Favorite Movies: Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II

Image from Wikipedia

I'm wayyy overdue for a frivolous, non-political post. The blog has been entirely too serious of late! So today, I was thinking of some of my favorite movies, trying to come up with something that I haven't highlighted before. That put me (as it often does) in the 1980s, and my interests in those days usually led me to the horror movie aisle at West Coast Video.

When the home video craze took off, the horror genre was really booming. There were countless sequels and knock-offs. Many, many bad horror films came out of the '80s. During the Halloween season, I highlighted many of the bad ones here on the blog, the good ones, funny ones too, but I forgot one.

Scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis followed up Halloween I & II with a middling entry, Prom Night. And while that movie wasn't terrific, it was a hit. So it was of course followed by a sequel. But the producers of Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II took a different and less obvious tack with their sequel. It was scary, gory, had high production values, and it was also funny. And completely unrelated to Part I.

None of the stars of the film rose to prominence, though 80s stalwart, Michael Ironside is there. But the movie has crackling dialog, an interesting plot, and definitely deserves a second look. The tone is similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV version), with its high school-comedy-horror vibe. Add it to your fright night list!

And before you think that this post is utterly irrelevant, it should be noted that the original Prom Night is being remade, and is due out in April!

Check out the original trailer:

UPDATE: Here's a quote I was hoping to find a clip of, but couldn't. Picture Mary Lou and the Priest from the above video. This is the scene that opens the movie:

Mary Lou Maloney: Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been three months since my last confession. I've disobeyed my parents many times. I've taken the Lord's name in vain many times. I've had sinful relations, with boys at my school. Many boys, many times.

Priest: My child, these are great sins. You must prepare yourself for the consequences.

Mary Lou Maloney: Father, there's just one more thing.

Priest: What is it, my poor child?

Mary Lou Maloney: I loved every minute of it.

Source: IMDB.com