Episode 212 - Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II: LIVE! (w/ Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen)

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen of Long Shot join Paul, June, and Jason to discuss the 1987 Canadian supernatural slasher Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II. Recorded live at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles, they talk about stink bombs, the naked terminator scene, the giant juggs of milk, and much more.

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[PilotHaz 10]

Have to listen to the podcast but when i watched the episode I look at the IMDb as I assume most do.   I enjoy seeing what the actors have also been in before and noticed this...

Steve Atkinson (Young Bill Nordham) played the younger version of Michael Ironside (Bill Nordham) in this movie. They worked again in the same manner in Mindfield (1989) - Michael (Kellen O'Reilly) Steve (Young Kellen).

Submitted to the Trivia section for the movie. 

Quickly looking at the Mindfield it could be another movie to watch! 
Mindfield (1989) When a police detective kills a criminal, this traumatic event triggers a locked memory, he didn't know he had, of him being a subject of a CIA experiment.

[grudlian. 4725]

I hate to correct Charlize Theron, but the Total Eclipse Of The Heart video was filmed in the Holloway Sanitorium in Surrey England.

There is another connection between the four Prom Night movies. All four of them use the line "It's not who you go with. It's who takes you home."

[Wil Dride 121]

In the fifties, they hadn't invented "Stop, drop and roll" yet, so if someone was on fire, they were already as good as dead. It was all very sad.

[theworstbuddhist 572]

I was going to skip watching the movie because I've already seen it a million times (hi, Canadian) but now I think I need to watch it again, because I forgot Michael Ironside was in it and I love him. And it's PEAK Michael Ironside no less. Looking at the cast on iMDB I also recognize Louis Ferreira, who is in tons of stuff but I love him best in Stargate: Universe and a short-lived, very creepy Canadian show called Durham County.

The rest of the cast I'm sure I've seen here and there over the years. The woman that played Vicki was in The Shape of Water, so that's cool. The woman that played Mary Lou was in tons of (Canadian) stuff, including Night Heat, which made Sweating Bullets look like Murdoch Mysteries.

ETA: it is so obvious to me now, Mary Lou isn't a vengeful ghost at all! She possessed Vicki with the communication stones from Stargate: Universe!

[gigi-tastic 2322]

I just need to say this episode is officially one of my favorites of all time! So I don't know if it's because I saw the Moviebitches Retro Review of the movie before I saw the movie but I don't think the movie ( shout out to Avaryl for all her hard work! )  was pro religion. In fact I think that (and the Moviebitches mentioned this so I'm sort of stealing from them) that it's sort of a sly commentary on how in the end religion won't save you from your bad deeds. You can't use religion to excuse what you have done.  

I don't think that the priest was a fully changed person. Instead of feeling sympathy for Mary Lou and thinking about ways to put her spirit to rest , which to me seems more like something someone truly devoted to God would do he's going straight for the exorcism ( incorrectly it looked like) something that can only be performed wit permission from high up in the Church.  I get that Mary Lou is out for blood here and it's a horror movie so in a sense he's not wrong.

Also I want to note how great it is that it's the guy who fled to be a priest and not some poor girl traumatized and punished . Well I mean... Outside of Mary Lou.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

So  while yes Mary Lou is a simple bitch who is all about that crown and title of prom queen I think that her obsessive need to win and be crowned is a symbol for the life she lost. She says while making out with Principal Bill  post power stance on his desk (honestly what a power move! ) something like she could have been anything. Being crowned prom queen is a stand in for that. She has her whole life ahead of her and she was on top of the world. All of that possibility was taken from her. She's never going to graduate, go to college, get a job... any of it.  Everything she worked for is ash and it's all this fuckers fault. 

