| Prom Night | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Nelson McCormick |
| Produced by | Neal H. Moritz |
| Written by | J.S. Cardone |
| Starring | Brittany Snow
Scott Porter Jessica Stroup Dana Davis Collins Pennie Kelly Blatz James Ransone Brianne Davis with Johnathon Schaech and Idris Elba |
| Music by | Paul Haslinger |
| Cinematography | Checco Varese |
| Editing by | Jason Ballantine |
| Distributed by | Screen Gems |
| Release date(s) | April 11, 2008 (2008-04-11) |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | Canada
United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Gross revenue | $57,197,876 [1] |
Prom Night is a 2008 horror film from Screen Gems directed by Nelson McCormick and starring Brittany Snow. The film is a re-imagining of the 1980 Canadian horror film of the same name.
Plot
In 2005, Donna Keppel (Brittany Snow) returns home to find her father and brother dead. She hides under the bed as Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech), her former teacher who is obsessed with her, kills her mother in front of her. Three years later, she has been in therapy and she tells her therapist (Ming Wen) about the recurring dream of that night.
Donna is now living with her Aunt Karen (Jessalyn Gilsig) and Uncle Jack (Linden Ashby), and is about to graduate from high school. She and her friends are getting ready to attend their senior prom that night. While at the salon with her friends, she thinks she sees Fenton watching her from across the street, but when a bus passes, he is gone. Donna's boyfriend, Bobby (Scott Porter), arrives at her house, along with her friends Lisa (Dana Davis), Claire (Jessica Stroup), and their boyfriends, Ronnie (Collins Pennie) and Michael (Kelly Blatz).
At the town's police station, Detective Winn (Idris Elba), who imprisoned Fenton three years ago, learns that Fenton has escaped from prison and warns Donna's aunt and uncle. At the prom, Fenton arrives at the hotel disguised as a man named Mr. Ramsey, and takes a room on Donna's floor and kills the housekeeper to get the master key. On the dance floor, Claire has a fight with her boyfriend Michael and goes up to her room with Donna to calm down. After Donna leaves, Claire is alone and hears noises. She then sees Fenton, who proceeds to take Claire into a room, to stab her and kill her. Detective Winn arrives and warns the hotel staff to be on the alert. Fenton kills a hotel employee looking for the maid and takes his uniform. When Claire does not return, Michael goes upstairs to see her. Fenton hides in the room's closet, but Michael sees him shut the closet door. Michael opens the closet, expecting to see Claire , and is jumped by Fenton. Fenton brutally stabs and kills Michael.
Lisa and Ronnie head up to the room, Lisa bumps into Fenton in the elevator. While making out Lisa realizes that it was Fenton and runs off to warn Donna, but after taking the stairs she is caught by Fenton. She is chased down to the basement of the hotel where construction is taking place and she hides herself from Fenton, while getting chased by Fenton, Lisa hides and is able to see her boyfriend looking for her. As she is about to go to him, Fenton blocks her. Lisa leaves her spot and makes a run for it but is caught and killed by Fenton.
Winn and his assistant Nash (James Ransone) find the body of a man named Mr. Ramsey in a car in the hotel parking lot. Winn goes up to the room and finds the housekeeper's body. Knowing for sure that Fenton is in the building under the name Ramsey, Winn sounds the emergency alarm and has the entire hotel evacuated. Donna goes back to the room to retrieve her mother's shawl and runs into Fenton and is attacked by him. Realizing Donna is still inside Winn races back up to the room. Donna escapes Fenton. SWAT and police search the hotel, but find no sign of Fenton. Winn discovers the body of the employee Fenton killed earlier. Winn realizes Fenton left the hotel in the employee's uniform.
Winn now races back to Donna's house and finds Detective Nash dead in his squad car. Inside Donna goes to the bathroom and returns to find Bobby's throat has been slit. She sees a shadow out in the hall and she hides in her closet, thinking the shadow is Fenton's. The person in the hall is reavealed to be Detective Winn and Fenton grabs Donna in the closet. Winn is about to open the closet but then hears a scream from Donna's aunt, from noticing the dead officer on the ground outside so Winn runs to her bedroom. Donna bites Fenton on the hand and tries to escape out of the closet but trips on the floor. Fenton tries to hold her down but Donna continues to struggle and kick him. When Fenton is about to stab Donna, Winn runs in and shoots Fenton several times, killing him. Donna cries over Bobby's dead body and Winn tells her it is over.
Cast
- Brittany Snow as Donna Keppel
- Scott Porter as Bobby
- Jessica Stroup as Claire
- Dana Davis as Lisa Hines
- Collins Pennie as Ronnie Heflin
- Kelly Blatz as Michael
- James Ransone as Detective Nash
- Brianne Davis as Crissy Lynn
- Kellan Lutz as Rick Leland
- Mary Mara as Ms. Waters
- Ming Wen as Dr. Elisha Crowe
- Johnathon Schaech as Richard Fenton
- Idris Elba as Detective Winn
- Jessalyn Gilsig as Aunt Karen Turner
- Linden Ashby as Uncle Jack Turner
- Jana Kramer as April
Production
The budget for the film is $20 million.[1] It was produced by Original Film and Newmarket Films in association with Alliance Films, which holds the rights to the original franchise, along with sequel rights. It was released in the United States by Screen Gems, in Canada by Alliance Films, and in Australia by Sony Pictures. The film was shot in the vicinity of South Pasadena, California as the location for Donna Kepple's home.Park Plaza Hotel (Los Angeles) was used as the location for Prom. The Yaquina Bay Bridge is shown in the opening scenes of the movie.
Critical reception
Prom Night was not screened in advance. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 8% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 59 reviews.[2] On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 17 out of 100, based on 12 reviews.[3]
Johnathon Schaech was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, but lost against Heath Ledger of The Dark Knight.
Box office performance
In its opening weekend, the film grossed $20,804,941 in 2,700 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #1 at the box office and averaging $7,705 per theater, despite harsh critical reviews.
In Australia, Prom Night opened at the #3 position making $854,514, just behind Superhero Movie and The Spiderwick Chronicles. In the United Kingdom, Prom Night opened at the #4 position making £507,985, just behind Sex and the City, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Superhero Movie. The film has a domestic gross of $43,869,350 and a foreign gross of $12,728,210 for a worldwide total of $56,597,560. It is currently ranked 14th on boxofficemojo.com's Horror Remake list.
DVD release
The DVD was released on August 19, 2008 in theatrical (88 min.) and unrated (89 min.) versions. It was released in Australia on Blu-ray and 2 Disc DVD Edition on August 27, 2008. In FYE stores in the US, the unrated edition came with a bonus disc called "Body Count: Investigating the Murders of Prom Night", which is a 22-minute documentary about the murders of various characters about the film, as well as various techniques the director used to make the murders scarier. Includes interviews with Nelson McCormick (director) and other members of the cast of the film.
References
- ↑ Box Office Mojo
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
External links
- Template:Official
- Template:Imdb title
- Template:Amg movie
- Template:Mojo title
- Template:Rotten-tomatoes
- Template:Metacritic film