The most perplexing movie of all time.An unnecessary, unwanted, completely unrelated sequel to a decent-but-not-incredible generic 80s whodunnit slasher where the plot shifts to the vengeful spirit of a murdered prom queen returning to her school 30 years later to possess kids and wreak havoc on the student body; a film which steals a handsome portion of its plot from Carrie and whose dream-world gimmicks blatantly & shamelessly ride the coattails of A Nightmare on Elm Street, made with a minuscule budget and choosing to rely heavily on the talents of young unknown actors.Everything about it should be schlock. And yet, it’s one of the best fucking horror movies of the entire decade.The writing is bewilderingly good. The acting is bewilderingly good. The tone is dreadfully serious when it has to be and perfectly insane when it NEEDS to be. And fuck it, never mind the awesome kills (gym lockers acting as a trash compactor!) or the phenomenal effects (the blackboard whirlpool? The demonic rocking horse? The BURNT CORPSE CRAWLING OUT OF A TEENAGE GIRL’S BODY??), gimme a healthy dose of that compelling high school girl drama!The performances of Wendy Lyon and Lisa Schrage (who is so goddamn “bitch” hot that I might literally get a tattoo of her and confidently justify it to my wife) have no business being as great as they are, and some of the lines here even get a surprisingly legit laugh out of me (“damn, Kelly, how’d ya blow it?”). It’s a perfect buffet of everything I could ask for in a mystified colorful cocaine-fueled fever dream banger of an 80s horror movie.There’s a special pantheon I reserve for films like this, a pantheon that includes the likes of The Nest, Puppet Master II, Next of Kin, Amityville II: The Possession, Demon Seed, and anything by Larry Cohen, where proper mainstream recognition and appreciation are so hard to come by that it blows my freaking socks off. I’m not exaggerating in the slightest when I (lovingly) say this is better than every Elm Street sequel. Sure, I’m a pro at overblowing hype when it comes to my faves (aka don’t listen to me and definitely don’t quote me on any of this after you watch and are disappointed), but guys…this one is the cat’s pajamas.Mary Lou, you will ALWAYS be my prom queen.Watch: THE INFERION CHANNEL
The Haunting of Hamilton High. A Carrie meets Elm Street supernatural slasher jam—complete with a Night of the Creeps worthy 1950’s intro with funeral pyre prom queen, a confessional booth massacre, possessed horny tongued nightmare rocking chair, death by locker crushing, a touchy feely chalkboard that turns into an immersive whirlpool, father daughter makeout scene, Mary Lou immerging out of a bullet hole and going full Carrie retro demon during the gooey effect filled finale, AND Michael Ironside. I love this movie and the specific vibes at play here—late 80’s post elm street ‘nightmare feddy’ fun that’s paced well with lots of the pizazz that a few of those later sequels from movies it’s riffing on lack. Solid kills, great effects... all the ingredients I dig. Unrelated to the first Prom Night (which I also love despite every self proclaimed ‘genre aficionado’ jabroni mentioning how shitty/inferior it is) and it’s really nice to see this flicks fandom rise over the past few years—it’s earned it... this is a transmission of Canadian supernatural slasher joy and I love it.
Definitely a case of the sequel being better than the original. You know, for when you have those Scream 2 style superior sequel discussions with your friends. I do love the first one because of JLC and the whole disco dance scene, but it's also a little boring at times which is a problem this sequel does absolutely NOT have!It's a little bit Carrie meets The Exorcist with a main character who is possessed by the spirit of a murdered prom queen, it's a little bit Nightmare on Elm Street with a really fun scene where our final girl falls into a chalk board that becomes water and she's swimming around with the letters that were written on the board in a way that could only be done in the 80's. I love it. It's also what the awful Urban Legends: Bloody Mary stole a huge chunk of its plot from, but it's cool because it doesn't work nearly as well in that movie and that movie sucks while this one does not! What this movie is NOTHING like is the first Prom Night and that's because it was originally not intended to be a sequel to that, but they changed a few things around and gave it a couple of super loose connections to the original and hey, this movie is so much ridiculous fun that I'm fine with that.The real MVP is Mary Lou herself. She was a bitch when she was alive, but as a dead spirit possessing a poor innocent virgin, she is the Queen B Mean Girl Supreme and the homo in me bows before her greatness.
