An Exercise In Nonsense

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

In 1957 Hamilton High, Mary Lou Maloney is a sexually aggressive girl who dump her stiff boyfriend Billy Nordham at prom after making out with another guy. He's hurt and sets off a stink bomb as Mary Lou is crowned prom queen. Her dress is set on fire and she dies a horrible death. In the present, Vicki Carpenter (Wendy Lyon) is a sweet girl suffering under her strict religious mother. Her boyfriend Craig Nordham is the son of principal Billy Nordham (Michael Ironside). Vicky finds Mary Lou's cursed crown. Her friend Jess releases the spirit when she tries to take the crown apart. She is hung to death by the spirit and it is declared it a suicide.There is a bit of comedy both intentional and unintentional. The 80s style is insane and the movie has to also have 50s style. For lower level 80s horrors, this is one of my favorites. I love the locker room scene. It is shoot perfectly. Every cut has something terrific. Then it ends in such a memorable way. The movie is an amalgam of some great horrors like Carrie. Sometimes the horror B-movie seams are showing but I do love the locker room.

Mary Lou is a promiscuous teenager who gleefully indulges in boys, sex, and booze. On Prom Night in 1957, she goes too far by leaving her boyfriend, Billy Nordham hanging to have sex with another guy. Billy decides to get revenge and kills her. 30 years later, Bill Nordham is now the principle of Hamilton High. Mary Lou is awakened by a trunk in the basement and possesses Vicki Carpenter. Bill must face his traumatic past before it's too late. I'm gonna get this out of the way right now! I loved this movie. It's not a great film by any means, but it's great fun! It goes all out to ensure the viewer has a good time, and I'd say it exceeded expectations in a pretty big way. This movie is NOTHING like the first one. It's full on fantasy, resembling a Nightmare on Elm Street movie more than anything else. Wait until you see Vicki being attacked in the bedroom! (That creepy unicorn, brr) I really enjoyed the different approach from the first one, and it was way more fun as a result. This movie wants you to have a good time, everything else is secondary. There isn't much gore, but we do get some light lesbianism in the shower! Even a weird incest scene! A newly pregnant student gets killed as well (Ouch! God, I miss the 80's!) I was really impressed by the creativity and the guts the director, Bruce Pittman had. The acting is surprisingly above average for the most part. Wendy Lyon is excellent as our heroine. She's sympathetic, vulnerable, even a little creepy when she goes completely in Mary Lou mode. Lisa Schrage is a blast as Mary Lou. I had no sympathy for her being killed, because she's so unsympathetic. But I think they intended it to be that way. Michael Ironside phones it in here. I hate to say it, but he looked visibly unsure on what to do here. This is clearly a paycheck role! There were only brief flourishes of what makes him so great. Louis Ferreira is OK as Vicki's love interest. He didn't embarrass himself and held his own. The ending is similar to Nightmare on Elm Street 2 in some ways. I dug it and even clapped a little bit. I dig the false happy ending if it's done correctlyWhere is the love for this movie? It's unabashedly corny, and I loved every minute of it. It represents everything I adored about the 80's! Where you at, Mary Lou? I'll go on a blind date with you any day!7/10

