Detective Winn
Detective Winn is the deuteragonist of the 2008 remake of Prom Night. He is played by British actor Idris Elba. He is the police officer who arrested Richard Fenton for the murder of the Keppel family.
The only surviving relative of the Keppel family was Fenton's former student Donna Keppel whom Fenton became psychotically obsessed with. During the film when he finds out that Fenton escaped from prison he attempts to find Donna and protect her from Fenton. He finally succeeds in doing so when he kills Fenton by shooting him to death just as Fenton attempted to stab Donna.
Prom Night[]
Winn first appears at the town's police station. He is typing at his desk when young Detective Nash brings him some fax of a picture and report of a criminal. Upon seeing the picture of the escaped criminal who turns out to be Richard Fenton, he gets up and makes a phone call yelling at whoever sent the fax because it states he escaped three days ago and he could be in town by now. After hanging up the phone he tells Nash that it was a case he had three years ago.
Winn explains to Nash about what happened between Donna and Fenton. A couple of years ago Fenton a former High School teacher became obsessed with a young female student who turns out to be Donna. The principal fired him but that didn't stop it and her parents later got a restraining order against him which causes him to turn violent. One night while Donna was out at a movie with her friend Lisa Hines, Fenton went to the Keppel house and when she wasn’t home he killed her entire family, he also speaks about when Donna returned home and saw her brother dead and hid under his bed and horrifyingly witnessed Fenton murder her mother. After he escaped, they found him at his house where they arrested him. They also found that he had dozens of journals and pictures and anything imaginable about Donna.
He also had to tell Nash how hard it was for her when she had to Identify Fenton as the killer. As he is saying this film flashes back to Donna at the police station with her aunt Karen and uncle Jack to identify Fenton. She sees him talking to Winn behind a one-way mirror saying how Donna now has no family and that all she has is him and that they are in love with one another. Donna is very disturbed and horrified as she begins to cry begging to leave. Winn tells Fenton that he is going to jail and orders him to be taken away.
The film then flashes back to the present at the police station where Winn tells Nash about when they linked him to the murder weapon and shoe print and finger print that matches the crime scene and during the trial the jury didn't think so because Fenton explains he was going to retire. But he was being classified with insanity. He was put into a maxim security prison for the criminally insane up until three days ago. Nash asks about Donna and Winn says that she is living with her aunt and uncle. Winn explains that Donna was doing well in the beginning until she began to receive love letters from him, (which Winn describes as some sick sh**t) that were quickly cut off and that she has been recovering. Then he frantically puts on his coat and tells Nash they need to move now and go to the Turner’s (Donna's aunt and uncle's) home.
When they arrive at the Turner's house, Jack answers the door and steps outside with Winn. Inside the house Karen is in the kitchen washing dishes when she sees Jack outside with Winn, she hears Winn say Fenton escaped three days ago and is probably headed here to find Donna, Karen horrifyingly drops the dish and it shatters all over the kitchen floor. Winn explains he is sending patrol units to surround their house and sending even more over to the hotel where Donna's high school prom is being held and he personally is going there to keep an eye on Donna.
Later Winn and Nash arrive at the hotel and speak to the clerk showing him a picture of Fenton, but in the picture Fenton has long hair and a beard so he does not recognize his photo. Winn asks for a layout of the hotel and gets a map of all the exits etc, ordering the staff to check at each one.
After the deaths of Maria the hotel maid, Sims the bell boy and Donna's friends Michael, Claire, and Lisa. Winn while keeping an eye on Donna is called by Nash to the parking lot. He and Nash along with a fellow officer inspect the car that Fenton stolen and realized it belonged to a male named Howard K. Ramsey which was the identity Fenton used to sneak into the hotel. Winn then goes up to the third floor of the suite and finds Maria's body in the bathtub. Knowing for sure that Fenton is in the building, Winn sounds the emergency alarm and evacuates the entire hotel right when they were about to announced the prom king and queen. Then Winn tells Nash to find Donna and get her into protective custody.
Outside as Nash escorts Donna's boyfriend Bobby and his friend Ronnie Heflin, Winn comes over asking where Donna is. Bobby tells him that she went to go look for Lisa, who is Ronnie's girlfriend, but Rick comes over and says that Donna said she was heading back to the room to get something. Right then Winn and Nash run back into the hotel with a team of officers to go get Donna.
Back in the room Donna is attacked by Fenton who has finally found her. She hides under the bed again and sees Claire's dead body. When Fenton looks under the bed, Donna escapes pushing Claire’s body aside as she does so. She then runs into Winn and Nash who are with a team right by the elevator, tearfully telling them he’s in the room and that Claire's dead. Nash escorts Donna downstairs as Winn goes into the room, he and his fellow officers, sweep and search the room but do not find Fenton, one officer opens the closet and find's Michael's body. Outside, Nash has Donna go into his squad car with Bobby coming along with her and he drives her home.
Back in the hotel, Winn has the SWAT team raid the entire hotel, for Fenton but find, nothing. Hours later after the Bridgeport High School student's have all went home, Winn is with the other police in the hotel room, looking over the crime scene, a Detective tells him about Lisa (who's body Winn and the others found in the basement of the hotel) being the girlfriend of Ronnie. Winn asks him how he is doing and the Detective tells him that Ronnie is distraught. Suddenly Winn sees blood dripping from the ceiling vent and opens it. Sims's dead body falls out with his uniform missing.
Winn suddenly realizes that Fenton left the hotel in Sims's uniform and rushes to the Turner house. He tries calling the Turner’s house but it says the line is not working. On the way there he calls Nash who is in front of the house. Telling him to check on them because their phones are not working and says that he'll be there in five minutes. Nash gets out and checks the house finding the phone wires have been cut.
When Winn arrives back at the Turners house he sees Nash sitting in his car. He walks over telling Nash that he thought he told them to check the perimeter of the house, but becomes horrified himself when he discovers that Nash's throat has been slit. Back inside Donna discovers that Bobby has also been killed while he was sleeping, and seeing a shadow she hides in her closet. She peeks through and sees that it is Winn in the hallway. She is about to come out but is grabbed from behind by Fenton and has her mouth covered. Winn goes to open the closet but then hears a scream from Donna's aunt Karen after she discovered the dead officer out in the driveway. Winn runs to the room and seeing the body he calls for back up.
Fenton asks Donna if she would come with him, playing along Donna nods her head. Fenton kisses her on the forehead and is about to step out when Donna bites his hand and escapes, slipping and falling as she does so. Fenton tries to hold Donna down as she struggles with him, kicking his face repeatedly. Winn soon hears the struggle and runs back to Donna's room. He sees Fenton on top of Donna about to stab her and pulls out his pistol shooting Fenton seven times in the chest, stunned Fenton falls to his knees nearly landing on Donna but she moves out of the way as his body hits the floor. After Winn kills Fenton, Donna gets up and cries over Bobby's corpse but Winn embraces her telling her that its over. The film ends with Winn escorting Donna, Karen and Jack out of the room.
Trivia[]
- Winn is the police officer responsible for arresting and imprisoning Fenton. He also knows of Fenton's obsession with Donna.
- Winn also serves as the films secondary protagonist. Throughout the film he attempts to succeed in protecting Donna from Fenton. He finally does so at the end of the film when he kills Fenton just as he was about to kill Donna.
- He seems like a protector to Donna embracing her at the end of the film to get her to calm down after he saved her by killing Fenton. Though Donna became too distraught over her boyfriend Bobby's death, Winn got her to calm down embracing her in a hug and telling her that the horror was finally over.
- Elba later portrayed Derek in another stalker movie "Obsessed" a year later after the release of Prom Night.