Prom Night

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1:39

Prom Night

R

Released Jul 18, 1980

1h 29m

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

45%

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22 Reviews

34%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

This slasher movie follows a relentless killer who is out to avenge the death of a young girl who died after being bullied and teased by four of her classmates. Now high-school students, the guilt-ridden kids have kept their involvement a secret, but when they start being murdered, one by one, it's clear that someone knows the truth. Also coping with the past are members of the dead girl's family, most notably her prom-queen sister, Kim Hammond.

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Critics Consensus

Horror aficionados might have a ball with Prom Night, but a lack of mystery and inability to capitalize on the dance hall setting makes for a generic night of mayhem.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Director Paul Lynch seems to capture the spirit of the genre here, but spends a little too much time setting up each murder, thus eliminating some suspense.

Apr 10, 2008

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Time Out

If you forget motivation, the visual trick-or-treat of slow revenge is entertaining enough.

Jun 24, 2006

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Why do people go to these movies?

Rated: 0.5/4

Oct 23, 2004

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John Brosnan

Starburst

Prom Night proves once again that it's not sufficient to simply rip-off a successful movie formula — you've got to add something to it, even if it's simply coming up with ingenious new ways of disposing of your victims.

Jul 26, 2022

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

While it endeavors to be genuinely scary, it rarely succeeds, only becoming a cult B-movie due to boundary-pushing violence, which has since been tremendously surpassed.

Rated: 4/10

Sep 7, 2020

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Larry Vitacco

Philadelphia Gay News

[Leslie Nielsen and Jamie Lee Curtis] perform well. In fact, Curtis (an alumna of Halloween and The Fog, and soon to be seen in Terror Train) is very good... it would be great to watch her perform in a riproaring comedy or a searing drama.

Rated: 2.5/4

May 27, 2020

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William D

It is the best of the movie series but may an amazing movie.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/08/25

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Melissa M

Beginning of the movie is extremely confusing. And makes absolutely no sense. Most horror movies don't make any sense. But the beginning of the film doesn't seem to really fit in with the rest of the movie. As the story progresses it does become more interesting. And worth watching. Jamie Lee Curtis is the best part of the movie. She is definitely the Scream Queen of the horror scene. Even though the prom theme has been done so many times in horror movies. This is definitely one of the better ones. The soundtrack to the film is even creepy. The ending is not predictable like in most horror flicks. It's the sequels that are not worth watching. It would probably be best to just watch Prom Night. And skip the rest of the franchise.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/11/25

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Chris B

Boring and rubbish. This movie was not scary at all.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/06/25

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Dave C

It's a good example of horror if you look at the tropes and methodology employed throughout. It's a bad movie, though, so that doesn't do it much good. It has the thrill and suspense of a paint drying convention

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/04/25

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Audience Member

ScreamQueen Jamie Lee Curtis slasher from the 80s. OMFG Leslie Nielsen is in this 😂. The first kill came with 30:08 left in the movie talk about SLOW BURN movie. This was a little better than Jamie Lee Curtis Terror Train . I will admit I was leaning towards it being bad but the two kills in this made the movie just ok . OMFG disco music. I swear all the high school kids looked like they were in their 30s lol. It was a 5/10 borderline ok but if I want a epic fantastic Jamie Lee Curtis horror movie I will lwatch The Fog or the OG Halloween .

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

10/16/24

Full Review

Jordan W

This is the horror movie equivalent of wasting time for the sake of wasting time. Prom Night is a dreadfully boring movie that wastes so much of its runtime on endlessly unimportant side characters, side plots, a main plot about the prom itself (how exciting!) and a ridiculous amount of red herrings that-at a point-- it actually becomes insulting to watch. Jamie Lee Curtis is fine, everyone’s acting is fine. But why was Leslie Nelson in this? Why did he agree to be in this? So much of this movie is dreadfully boring and then by an hour in there’s a disco sequence that goes on for what feels like another 30 minutes. Why? To waste more of our time. Then the killings finally happen and they’re all so drawn out and boring too. Zero suspense. And then the twist happens! And then the movie just ends without explaining the dozen other narrative conveniences and plot holes that you’d have to rewatch the whole film to mentally figure out if the reveal makes any sense. And I fundamentally refuse to watch this boring movie again. This sucks.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

09/23/24

Full Review

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Paul Lynch

Director

Leslie Nielsen

Mr. Hammond

Jamie Lee Curtis

Kim

Casey Stevens

Nick

Anne-Marie Martin

Wendy

Antoinette Bower

Mrs. Jammons

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Prom Night: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

This slasher movie follows a relentless killer who is out to avenge the death of a young girl who died after being bullied and teased by four of her classmates. Now high-school students, the guilt-ridden kids have kept their involvement a secret, but when they start being murdered, one by one, it's clear that someone knows the truth. Also coping with the past are members of the dead girl's family, most notably her prom-queen sister, Kim Hammond.

Director: Paul Lynch
Producer: Peter R. Simpson
Distributor: Astral Films
Production Co: Guardian Trust Company
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 18, 1980, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 31, 2017
Runtime: 1h 29m
Sound Mix: Surround
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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