OCTOBER 20, 2014 2:08PM
Death by Disco!
PROM NIGHT
Released: 1980Director: Paul Lynch
Writer: William Gray (screenplay), Robert Guza Jr. (story)
Notable Cast: Leslie Nielsen, Jamie Lee Curtis, and sadly and rudely, I don't know if anyone else had any sort of career afterwards.
Plot: A masked killer stalks four teenagers, responsible for the accidental death of a little girl six years earlier, at their high school's senior prom. (source: imdb.com)
Teenagers who look like they're 25 to 30 year olds, dare I say. Which is not uncommon in movies with teenagers, but in this case, it was more to do with the wardrobe than anything else.
About the plot: there's two red herrings that while not terribly clever, do serve to distract from the possibilities for the killer's identity.
Commentary: Perhaps this one belongs in the "sue me, but" file. I am always entertained by Prom Night, a unique mishmash of formulaic teen horror and ... disco!
Yes, there's elements of Carrie, and of every teen slasher before the 'self-conscious' Kevin Williamson wave of the 1990's to now.
Can we talk about disco? From the movie's wikipedia page:
Soundtrack
The Prom Night soundtrack was composed by Paul Zaza and Carl Zittrer. Director Lynch sought Zittrer after hearing his compositions in Black Christmas (1974).[1] The soundtrack of Prom Night includes several disco
songs which are featured prominently in the film's prom scene.
Originally, the film was shot with the actors dancing to then-popular
tracks by Donna Summer and Pat Benatar, but, according to Zaza, the publishing rights to the songs were far outside the film's budget.[1]
Under orders from producer Peter Simpson, Zaza wrote a series of disco
songs over a five day period, closely copying the original tracks that
were intended to be used in the film. This resulted in a copyright lawsuit for $10 million, which was eventually settled for $50,000.[1]
The
film's soundtrack highly sought after by fans of the film and disco
fans alike. It was released only in Japan on LP and cassette. A 7-inch
single of "All Is Gone" b/w "Forever" was also released, however
neither of these songs appears in the film. Many bootleg CD releases
have also found their way onto the marketplace, but Prom Night has never
been issued on CD. Some of the music used in the film was used in Canadian horror productions that Paul Zaza scored as well; 1981's Ghostkeeper and 1983's Curtains.[6] The song "Prom Night" was featured in Cabin Fever 2.
Track listing
- "All Is Gone" by Blue Bazar
- "Prom Night"
- "Changes"
- "Dancing in the Moonlight"
- "Fade to Black"
- "All Is Gone" (Instrumental) by Blue Bazar
- "Time to Turn Around"
- "Love Me Till I Die"
- "Prom Night 2"
- "Forever" by Blue Bazar
In an ending which forever cements Jamie Lee Curtis's place in the hearts of horror fans as the Scream Queen, the actress's character faces off against the masked killer to rescue her boyfriend, while the rest of her prom-going classmates flees like a bunch of wussies. She shows courage, loyalty and even some moving empathy. And this is all done to a delightfully smooth and danceable disco beat.
Terrible screen grab, I know. I wanted to show her throwing a chair at the killer
And here, we see a dance-off that I much prefer to Saturday Night Fever's Travolta glories:
What We're Afraid Of: Okay, so we have here some of what every teen slasher is "afraid of": teens gone wild.
The slutty kids get punished, sure. For example, we have the character of "Slick" (actor Sheldon Rybowski) - the stock pudgy white-fro'ed nerd of 70's teen movies -
- who manages to turn Jude (Joy Thompson), one of the teens involved in the accidental death, into a raging sex maniac through the aphrodesiac love power of his sweet, sweet van. Sadly, that van didn't have a wizard painted on its side to make it the panty-dropping ride that it could have been.
The wizard van lets chicks know that you're a unique, powerful man (still from Rock N Roll High School)
And yet, as the Final Girl, Jamie Lee Curtis was allowed to have a sexuality. Not blatant by any means, but she did have a boyfriend, she was popular, she danced very sensually (even with her dad played by Leslie Nielsen - eww?), and she didn't reek of "good girl-ism."
So, there's that. But, the storyline, and the killer are about a fear that's more personal than societal: the painful deep secret we all hold and feel guilt over, coming back to haunt you. Your personal flaw that you can't ever escape.
Then again, latchkey kids running around without adult supervision? People were afraid of that in the 1970's for sure, so maybe the movie is speaking to that. Add to that an escaped mental asylum patient and a creepy, mentally disabled school groundskeeper that enjoys hanging near the girl's locker room. So, stranger danger.
There are also those urban/suburban legends that you tell in hushed whispers that serve as some sort of morality tale. This looks like one so the moral of the story is - don't SCARE YOUR CLASSMATES TO DEATH!!! DON'T PLAY IN ABANDONED CONDEMNED BUILDINGS! AAAAAAAAAAH!
Long live disco!
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Comments
Disco and cocaine
destroyed rock music!! I couldn't listen to the radio between 1972 and
1984! Like the teenagers in Jaws II I was cheering for the shark.
R&R :-(
Well, I probably cheered for Jaws 2 as well... but I loved disco. As for cocaine????
Yikes...Disco... My eyes! My eyes!
Anyone who can
reference Camille Paglia in an analysis of a film such as this--well,
all I can say is . . .Yeah!! Contrarian that she is, she'd no doubt
find some Renaissance art subtext, and no doubt would make something of
JLC's pitchwoman gig for Activia. Interesting stuff about the music.
Okay, your posts aren't
scary, really they're just funny. I'm a little disappointed you didn't
reference Staying Alive, but I did.
I giggled at the van, I remember those all too well. Great party room on wheels.
And I loooved Disco, in fact, I'm singing Dancing Queen right now!
I giggled at the van, I remember those all too well. Great party room on wheels.
And I loooved Disco, in fact, I'm singing Dancing Queen right now!
Engaging enough review
that's almost persuasive enough to make me seek out the movie again.
Almost. Nice shout-out to those vans. A buddy of mine had one where
the floor and walls of the back section were covered in shag carpeting.
So naturally the vehicle was known as the Shaggin' Wagon.
I remember this coming
out but don't remember anything about it. Looks a hoot based on the
description and the clip --- wow, Leslie gets down with jamie lee!
Would love that soundtrack and was particularly amused with this title:
6. "All Is Gone" (Instrumental) by Blue Bazar.
@KC, the existing
prints of Prom Night are horrible (see my screen grab), so I can at
least promise you that the tacky outfits won't be very visible.
@Jerry - I admit to being a fan! And she does influence my outlook on art - and trashy horror films.
@L'Heure Bleue - "Not scary"?! Hmph! I'm gonna have to do something about that. How awesome that you remember wizard vans! Oh and see my comment Abra below. It may be Open Call time.
@Abrawang - maybe this should be an Open Call of some sort - Wizard Vans that I Have Known? And thank you for stopping by, always lovely to hear from you.
@VA - I knew that you of all people would appreciate the musical bent of Prom Night. Thank you my friend as always.
@Jerry - I admit to being a fan! And she does influence my outlook on art - and trashy horror films.
@L'Heure Bleue - "Not scary"?! Hmph! I'm gonna have to do something about that. How awesome that you remember wizard vans! Oh and see my comment Abra below. It may be Open Call time.
@Abrawang - maybe this should be an Open Call of some sort - Wizard Vans that I Have Known? And thank you for stopping by, always lovely to hear from you.
@VA - I knew that you of all people would appreciate the musical bent of Prom Night. Thank you my friend as always.
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