some fright
Keith Carne / Film Editor
Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: Inside Beat
What sucks more than anything about Prom Night is its impressive debut at last weekend's box office: According to Box Office Mojo, it opened number one with an estimated domestic gross of $22.7 million. But my guess is that this formulaic modern adaptation will fade from memory and money quicker than the 28-year-old Canadian film that it's based on. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.
Donna Kipple (Brittany Snow) returns home one evening only to witness her mother's brutal murder. Her father and younger brother had already been disposed of earlier that evening. The murderer is Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech), Donna's former science teacher who transforms the freshman into his idée fixe. Though it is never really made clear, I assume that he had plans to steal Donna and live with her in the mountains or something. Since Donna witnesses the entire incident, Fenton is quickly caught and sentenced to life in prison, 3,000 miles away from her. (In the film's sole attempt at political or social significance, Detective Winn, the officer who put Fenton behind bars, claims that the killer would have been executed, had a sympathetic jury not let him off easy with insanity.)
The story fast-forwards to three years later: Donna's senior year of high school, but more importantly, the eve of her senior prom. Despite her reoccurring nightmares about Fenton, she is finally beginning to make some progress moving on from her immediate family's murder.
Donna, her dreamboat beau Bobby, and an entire crew of her na've bosom buddies stride off the Pacific Grand Hotel in even grander style for their senior prom. Though, in reality, proms usually rank first on the hierarchy of high school socials, this film assigns the event the significance often reserved for weddings or births. Prom Night only enforces the shallow, cutthroat conventions in so many high school movies by depicting the senior prom as the supposed best night of people's lives. It's simply depressing.
Donna Kipple (Brittany Snow) returns home one evening only to witness her mother's brutal murder. Her father and younger brother had already been disposed of earlier that evening. The murderer is Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech), Donna's former science teacher who transforms the freshman into his idée fixe. Though it is never really made clear, I assume that he had plans to steal Donna and live with her in the mountains or something. Since Donna witnesses the entire incident, Fenton is quickly caught and sentenced to life in prison, 3,000 miles away from her. (In the film's sole attempt at political or social significance, Detective Winn, the officer who put Fenton behind bars, claims that the killer would have been executed, had a sympathetic jury not let him off easy with insanity.)
The story fast-forwards to three years later: Donna's senior year of high school, but more importantly, the eve of her senior prom. Despite her reoccurring nightmares about Fenton, she is finally beginning to make some progress moving on from her immediate family's murder.
Donna, her dreamboat beau Bobby, and an entire crew of her na've bosom buddies stride off the Pacific Grand Hotel in even grander style for their senior prom. Though, in reality, proms usually rank first on the hierarchy of high school socials, this film assigns the event the significance often reserved for weddings or births. Prom Night only enforces the shallow, cutthroat conventions in so many high school movies by depicting the senior prom as the supposed best night of people's lives. It's simply depressing.