Movie Review Prom Night

Prom Night (2008) 

Directed by Nelson McCormick 

Written by J.S Cardone 

Starring Brittany Snow, Scott Porter, Jessica Stroup, Johnathon Schaech

Release Date April 11th, 2008

Published April 11th, 2008 

I have seen the movie Prom Night 3 times. The first time, I dismissed it as just another PG 13 teen horror movie. The second time I was modestly impressed with the compact plotting and the director's crisp clean visuals. Now, having seen it on Blu Ray, the visuals even more pronounced, I am fully impressed with Prom Night as just the right kind of throw away Saturday night horror movie. An easy, disposable rental that may not stick with you long after it's over but will compel you while it's on.

Brittany Snow stars in Prom Night, similar in name only to the 1980 Prom Night, as Donna Keppel. Two years prior to the films events, her parents and little brother were murdered. The killer was Donna's teacher who professed to having killed them so that he and Donna could run away together. He was caught and sent to a not so high security mental institution.

Two years later, as Donna is readying for Prom Night, teach (Jonathan Schaech, a long way from That Thing You Do) has escaped and is returning for his prize. Only detective Wynn (Idris Elba), the man who put the teacher away 2 years ago, can protect Donna but not knowing whether the teacher is really coming after her, he doesn't want to ruin prom. Thus sets up a Prom Night showdown. Donna and her friends and the hidden cops all over a luxury hotel vs a determined psychopath. Let the body count commence.

Why the cops don't just close in on Donna and whisk her away to safety, prom be damned, is an admittedly weak premise, they don't want to ruin prom, but if you can put that aside, Prom Night isn't half bad. Director Nelson McCormick (TV's Prisonbreak, Nip Tuck) has a strong visual sense and takes advantage of the luxury hotel setting for some terrific use of set design.

Overcoming J.S Cardone's weak screenplay which paints the director into numerous logical corners, McCormick does a tremendous job of keeping things  fast paced, exciting and even fun, if you like horror movies.

I am generally opposed to PG-13 horror movies. I think if you are going to make a horror movie, you can't limit yourself with restrictions on gore, violence, language and nudity. Granted, not all of those are necessary for horror, but they help. Director Nelson McCormick overcomes the limitations with a sizable body count and a creeptastic performance by Jonathan Schaech.

With his dirty stubbled face and intense creep eyes, Schaech sells every inch of this character even as his intentions are unclear. Writer Cardone never figured out exactly what the teacher intended to do once he caught Donna. Run away and live sickly ever after with her as a captive? Kill her on the spot. If he is just going to kill her, why does he pass up several shots at just getting it done?

The movie irritatingly screws with the audience more than once with the teacher passing up on killing Donna at most vulnerable moments. That said, there is more good than irritating in what makes up Prom Night.

No, Prom Night is not a great movie but for a formula teen horror picture it's solid and well crafted. The killer is creepy and disturbing and the heroine is someone we don't wish harm upon. It has the basics down and given the recent track record of the teen friendly horror genre, that is all we can really ask. It's nothing more than a saturday night rental, nothing you will remember on Sunday.

Break out the popcorn and beer and enjoy 88 minutes of well crafted cheese ball horror.

Movie Review The Hills Have Eyes 2

The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007) 

Directed by Martin Weisz 

Written by Wes Craven, Jonathan Craven 

Starring Michael McMillian, Jacob Vargas, Flex Alexander, Jessica Stroup 

Release Date March 27th, 2007 

Published March 27th, 2007 

Wes Craven is a terrific director. His work speaks for itself, when he is behind the camera, horror, suspense, blood and guts are on near perfect display. However, when Craven puts his imprimatur on a film without taking part in the film's direction; the quality dips dramatically. In the late nineties and early in this decade; Craven seemed to put his name on any piece of garbage horror film that came his way.

Craven has stopped placing his name above other people's titles in the past few years but his behind the scenes, non-directorial work continues to suffer. His latest effort is a remake of a sequel to a remake of an original that he directed. The Hills Have Eyes 2 follows a remake of Craven's original The Hills Have Eyes. Like the 2006 remake, The Hills Have Eyes 2 suffers for Craven's work in the background rather than the foreground as director.

In 2006's The Hills Have Eyes, as well as the film it re-imagined, a family took a wrong turn in the desert and ended up victims of hill dwelling mutants. One year later, the military has moved in to look over the areas where they once dropped an atom bomb; to find whether it has become inhabitable after 50 years. What they found, unfortunately, was an underground tunnel system overrun with man-eating mutants. Whoops!

A group of new recruits, on a training mission in the desert, are supposed to be delivering supplies to the soldiers and scientists in a remote desert outpost. However, when the recruits arrive; they find the camp empty and signs that the soldiers and scientists did not leave willingly. Somewhere in the barren hills surrounding the camp there may be survivors, but more urgently, those killer mutants are waiting for more victims.

Last years The Hills Have Eyes remake benefitted from a skilled cast of a higher quality than most b-movie horror flicks. Cathleen Quinlan, Ted Levine and Aaron Sanford are strong actors with strong presence who brought strength and gravitas to a rote horror formula. Director Alexandre Aja, who I am not a great fan of, is at the very least highly skilled in his presentation of horrific gore.

The Hills Have Eyes 2 ,on the other hand, features the 5th lead from Snakes On A Plane, Flex Anderson, in the lead role, or at least as the only actor onscreen I was able to recognize. The rest of the cast is desperately in need of a scorecard. These aren't bad actors, they are merely young, inexperienced actors whose inexperience shows in nearly every scene.

Add to that, the relative inexperience of director Martin Weisz, who I'm told is a highly skilled music video director. His work on The Hills Have Eyes 2 goes to show how very different the mediums of music video and film really are. Weisz is not necessarily a bad director, but one who doesn't yet understand the medium and thus relies on his music video tricks and a good deal of rote interpretation to direct this film.

There really isn't much to enjoy about The Hills Have Eyes 2. The film is stock horror clichés combined with ugly special effects and a barren location that offers little escape from the dreary story being told. The film has no sense of humor to speak of and the young, inexperienced cast is at a loss to bring anything other than their unsteady, babies learning to walk, style of acting to these roles.

There is something sorta charming about these actors but not anything that makes me want to watch them die horrifically, or more importantly, not die horrifically, in a horror film.

It's interesting to note that there was a The Hills Have Eye Part 2 back in 1985, a sequel to the original. That sequel was so awful, and so long forgotten, that no attempt was made to remake it. That film was directed by Wes Craven, who created the original, and it may be the genesis to his current philosophy of anything for a buck.

The script for The Hills Have Eyes 2 was written by Wes Craven with his son Jonathan which goes to show that nepotism in Hollywood is alive and well. Would this movie have been made without Wes Craven's name somewhere in the credits, beyond the based upon notice? No. And, frankly, we would be better off. However, Mr. Craven's bank account would not be better off and that is apparently what really matters when it comes down to it.

The Hills Have Eyes 2 serves its purpose. Made on the cheap, the film will make money and Wes Craven will take home a tidy sum. Congrats Wes, enjoy that new wave pool. I'll let you know if I stumble across your artistic soul somewhere.