[theworstbuddhist 572]

The gang agreed that the soundtrack for this movie is full of legit music but so far all I've heard is Soul City by the Partland Brothers #cancon

ETA: about 3/4 into the movie I realized that most of you probably wouldn't know the name Paul Zaza. Apart from just being a funny name, he is the John Williams of shitty Canadian film scoring. His credits include all the Prom Nights, My Bloody Valentine, Turk 182, Meatballs III, and several of Bob Clark's most memorable films including Porky's, Baby Geniuses, and A Christmas Story. So that, at least, is sort of legit.

Additional trivia: my college roommate and I used to stay up late on weeknights and watch syndicated reruns of Magnum PI, which were often preceded by a syndicated series called Just Jazz created and hosted by the very same Paul Zaza. It was truly an epitome of 80s Canadian TV.

Edited again because I misspelled the name "bob" ffs

 

[gigi-tastic 2322]

2 hours ago, theworstbuddhist said:

The gang agreed that the soundtrack for this movie is full of legit music but so far all I've heard is Soul City by the Partland Brothers #cancon

ETA: about 3/4 into the movie I realized that most of you probably wouldn't know the name Paul Zaza. Apart from just being a funny name, he is the John Williams of shitty Canadian film scoring. His credits include all the Prom Nights, My Bloody Valentine, Turk 182, Meatballs III, and several of Bob Clark's most memorable films including Porky's, Baby Geniuses, and A Christmas Story. So that, at least, is sort of legit.

Additional trivia: my college roommate and I used to stay up late on weeknights and watch syndicated reruns of Magnum PI, which were often preceded by a syndicated series called Just Jazz created and hosted by the very same Paul Zaza. It was truly an epitome of 80s Canadian TV.

Edited again because I misspelled the name "bob" ffs

 

Can I just say a gold lame blouse with that amount of chest hair showing is a BOLD choice. Granted a gold lame blouse is a bold choice on its own...

[Blast Hardcheese 636]

I have to say that my favorite part of this batshit bananas film has to be be the scene where Principle Nordham (Michael Ironside) furiously drives up the town's church to see Father Cooper just standing outside. The scene is set up for the two to discuss Nordham possibly coming clean over his guilt in his roll in Mary Lou's violent-yet-accidental murder. But taken out of the context of this movie, this scene plays like a forbidden, unrequited love affair: Principle Nordham looks out the windshield of his car and sees Father Cooper. Father Cooper stares back with puppy dog-eyed yearning. Principle Nordham then gets this "I can't do this anymore" look on his face and peels off, to wit Father Cooper calls out in a desperate plea, "Bill...!"

What the fuck do Vicki's parents still see in each other? Her mom is this ultra religious zealot and her dad is this put-upon sad sack. Did they drift apart as Mrs. Carpenter started channeling Piper Laurie from Carrie, or was Mr. Carpenter becoming increasing lax in his Bible thumping ways? I do not get this pairing, like, at all. Also, the roll between Vicki and her mom would have played so much better if Vicki started out as an obedient, straight A student who becomes increasing out-of-control and essentially her mom's worst nightmare once Mary Lou takes over Vicki's body.

Charlize Theron was absolute right about how disgusting the boys room in this movie was. This scene takes place in the 1950's, but that restroom looks like it's in a Greyhound bus terminal. Also, did anyone else notice the old time-y, high-up toilet tanks near the top the ceiling in the stalls? How old is this school? Is this a Canadian thing? I don't recall any of the toilets in the restrooms of schools I went to (grade school through college) having tanks; just pipes that went from the back of the toilet directly into the wall(s).

Is the room Josh (Brock Simpson) hangs out in his own private space at the high school? It's not big enough to be a classroom and it's decked-out with all of his creature comforts (a mini fridge full of beer that looks like a TV, all of his computer equipment, a dartboard, an Albert Einstein poster, etc.) The dude seems to feel pretty secure in that room, as if no one (students or the school's insanely minuscule faculty) would just barge on in while he's receiving a coerced blowjob.