"Prom Night" took a long road towards becoming a horror series. Seven years after the original, a sequel finally rolled out. The slasher subgenre was played out by then and the original story presented little opportunity for a follow-up. "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II" took the series in a radically different direction, one of quasi-comedic supernatural horror. The stories are totally unrelated, connected only by the high school, prom setting. It's no surprise to read that the screenplay wasn't written as a sequel at all and was, instead, slapped with the "Prom Night" connection in post."Hello Mary Lou" is so much better then you'd expect an in-name-only sequel to a minor slasher flick to be. Its premise is successfully played for both humor and chills, featuring plenty of slimy special effects and an unexpectedly erotic streak. Back in 1957, promiscuous, rebellious prom queen Mary Lou Mahoney was accidentally set ablaze by her jilted boyfriend. Thirty years later, good girl Vicki Carpenter stumbles upon Mary Lou's tiara in an old store room. Slowly, the vicious spirit of the undead prom queen begins to possess Vicki, once again making prom night a night for terror at Hamilton High."Prom Night II" takes it time setting up its premise. The opening flashback is rather brilliantly presented, the camera swooping in and out of an old storage truck at the start and end. Vicki's eventual corruption by Mary Lou's spirit is a gradual process. She has disturbing hallucinations during the school day. Some of these are humorous, like the volley ball net transforming into a spider's web, her teammates turned into pasty-faced zombies. Others are genuinely off-putting and weirdly creepy. In her bedroom at home, her childhood rocking horse gains red, reptilian eyes and a perversely long tongue. The lunch lady in the cafeteria is suddenly spooning out corpse soup with a side of fresh cockroach. A subtle one has the face of a taunting schoolmate transforming into Mary Lou's grinning face. Vicki's final nightmare sees a chalkboard morphed into a pool of black sludge. The creepy rocking horse returns for a late moment of incestuous kissing, easily the film's most disquieting bit.The stand-out moment of "Hello Mary Lou" comes after Vicki is completely taken over by the evil ghost. After her changed behavior annoys a close friend, Vicki-Lou decides to seduce the girl while they're both in the gym shower. Unexpected for 1987, both actresses show full nudity as light-kissing turns to heavy petting. The audience gets a thrill but the character doesn't buy it. The stalking scene that follows features no music, only the possessed girl humming a tune, running her hands over the locker doors. The suspense builds nicely and the gory pay-off is impressive. The rest of the movie is more of a campy guilty pleasure but that one moment combines titillation and horror fantastically.The film mostly plays its supernatural elements for humor. While stabbing a priest to death, the possessed Vicki reflects on the truths of the afterlife. A high school teacher with grabby hands gets his comeuppance comically. The culture clash of a 1950s teenage getting launched into the eighties provides some amusing antics. An attempt to rig the prom queen vote goes awry for the AV nerd, probably the movie's funniest bit. The film's jokey side mostly manifest in horror film in-jokes. Characters have familiar sounding last names, like Carpenter, Henenlotter, Browning, Craven, Wood, Waters, and O'Bannon. Mary Lou's climatic reappearance goofs on "Carrie." There are numerous shout-outs to "The Exorcist." It's apparent the film was made by fans of the genre.Keeping the film sincere among its goofiness and nastiness are surprisingly well-acted and rounded characters. Wendy Lyon is immensely likable as Vicki. Her wide-eyes and innocent good-girl looks gets the audience's sympathies. Lyon plays a girl loosing her sanity very well. Once possessed, she has no problem playing the other side of the coin. She camps it up fantastically, delivering silly one-liners. Lisa Scrage doesn't have much screen time but makes an impression as Mary Lou. She's looks fantastic with her bright blue eyes and tight prom gown. She, too, has a good time playing a campy horror villain. The commitment to character is clear when the subplots that otherwise would have been drool actually hold your attention. Vicki's best friend has a startlingly confession early on, the camera not cutting away. You wouldn't expect such a moment of honest emotion in the middle of your trashy horror sequel.And that's why "Prom Night II" is awesome. The script is refreshing and smart. The performances are committed and strong. The direction is stylish. The film gets both laughs and scares. This is a sequel that is vastly superior to the original.

Loose sequel to "Prom Night" only uses the same high school, Hamilton High, where another horror takes place as the vengeful spirit of Mary Lou Maloney, who was accidentally killed at her senior prom thirty years previous, is unleashed from a trunk(?!) by Vicki Carpenter(Wendy Lyon) who is dating the son of principal Bill Nordham,(played by Michael Ironside) who, just by one of those standard movie coincidences, happens to be Mary Lou's old boyfriend that she blames for her fiery death. So evil Mary Lou possesses poor Vicki to destroy Bill, and be crowned senior prom queen, no matter who has to die...Typically violent and idiotic horror exploitation is just another illogical and crass film where the supernatural protagonist has all kinds of superpowers because the script says they do, with no regard to plausibility or coherence, with the ending being the final insult.