Prom Night

This remake of the 1980 shocker (which starred Jamie Lee Curtis) is an unusually tame slasher film that eschews graphic bloodletting to justify its PG-13 rating (an unrated version, adding an extra minute, is also available). Top-billed Brittany Snow, the American Dreams sweetheart who was impressive in the recent remake of Hairspray, stars as high-school senior Donna Keppel, whose entire family was murdered three years earlier by criminally insane Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech), an obsessed teacher who wanted Donna all to himself. Now living with her aunt and uncle, Donna still has regular nightmares but is trying to move on with her life, looking forward to her senior prom with a hot date (Scott Porter). Unfortunately, Fenton escapes from the loony bin, bent on making prom night memorable in more ways than one. In typical slasher-movie fashion, Donna's pals are murdered in quick progression, but director Nelson McCormick doesn't opt for the overt campiness of many films in this genre, instead playing it straight—for the most part—with Idris Elba turning in a sober, effective performance as the dedicated police detective racing against time to save Donna. Still, in the end, Prom Night simply doesn't deliver enough shocks or thrills to engage viewers. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: Available in both unrated and original theatrical versions on DVD separately, and unrated on Blu-ray, DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary (with director Nelson McCormick, and costars Brittany Snow and Johnathon Schaech), a 13-minute “A Night to Remember” making-of featurette, the six-minute “Bridgeport High Vikings Video Yearbook,” a six-minute “Profile of a Killer” featurette, “Prom Night Photo Album: Real Stories from the Cast” (6 min.), “Gothic Spaces: Creating the Pacific Grand Hotel” set design featurette (5 min.), five deleted scenes w/optional commentary (5 min.), a brief alternate ending w/optional commentary, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray version is a bonus view picture-in-picture storyboard track. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a forgettable slasher remake.] (E. Hulse)