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Late to the Party: Prom Night (1980)

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Prom Night

Welcome back, horror fiends, for another edition of Late to the Party, where iHorror writers finally get around to watching the classic films we somehow haven’t seen yet. This week, I watched the cult classic 1980 slasher, Prom Night. What did I think? Well goodness gracious, I shall tell you!

I do have to start by saying, bless the early 80s (or at that point, mid-70s, because flashback) when kids would run rampant in a hazardous and abandoned school with zero concern from their parents. You couldn’t have this plot scenario set up without the reckless and carefree flexibility of retro parenting and barrier-free condemned buildings.

via IMDb

One thing I didn’t know about Prom Night until I had done a little bit of research (as I am prone to do) is that – while set in the US – it’s a Canadian film.

Canadian slasher movies often feature an isolated victim base (for example, with My Bloody Valentine it’s a small mining town, in Black Christmas it’s a sorority house) and a killer with a personal vendetta (often vengeance-based). Victims aren’t chosen at random, they’re carefully selected to gratify a specific need.

Prom Night fits that mold perfectly, but it doesn’t feel tired or stale. Perhaps it’s the heavy injection of disco music and weirdly lengthy dance sequences (this is prom night, after all… of course there’s dancing). Like its star, the iconic Jamie Lee Curtis, this film is light on its feet.

via IMDb

I do have to talk about this dance scene though. Really. I was stunned at first, mouth agape, not 100% sure if this was really happening, and then it kept going. For a long time.

Three whole unbroken minutes of choreographed dance to a rambunctious disco tune. In the middle of a horror film. It’s… baffling and amazing and I fell in love with the pure ambitious absurdity of it.

Me during that whole scene (via IMDb)

I should add that this dance scene does, of course, serve a purpose. It allows the audience – and the teen victims – to break from the building action. We let our guard down and have that appropriate party time to reconnect with the characters immediately before their world falls apart.

Also, if it weren’t self aware enough, the disco song’s lyrics heavily include the phrase “it’s prom night”. How on-the-nose.

via IMDb

Prom Night is not only a cheeky cult classic, it’s actually very well shot with clever cuts, satisfying framing, and a luxuriously bright color palette. The prom scenes are all so lush and vibrant that it perfectly captures the feel of early 80s American glamor.

You would think that all the disco-bright lens flare and soft focus would be frustrating, but somehow – against all logic – you would be wrong.

via IMDb

Not only is Prom Night visually fulfilling, but the pacing is tight. The scenes have a natural flow – nothing feels rushed, nothing drags.

It stars Leslie Nielsen and the aforementioned Jamie Lee Curtis, which – to be honest – was enough to reel me in. The supporting cast of David Mucci as Lou and Sheldon Rybowski as Slick surprisingly steal their scenes – they are such caricatures of high school archetypes that it’s somehow captivating whenever they’re on screen.

I have to give Slick special mention for his absurdly well-stocked van. There were many scenes in Prom Night that made me do a double-take, and the reveal of his textbook with an outrageous number of pre-rolled joints was one of them. He seems like a generous lover.

via IMDb

Prom Night is certainly not a wholly original concept (it’s basically Carrie meets Halloween), nor is it particularly action-packed (aside from an incredible scene with a hilariously explosive van). That being said, if you’re in the mood for a simple and classic slasher that offers something a bit lighter than your average stalking serial killer, you simply cannot go wrong with this film.

 

For more Late to the Party, click here!

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

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The latest exorcism movie is about to drop this summer. It’s aptly titled The Exorcism and it stars Academy Award winner turned B-movie savant Russell Crowe. The trailer dropped today and by the looks of it, we are getting a possession movie that takes place on a movie set.

Just like this year’s recent demon-in-media-space film Late Night With the Devil, The Exorcism happens during a production. Although the former takes place on a live network talk show, the latter is on an active sound stage. Hopefully, it won’t be entirely serious and we’ll get some meta chuckles out of it.

The film will open in theaters on June 7, but since Shudder also acquired it, it probably won’t be long after that until it finds a home on the streaming service.

Crowe plays, “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce.”

Crowe did see some success in last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist mostly because his character was so over-the-top and infused with such comical hubris it bordered on parody. We will see if that is the route actor-turned-director Joshua John Miller takes with The Exorcism.

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