HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT II

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II Movie Review

Thirty years after being killed during the prom, school slut/mean girl Mary Lou Maloney (Lisa Schrage) returns, possessing high school senior Vicki Carpenter (Wendy Lyon) and wreaking havoc on prom night. Though considered a part of the Prom Night series of films, this movie has little to do with the Jamie Lee Curtis classic--in fact, it was written as a stand alone film, and was only renamed to tie into Prom Night after being shot. Far from being just another slasher flick, this movie dives head first into the bizarre--there's a chalkboard whirlpool, haunted rocking horse, a ghost crawling out of a body, a computer killing a person...let's let some pictures do the talking for a moment...

Our Queen

Her victims, in all their 80s fashion glory

The Jester

The Royal steed

The acting is actually much better than you would expect in a movie such as this and from a bunch of  people who didn't do many films beyond this one. It will surprise no one that Michael Ironside turns in the best performance--more interesting is that he looks as much like Hunter S. Thompson as Jack Nicholson here.

"This is Mary Lou country"

Unfortunately, the weakest performances are from Schrage and Lyon, the actresses playing the two most important roles in the film. The dialogue leaves a lot to be desired, as does the reemergence of Vicki after Mary Lou's grand return. Still, these shortcomings are made up for by the aforementioned wonderfully wild scenes coupled with other hallucination-driven madness that unfolds--yes, one could make the argument they were largely inspired by A Nightmare On Elm Street, but hey, if you're going to borrow from a movie, that's a pretty good one to use, and these scenes certainly don't come off as a poor impersonation. I could also make the obvious comparison to Carrie, but one can assume people are going to make that connection themselves based on the title alone. Until today, I had not seen this movie in a very long time, and it is considerably better than I recall it being--it screams 1980s weirdness, which is always a plus in my book.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 7

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II Movie Trailer

PROM NIGHT

Prom Night Movie Review

Four children bully a little girl, leading to her accidental death. Six years later somebody is avenging the girl's death, killing off the tormentors one by one on prom night. This 1980 film is a forerunner of sorts in the slasher genre--not that it had not been done before, but this one is an early example of the 1980s style slasher that shaped the future of the horror subgenre. The film also stars one actor who was already somewhat established (Leslie Nielsen, Creepshow) and another, Jamie Lee Curtis, who had just come off her big screen debut in Halloween and would become an A-list actress in years to come. Most of this movie is light on the horror while being heavy on the...

So if this is not your cup of tea, you have a lot to sit through before we get to anything actually happening--for me, it was torture. Once we finally do get to the killings we are treated to a mixed bag of off the screen action to a fairly wicked decapitation scene. The real point of the film is trying to figure out who the killer is, and that reveal is a decent one, albeit one that comes after seeing the killer practically prance around like a Russian ballet dancer in the final battle. Prom Night will always be recognized as a film with historical importance in the world of horror, but taking all that away, it's really a just above average movie.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6

Prom Night Red Band Movie Trailer

URBAN LEGEND

Urban Legend Movie Review

Students at an upscale New England university are alarmed when a killer, apparently inspired by popular urban legends, begins taking them out one by one. This 1998 slasher flick has a ton of people you will recognize--Brad Dourif (Halloween, Graveyard Shift), Joshua Jackson (Shutter), Robert Englund (Freddy himself), Danielle Harris (many Halloween movies), Alicia Witt (Four Rooms), Tara Reid (Sharknado), Rebecca Gayheart (Noxzema Girl), and even Jared Leto (Fight Club, Panic Room) stop by and deliver about what you would expect from each of them, though Leto has certainly been better.

This one's for the ladies in the house

The kills, while not overly graphic, do keep you interested, and have a warm throwback to the 1980s feel to them. If you are a fan of urban legends in general, as I am, you will take additional interest in this movie, and may smile to yourself when things like Pop Rocks and spider eggs are mentioned. The pace of the film is good, and the reveal, while not fantastic, is effective--the final scene is very entertaining. Some of the acting and generally annoying characters bring this movie down a bit, but overall, in a time when horror movies were beginning to make a comeback, and the market was flooded with really bad ones, Urban Legend still stands out as one of the better horror flicks from that era.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 7

Urban Legend Movie Trailer

THE DESCENT

The Descent Movie Review

Let us kick off the New Year in a big way--a group of friends set off to explore previously uncharted caves, but once down there they discover terrors they could never imagine. I was astonished when I realized I had not yet reviewed The Descent. I first saw this movie when it hit theatres back in 2005 and I’ve loved it since.  The creatures the gals inevitably come across are rather scary, but they are not the only scare here—arguably, they are the least effective scare in the film.

Sorry...yes, you're scary

Writer/Director Neil Marshall does a fantastic job keeping the viewer squirming with the more natural fears in the film. Your stomach will turn many times if you are scared of heights. If you’re scared of the dark, you will be running to turn the lights on. If you have a fear of tight spaces, you may faint. THESE are the things that make this movie truly terrifying. If that’s not your cup of tea and you are just in it for the gore, you will also be quite satisfied with this movie—the sheer amount of blood and broken bones is more than enough to quench your thirst. The human element is strong, with friendship and loyalty called into question. Still not enough to convince you? How about enough twists and turns in the end to keep your head spinning, and an ending (the theatrical one, not the more conventional one you will likely see if you watch this on television) that will leave you gasping. My only complaints are a somewhat slow opening and some rough acting from a minor character or two, but these distractions are so small they are easy to get past. The Descent isn’t just one of my personal favorite horror films—it is truly one of the best horror films of the last several decades.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 9 

The Descent Movie Trailer