical moment that might be the most inappropriate and unnecessary use of a "Matrix"-style freeze ever.

Even the music just comes in and out in time with the "scary" moments and adds nothing to the film.

The biggest problem, however, is that "Prom Night" induces no actual fear. Every "scare" in the movie is based around waiting for something to leap from the shadows, and the fake "gotcha" frights—involving things like birds flying away and a character bumping into a lamp—are somehow scarier than when Fenton actually shows up.

On the more positive side, Snow puts forth an admirable effort as Donna, successfully displaying the paranoia and fear that her character should be feeling. Schaech is appropriately intimidating as the crazy Mr. Fenton, but he is given little room to be anything other than an absurdly unbelievable killing machine.

Jessalyn Gilsig also gives a startling performance as Donna's adoptive mother, showing more realistic emotion than all of the other secondary characters combined. However, these few good performances don't even begin to salvage the film overall.

Every single scene feels torn directly out of terrible horror movies of the past. There's no attempt at having a cohesive or believable plot.

It even takes itself so seriously as to avoid minor traces of humor or camp value. As such, there's not a redeeming moment in the whole film. In the end, "Prom Night" offers nothing more than the same terrible "scares" that have been plaguing the horror industry for decades.

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