Prom Night (1980)

Prom Night (1980) 

After playing the titular character in John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), Jamie Lee Curtis plays an all to similar character in the low-budget Canadian 'slasher' flick Prom Night (1980). If you've seen Halloween it's the same basic plot. Some backstory, then Jamie Lee Curtis' friends start dropping off by a mysterious killer, then the great reveal/the end.

That description makes the film, and others within the genre, sound bland. Which is totally not the case.....totally.

After playing a game of, what i can only assume is called, 'killer' (a bit like tiggie mixed with hide and go seek) One of the girls gets cornered, and in a paralysis of fear she then falls from a great height out of a window. Shocked, the kids make a pact to never talk about the situation to anyone in fear of being put in jail.

Soon after, a police detective turns up. Deducting that the girl was probably cornered by a rapist, and in an attempt to resist, she committed suicide.

The film transitions to six years later, the girl died in 1974 and now it's 1980. But the crime is still unsolved...

The detective still suspects the same culprit, a crazed man who was put into an institution. Much like Micheal Myers, this man escapes, and killings are starting to happen again. But who's behind them?

Is it the creepy groundskeeper Mr. Sykes, who has a weird habit of sticking his tongue out and appearing at the scene of strange events?. Is it one of the innocent kids that inadvertently killed the girl?, or is it the detective spot on?

While the production isn't as good as Halloween, but then again, who can touch Carpenter at his prime?, Prom Night is well filmed. The pacing is great, especially the odd occurrences before the killings start. Such as the shattered mirror in the girls room and the school photos from 1974 that appear in the kids' lockers. Prom Night establishes itself as a cult slasher flick, one of the first of the 80s tradition, and some would argue that it's one of the best. 

Full Film: Prom Night (1980)