The ‘80s were a rocking time for horror fans, as so many iconic efforts emerged from that era. Inversely, there are also a number of forgettable films that bowed during the decade. The Jamie Lee Curtis slasher Prom Night falls somewhere in between the two extremes. The flick delivered a handsome return on investment, taking in nearly $15 million at the box office. However, the picture didn’t necessarily resonate with the majority of critics or fans. Many cast the film aside as a formulaic execution of a tired premise. With that said, some of us have a soft spot for Prom Night because it ultimately paved the way for Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, a sequel that improves upon its predecessor in almost every way.
If we’ve piqued your curiosity with the promise of a sequel that outdoes the original, you might be pleased to learn that the aforementioned effort is available to stream on Tubi.
Prom Night II Is Even Better Than Its Predecessor, Yet It Remains Criminally Underrated
What makes this sequel better than its predecessor, you ask? Great question. This follow-up effort is a sequel in name only that abandons everything that came before it, opting for a slightly less formulaic approach and introducing a memorable villainess in the process. The villainess in question is Mary Lou (Lisa Schrage), a fallen prom queen who died in a fire on the night of her coronation only to come back decades later to use supernatural shenanigans to reclaim her crown.
Where the original merely seems to regurgitate the standard slasher formula, Prom Night II diversifies, taking a certain amount of influence from films like Carrie and A Nightmare on Elm Street. But unlike its predecessor, this 1987 effort is more capable of standing on its own. The inspirations here are mere jumping-off points. The prom and possession themes that work so well in the aforementioned points of inspiration are more like surface-level similarities.
Essentially, screenwriter Ron Oliver (Are You Afraid of the Dark?) tackles some thematic elements that were popular at the time and then carves out a less derivative path filled with blood-soaked revenge. Not to mention, he scripts Mary Lou as in charge of her sexuality, without even a modicum of puritanical shame. That kind of sex positivity is far more commonplace now, but in 1987, it was all but unheard of, making the film a trailblazing effort.
Director Bruce Pittman (Friday the 13th: The Series) brings Oliver’s script to life with a scrappy sensibility that often betrays the film’s low-budget trappings. The end result is often visually striking, making the flick feel, on occasion, far more expensive than its $2.5 million Canadian budget.
Prom Night II features a number of gory practical death sequences. Moreover, we get to see the unbridled creative genius of FX artist Jim Doyle (A Nightmare on Elm Street) on display. He really impresses when lead character Vicki (Wendy Lyon) hallucinates that she’s being sucked into a blackboard, which subsequently turns into a body of water that denies physics by running vertically. That scene is surreal, engaging, and infinitely imaginative.
Impressive visuals aside, you may still be wondering how this sequel became a sequel at all. And the interesting thing is that Prom Night II wasn’t even conceived as a Prom Night film. The decision to release the flick as a follow-up to the 1980 slasher picture came as an afterthought. The producers believed that tying the property to an existing IP would bolster ticket sales.
Ironically, many think that the decision to release the film as a sequel put people off from checking it out. Prom Night is a slasher picture that performed well enough at the box office, but there isn’t anything overly original about it. As such, the slasher fatigue that was setting in by 1987 may have actually kept people from watching this under-seen offering. After all, Prom Night II isn’t a slasher, and it’s only related to the original in name.
There it is, Prom Night II is a sorely underrated sequel (in name only) that features a winning antagonist and dares to be (slightly) different than a lot of the output from its era. If you fancy the idea of checking the flick out, make your way over to Tubi where you can do just that.
How does Prom Night II rank alongside its predecessor for you, dear reader? Make sure to hit us up in the comments section below to let us know.
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