Prom Night

The Prom Night films are a series of Slasher Movies ranging from the early 80's to the early 90's.

The first four films center around Hamilton High (which is possibly in Canada) and its attempts to hold the titular High School celebration which tend to go awry.

Released in 1980, the first film opens with the unfortunate death of a child, when a group of kids playing a variation of hide-and-seek in an abandoned building teases a girl and she falls from a window. The kids never told anyone what happened and the little girl's death was blamed on Leonard Murch, a psychopathic child molester who is caught shortly after.

Several years later, students of Hamilton High are preparing for prom. But unbeknownst to them, a masked killer looking for revenge has invited himself to it.

Original film featured Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen in starring roles. Nowadays, the film is mostly remembered for its rather sweet disco soundtrack, which is sought out by collectors. It was also popular enough to receive three sequels.

Hello Mary-Lou: Prom Night II (1987) and Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (1990) centered around the ghost of Mary-Lou Maloney, who was accidentally killed during her Prom Queen crowning in the 50's. The former film has her returning for revenge and latter has her dating a guy after she escapes from hell. Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil (1992) was about a psychopathic Knight Templar Father Jonas, who killed anyone he deemed to be a sinner.

Prom Night was also a PG-13 film in 2008 about an ex-teacher named Fenton who is murderously obsessed with one of his students. Managing to escape from the police, he's prepared to get to her at any costs during her senior prom. Despite having the same title, the film is loosely considered to be a remake.

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The original series has examples of:

• Accidental Murder: Mary-Lou's death in the second film's opening.
• Arc Words: "It's not who you come with, it's who takes you home."
• Auto Erotica: Jude and Slick in the original film.
  • Also featured in the opening of the fourth movie.
• An Axe to Grind: Killer's weapon of choice towards the end of the original film.
• Bertha in The Attic: Father Jonas in the fourth film, before he gets loose.
• Big Ol' Unibrow: Lou (Type I) in the original film.
• Blind Without'Em: Slick in the original movie.
• Boy Meets Ghoul: Plot of the third film.
• Children Are Cruel: In the opening of the original.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Wendy in the original film.
• Crusty Caretaker: Mr. Sykes, the janitor of Hamilton High.
• Deadly Prank: In the opening of the second film.
  • As well as the original film.
• Demonic Possession: Mary-Lou's method of operation in the second film.
• Depraved Bisexual: Mary-Lou.
• Developing Doomed Characters
• Direct to Video: Third film.
• Dramatic Unmask
• Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo
• Every Car Is a Pinto: Slick's van in the original film, which explodes immediately when it rides off the bluffs.
• Everyone Is a Suspect: In the original film.
• Evil Phone: Killer in the original film makes threatening phone calls to his soon-to-be victims.
• Final Girl: Kim in the original film, but actually subverted as Kim wasn't a target at all.
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday
• Improvised Weapon: The mirror shard which the killer in the original movie uses to kill Kelly.
• Infant Immortality: Averted in the original, as it opens with a death of a little girl.
• Jerk Jock: Andrew from The Last Kiss.
• Kavorka Man: Slick in the original film.
• Love Triangle: In the original film, Wendy loves Nick, but Nick loves Kim and Wendy isn't happy.
• Male Gaze: We get two gratuitous ass-shots in the original film.
• Man On Fire: Leonard Murch in one of the original film's flashbacks.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Father Jonas, who is either murderously psychotic or actually possessed... or something. Considering how nonchalantly he crushed a guy's head in his bare hands, probably the latter.
• Ms. Fanservice: Mary-Lou Maloney, crossing over with Evil Is Sexy.
• Mooning
• Numbered Sequels
• Offscreen Teleportation: Fenton in the remake is prone to this.
• Off with His Head: Lou's fate in the original film.
• Once Is Not Enough: In the original film.
• Oral Fixation Fixation: Lou is constantly chewing gum in the original movie.
• The Other Darrin: Courtney Taylor replaced Lisa Schrage as Mary-Lou in the third film.
• Peek-a-Boo Corpse
• Really Gets Around: Mary-Lou when she was still alive, which ultimately led to her jealous boyfriend accidentally killing her.
• Red Herring: Escaped psychopath Leonard Murch and Kim's father in the original film.
• Sarcastic Clapping: Wendy gives it to Kim in the original after witnessing her practicing her moves on the dance floor.
• Shower Scene: In the second movie.
• Sinister Minister: Father Jonas in the fourth film.
• Sliding Scale of Comedy and Horror: The Last Kiss was comedy horror.
• Standard Disco Equipment: The disco sequence in the original film.
• Stripperific: Mary-Lou seemed to enjoy conjuring up these outfits in The Last Kiss, appearing as a baker, nurse and cop.
• The Vamp: Mary-Lou was an evil bitch even before she died; killing her just gave her a power boost.
• Villain Based Franchise: First two sequels.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In the original film, we are not told where Kim's dad has disappeared to in the end of the movie.
• Window Pain
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Alex in the original. Full stop.
• X Meets Y: Hello Mary-Lou: Prom Night II is "Carrie meets A Nightmare on Elm Street".

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The 2008 film has examples of:

• Developing Doomed Characters
• Final Girl: Donna
• Infant Immortality: Averted. Along with her parents getting killed, Donna's little brother got knifed as well (they even show his body).
• Jump Scare: There's a rather infamous example with a lamp.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Fenton manages to avoid the police by shaving his beard. And we're talking about a Perma Stubble beard, not an all-concealing one.
• Police Are Useless: Being fooled by a disguise that consists of getting a shave? Yeah, they're not the brightest cops.
• Stealth Hi Bye