Prom Night DVD Review
As a fan of horror films, I’m usually pretty lenient and give flicks the benefit of the doubt. But even the benefit of the doubt can’t salvage Prom Night.
My Verdict: 
Here’s the gist of the film: Donna (Brittany Snow) survived the massacre of her entire family three years ago. Convicted killer (and Donna’s former high school teacher) Richard Fenton was arrested for the crime and sent to prison, where he harbors a huge stalker-obsession with Donna. Now it’s prom night, and Donna is ready to enjoy being a teenager with her boyfriend and their crew of friends. Fenton escapes. Any guesses as to where he’s headed? So we’ve got one psycho killer obsessed with a teenage girl, said beautiful and intelligent teenage girl, lots of teenagers with ramped up hormones all in one place, and said killer on the loose.
While this Prom Night has nothing to do with the original, it does have very weak shades of Halloween and Carrie (the prom tie in), but this one lacks any sort of chills. In fact, it’s quite boring. The teens flit from hotel room to hotel room, and between teenage chatter, there are requisite killings. In the world of horror, Prom Night is bland.
Prom Night was directed by Nelson McCormick, who forayed into films after directing some great television gems like “Alias,” “Cold Case,” “ER,”, “The Closer,” “Nip/Tuck,” and “Prison Break.” Clearly, he knows how to tell a story and build tension on the small screen, so either he’s in over his head when it comes to films, or the writing and acting is largely to blame. Speaking of writing, Prom Night was written by J.S. Cardone, who has several films I’ve never heard of on his resume.
The Prom Night cast is led by Snow, who has shown she can act with roles in “Nip/Tuck,” and “American Dreams,” but comes across as teary and weak in this role. Among her costars are Scott Porter (“Friday Night Lights”), who plays Donna’s boyfriend, Bobby; Jessica Stroup (“90210”), who plays Donna’s BFF; Dana Davis (“Heroes”), Donna’s other BFF; Ming-Na (“ER”); Jessalyn Gilsig (“Heroes,” “Nip/Tuck”); and Schaech (Hush, That Thing You Do!), who is sorely miscast as the psychopathic serial killer.
The film is presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio with audio in Dolby Digital. Extras include audio commentary with McCormick, Schaech and Snow, and sadly there’s more of interest here (using a contortionist to pose as a corpse, for one) than in the film itself, which doesn’t say much. There are five and a half minutes of deleted scenes, an alternate ending (even worse than the original), (from within the film) the AV Club’s video yearbook presented in full, and a gag reel.
Featurettes include “A Night to Remember: The Making of Prom Night,” including McCormick’s efforts to transition from television to his first feature film, the difficulty of night shoots, etc.; “Profile of a Killer,” which explains the research they used into real-life killers; “Gothic Spaces: Creating the Pacific Grand Hotel,” which covers set design and how a Park Plaza hotel in downtown Los Angeles got revamped for the shoot; and “Prom Night Photo Album: Real Prom Stories from the Cast,” which is exactly what it sounds like.
Prom Night is rated PG-13 for “violence and terror, some sexual material, underage drinking, and language,” but it is so tame it might do nothing more than put your kids to sleep.
I give Prom Night ½ star out of 5 stars.