Pseudo Review – Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II

Continuing my way through my Prom Night Box set (available only in Canada I suspect) here’s a pseudo review of the second instalment.

Like the original, Prom Night IIbegins w/ a flash back. Mary Lou Maloney is the bad girl soon to be Prom Queen of Hamilton High (circa 1957). How bad is Mary Lou? On her way to the Prom,  she stops in at confession… just to tell the priest she’s not sorry for any of her sins! It should be no surprise that she ditches her geeky Prom Date, Billy (probably called “square” back then) for the apparently much cooler Buddy. Billy decides to get back at Mary Lou by ruining her coronation as Prom Queen w/ a well timed Stink Bomb. As always seems to be the case in a movie like this, the harmless prank goes wrong and Mary Lou dies in a fiery blaze of gory. I’m not sure if fire extinguishers were invented in 1957 since the horrified onlookers simply stand around and scream or pound their fist dramatically.

Fast forward 30 years. Billy is all grown up and now the Principal of Hamilton High school. I really should mention here that the adult Billy is played by Canadian B-Movie icon Michael “I can make your head explode” Ironside. Ironside is like a Canadian Bruce Campbell, but usually plays the villain instead of the hero. Leslie Nielsen was cool and all, but I consider Ironside to be an upgrade in the Principal department.

All seems well at Hamilton High as the students prepare themselves for Prom Night. Unfortunately, the vengeful spirit of Mary Lou is released… from an old trunk in the school basement. I may have missed something, but I’m not sure if its ever explained why her spirit got stuck in a trunk. Anyway, Mary Lou sets about getting her revenge using Freddy Krueger style powers. Eventually she possesses the body of goody-two-shoes student Vicki (Wendy Lyon). As Mary Lou wrecks havoc on the student population, Principal Billy tries to make amends for past sins by saving Vicki’s soul and the lives of the entire school.

I gotta tell you, I had a lot more fun watching this movie than I did at my actual Prom. It’s definitely campy at times and occasionally cheesy, but there is an undeniable charm to this flick. The filmmakers take a tongue and cheek approach to certain horror movie cliches (several years before Scream mind you) but it never becomes an out right parody. There are even some pretty dark moments such as an incestuous kiss the possessed Vicki shares w/ her father (Hey dad, your daughter’s possessed, what’s your excuse). We’re also treated to some full frontal nudity and some hints of lesbianism. What more could you ask for?   

The filmmakers are obviously horror fans (there are teachers named Romero, Craven and Carpenter at the school) and they “borrow” heavily from other movies like The Exorcist and Carrie. The biggest influence is obviously A Nightmare On Elm Street, especially the final “twist” at the end.     

I definitely recomend Prom Night II. If you want to watch Mary Lou’s bloody rampage in the comfort of your own home (along with Wendy Lyon’s full frontal nudity) you can usually find the original Canadian DVD for prettyy cheap, but it’s full screen. MGM recently released a wide screen version w/ a better transfer, but sadly no extras. The DVD contained in the box set appears to be the original release, which sucks since I’m going to have to shell out another $10 for the  wide screen version.

You’d think the Schoolboard would consider cancelling all future proms at Hamilton High since unspeakable tragedies always seem to happen at them. That doesn’t seem to be the case, however, as I have 2 more sequels to go in the set.