The Working Dead

I honestly try to think of Nightmare 2 as little as possible. But here in Prom Night 2 I think the physics work a little differently. In fact, I don't think Mary Lou actually came out of Vicki at all. When Vicki is found in the trunk at the end of the movie she's soaking wet, which implies to me she's been stuck in the nether realm since the moment she was sucked into the blackboard. I think Mary Lou actually just manifested a replica of Vicki's body so she could walk around without drawing too much attention to herself. So when she shed Vicki's skin she was really just taking off a costume, and then after she was "defeated" Vicki was let out of that nether realm and reappeared in the trunk, which appears to be some form of doorway to wherever Mary Lou has been chilling since the 50s.

Yeah, the way Mary Lou just came out of Vicki at the climax was very remniscent of Nightmare part 2, and the whole final twist was cribbed from the first Nightmare. I'm honestly surprised this one doesn't have more of a reputation. The acting is great, as the group said repeatedly, the writing is pretty strong, and I thought the effects were genuinely clever and well executed, especially considering this was probably a small budget. It's easy to see how they did the blackboard scene, but it's still a good image. And that rocking horse was creepy as hell when it went all demonic. Also, my favorite horror easter egg in this film was when one character, pretty sure it was Josh, is joking that Vicki is possessed, and he quotes the Exorcist, but he uses the edited TV dialogue when he says "your mother sews socks in hell, Father Karas!" instead of the infamous "Your mother sucks cocks in hell" line.

I'm surprised to see that so far no one seems to have mentioned how nearly every character given a last name in this film is named after a famous, infamous, or not-so-famous director, usually of the horror variety. Vicki' Carpenter, for John Carpenter Kelly Henenlotter for Frank Henenlotter (director of Basket Case and Frankenhooker) Monica Waters is possibly named for John Waters Jess Browning for Todd Browning, director of the original Bela Lugosi Dracula, Freaks, and others. The science teacher who gropes Vicki in class is Mr. Craven, for Wes Craven. Matthew Dante named for Joe Dante Eddie Wood for Ed Wood Another teacher is Mr. O'Bannon, probably named for Dan O'Bannon, screenwriter of Alien and writer/director of the first Return of the Living Dead And a couple other bit parts are named Mr. King and Mr. Romero. I'd never seen this movie until it was on the podcast, mainly because I'm not a huge slasher fan and I don't care much for the original Prom Night, but this was a ton of fun. I'm so glad it was covered and that it directed me towards Prime to check it out. This is maybe my favorite movie I've discovered through the podcast.