Prom disaster

In Hollywood’s latest attempt to scare and leave audiences on the edge of their seats in suspense and fear, this movie about a night at the prom gone wrong fails to deliver a story line, actors or film direction that allows for the film to be anything other than a strong misrepresentation of the classic horror movies it attempts to remake and replicate.

When Donna Keppel (Brittany Snow) is tormented by her obsessive ex-teacher and the convicted killer of her mother, he will stop at nothing to be with her even if it costs the lives of others, his own or even his freedom. The concept of the plot does not seem scary in the least. A science teacher turned blade-slinging psychopathic killer at a prom hardly compares to Jason or Freddy Krueger, let alone the masked stabbing machine from “Scream.”

Besides this, the puny killer is portrayed to be unstoppable against trained police and law enforcers. At one point, the SWAT team is called to help capture him but even they fail. Characters in the movie failed to realize that the killer was 5’11”, weighed 180 pounds and used a three-inch knife as his weapon. It is hard to imagine that the police wouldn’t be able to contain him, let alone have a hard time restraining a man of his stature.

Along with the lame villain, the movie is overly predictable, unrealistic and drawn-out. Throughout the movie there are slips and falls while victims are being chased, naive teens that are too stupid to use common sense and dramatic music used to enhance the possibility of a killing. This is unsurprisingly the moment when the victims walk into him or clumsily fall down stairs and get stabbed.

It’s as if the director and/or writers wanted to use the movie’s teen demographic and the lead actress’s pretty face and budding career to overshadow the fact that the plot and story are both weak. The movie fails because it is not convincing enough, scary enough or interesting enough. Carrie would be so disappointed.