Prom Night is a 2008 slasher film directed by Nelson McCormick. It is the fifth and final installment of the Prom Night film series. It is a reboot film, mainly taking inspiration from the original 1980 film. The film stars an ensemble cast including Brittany Snow, Scott Porter, Jessica Stroup, Dana Davis, Collins Pennie, Kelly Blatz, James Ransone, Brianne Davis, Johnathon Schaech, and Idris Elba.
The movie’s score is composed by Paul Haslinger of Tangerine Dream fame.
The film was released on April 11, 2008, by Screen Gems. The film received negative reviews from critics for its lack of originality, screenplay, editing, direction, plot, and performances. Despite this, it was also a box-office success, grossing $20,804,941 in 2,700 theaters in the United States and Canada.
Plot
High school freshman Donna Keppel returns home one evening to find her father and younger brother have been murdered. She hides under her brother’s bed where she then witnesses her mother stabbed to death by Richard Fenton, her former biology teacher who had become obsessed with Donna.
Three years later, Donna lives with her Uncle Jack and Aunt Karen. She and her friends prepare for their senior prom. Meanwhile, Detective Winn, who arrested Fenton three years earlier, learns he (Fenton) has escaped from the mental hospital.
Knowing he will come for Donna, Winn arrives at the hotel with his partner Detective Nash. Fenton breaks into the friends’ shared hotel suite, where he first kills Donna’s friends Claire and Michael. Later, Donna’s other friend Lisa and her boyfriend Ronnie bump into Fenton on their way up to the suite; Lisa recognizes him but cannot recall from where. Soon, she realizes it is the assailant and runs to warn Donna, only to be trapped in the stairwell by Fenton. He chases her into the basement, where he slits her throat.
Winn finds the body of the man whose name Fenton has been using in trunk of the man’s car in the parking lot of the hotel. Winn then goes up to the room Fenton booked and finds the housekeeper’s body. As Winn has the hotel evacuated, Donna goes back up to her room to find Lisa and retrieve her mother’s shawl; while there, she runs into Fenton and escapes. The SWAT team search the hotel but find no sign of him.
Donna and her boyfriend Bobby are escorted back to Donna’s house, where Winn orders back up protection. Inside, Donna has a dream that Fenton is in the bathroom with her. Waking up, she goes to the bathroom and closes the window. Upon heading back into her bedroom, Donna discovers Bobby’s corpse, his throat slashed. She retreats to her closet to hide, only to find Fenton inside already. Winn shows up and looks for Fenton, realizing his partner Nash is dead. Donna tries to escape Fenton; as he is about to stab her, Winn shoots Fenton several times, killing him.
As Donna is joined by her Aunt and Uncle, Winn consoles her and tells her it is over.