Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Prom Night’ (1980)

Written by Scott Edwards

You learn many things when you are a kid, but mostly how to keep a secret when you have done something wrong. Not wanting to get into trouble with our parents, it is commonplace to keep your mouth shut for many years and even take the secret to your grave. I know that I am not one that likes to keep secrets about anything and have been letting out a couple of unknown facts about my past throughout the years, because now, nobody really cares. But there are still those big secrets that you might need to wait for the right time to let someone know, because overloading on things can damage whatever type of relationship that you are trying to hold on to.
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Playing in an abandoned warehouse, Kelly, Jude, Wendy, Nick and Robin are set for their next game of ‘Killer’. Giving everyone a chance to hide, the group loves the game, but is a little bit lax on the rules, as most kids are. Being able to find her victims, Wendy is making her way through the abandoned halls to find Robin to finish the game, but she is not alone. As all of the recently ‘killed’ kids are making a big deal over the fact that Robin is about to ‘die’, the young girl steps onto a windowsill and is forced out, falling to her death. Knowing that they will get in trouble for the death of their friend, the group decides not to let anyone know that they were involved and will have to live with the awful truth for the rest of their lives.

A dozen years have passed, and Robin’s siblings are gearing up for their prom night. Kim has no reservations about what will happen during the prom and since her new love Nick will be at her side throughout the night, she firmly believes that nothing can go wrong. But there is still some baggage that Nick is having a hard time in dealing with, as Wendy is not ready to give him up for anyone, especially the principal’s daughter. With the angry Wendy on the war path, it is evident that she will try to do something to mess up Kim’s special night, where she will be crowned Prom Queen, so she is getting ready for anything.

But this is no normal night, as it is the anniversary of when Robin died many years ago and even though things have been taken care of, there is still the sense of loss that the group will never get over. Young Alex seems to be taking it harder than his parents and lets his emotions out by getting into a fight with a local bully in Lou. As Lou gets suspended, Alex is given a slap on the wrist from his father, because he is the DJ at the night’s activities and cannot go missing. Lou on the other hand gets recruited by Wendy to pull a prank the likes of which the school has never seen before on its new prom queen and while she does not want anyone hurt, she does want Kim out of the way so she can reunite with her true love. As the night begins and members of the group go missing throughout the prom, nobody knows what to expect when a masked killer shows up and is ready to take vengeance upon anyone that gets in his way.

As far as an 80s slasher movie goes, I must say that I was a bit impressed, but mainly because Jamie Lee Curtis hasn’t aged a day from this film. Even though it was easy to see that most of these high schoolers were a little bit out of high school in real life, the story kept you guessing about who was going to be the next victim of the masked killer, and the killer’s true identity. With so many false assumptions about who the killer is by the police, I liked that nobody in the school was aware that they were under surveillance by the officer who wrongly arrested an out of towner for Robin’s murder. With plenty of twists, turns, missing mirror fragments and a creepy grounds keeper, this movie will keep you guessing as to who the killer might actually be and while you eventually figure it out, the remorse on display may not be redeeming enough. Stay Scared.

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