Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2
In attempting to make a follow-up to the mediocre slasher flick that starred Jamie Lee Curtis, the producers decided to follow a different route and tried to create an all-purpose horror villain for the series that would essentially be a female version of Freddy Krueger, with a little bit of Carrie White thrown in for good measure. Once again taking place in Hamilton High (site of the original film’s events), the story starts in 1957, where Mary Lou Maloney, the ultimate 50s small town bad girl, is about to be crowned prom queen, only to be accidentally burned alive by a stink bomb dropped on her by her jilted prom date (played as an older man by the legendary badass Michael Ironside, though it’s hilarious that the actor playing the teenage version of his character looks exactly like him right down to the receding hairline!). 30 years later, her spirit returns to take revenge on Ironside (now the school principal, presumably because no one figured out he was responsible for her death), his son, and various others. As Mary Lou, Lisa Schrage certainly has incredible blue eyes and a wicked presence, but the actress takes a back seat as Mary Lou winds up possessing the girlfriend of Ironside’s son (Wendy Lyon) to take her revenge, allowing that character to take center stage. Certainly the film could have benefitted from having two more appealing lead actors, as Lyon and Justin Louis fail to make a connection with the viewer early on. I also would have liked more backstory to Mary Lou herself, as it seems there are hints of things that explain her powers that aren’t made completely clear. Things get MUCH better in the second half though, when Lyon falls completely under Mary Lou’s control, right down to dressing and talking like a 50s bobby soxer in the decidedly very 80s high school, even giving us an unexpected (and very welcome) dose of full-frontal female nudity when Lyon shows off her great body before a kill. The film benefits from having a decidedly sick sense of humor (like having Lyon’s girlfriend break down crying as she announces she’s pregnant, only to have her get brutally murdered five minutes later). Obviously much of the acting is not up to snuff, but having Ironside in there nearly makes up for it, and the kills themselves, while fun, are kinda restrained. Other bits, like a demonic rocking horse and Lyon getting her own father to make out with her(!) help keep the viewer interested. Even more astounding is the amount of nods, winks, and references to the horror genre, with characters named Craven and Carpenter, along with tips of the hat not just to DePalma’s Carrie and Elm Street, but Poitergeist, The Exorcist, The Evil Dead and many others. In the end, for sheer entertainment value, WAY better than the original, but still just a b-movie…
7/10