Why are only Mary Lou and Vicki receiving prom royalty coronations? Traditionally, don't most (if not all) high schools crown a prom queen and king? Or is this a more progressive Canadian high school ritual where boys say, are allowed to get away with murdering students and then become the principle of the same schools their crimes occurred in while girls get tiaras and flame-resistant sashes? (Also, semi-but-not-really-related: remember the time Buffy Summers won the Class Protector award at the '99 Sunnydale High prom? Now that was a great prom!)

Finally, a direct question for Paul: as a fellow Star Trek fan, do you watch The Orville? If so, what do you think of it?

[theworstbuddhist 572]

15 minutes ago, gigi-tastic said:

Can I just say a gold lame blouse with that amount of chest hair showing is a BOLD choice. Granted a gold lame blouse is a bold choice on its own...

That's because Eugene Levy was and is the fucking Best.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Charlize just became one of my most favorite guests of all time!!!

I think "I might have to give her my Academy Award!" might also be one of my favorite lines ever lol!

[Blast Hardcheese 636]

3 minutes ago, taylorannephoto said:

Charlize just became one of my most favorite guests of all time!!!

I think "I might have to give her my Academy Award!" might also be one of my favorite lines ever lol!

She's an insanely talented and multi-faceted actor: from Monster to Arrested Development to (the criminally underrated) Young Adult to Atomic Blond to one of the best HDTGM guests of all time. Seriously, what can't Charlize Theron do?

[gigi-tastic 2322]

48 minutes ago, taylorannephoto said:

Charlize just became one of my most favorite guests of all time!!!

I think "I might have to give her my Academy Award!" might also be one of my favorite lines ever lol!

God yes.  Quite honestly the best part of the episodes were because of Charilize and I'm not just saying that because I'm in love with her as almost all wlw are. I hope she comes back for another episode and I'm honestly so happy to see her in a comedy again! She's actually got really great comedic timing as well as being a serious actor.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

1 hour ago, theworstbuddhist said:

That's because Eugene Levy was and is the fucking Best.

His eyebrows alone are a gift to all of humanity.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

So the dad talks about how he took Vickie's mom to prom right before the incest make out sesh. Does that mean they went to the same school as Mary Lou and Hairline Bill? If so you would think seeing a girl go up in flames would have a lasting impression on you . Maybe that's why her mom is so insanely religious because she witnessed Mary Lou become a flambe.

[souprman 10477]

The original line was slightly different 

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

I didn’t see the movie, is the religious book June asks about the Catechism? 

[RyanSz 3140]

So I looked up Brock Simpson's roles in all four films in this series, and each is a different character, and at least two of them die during their respective movie, I couldn't see anything about him dying in the third film so I assume that he lived. Then I saw the only reason he's in all four is that he is the producer's son, and that he only did a couple more films after the fourth Prom Night. They did continue the character of Mary Lou for the next film, but it basically ignores everything from this film outside of how she died, and the film is more of a tongue-in-cheek parody of the series so far and horror films in general. The fourth really plays up the religious leaning by having the killer be a psychotic priest who is killing horny teens, and all of these films minus the first have some connection or take place in 1957 in that same town, so shit was going very wrong there.

Also, where does Kelly fall in the category of most unlikeable bitch role in horror movies that have been covered by the show? She's easily in the top three for me, alongside Judy from Sleepaway Camp and Mia from Vampire Academy in that there were zero redeeming qualities about her, she literally is smiling at the fact that there's one less person competing for prom queen after the pregnant girl is killed by the magical cloth, that is some next level assholery there.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

48 minutes ago, RyanSz said:

So I looked up Brock Simpson's roles in all four films in this series, and each is a different character, and at least two of them die during their respective movie, I couldn't see anything about him dying in the third film so I assume that he lived. Then I saw the only reason he's in all four is that he is the producer's son, and that he only did a couple more films after the fourth Prom Night. They did continue the character of Mary Lou for the next film, but it basically ignores everything from this film outside of how she died, and the film is more of a tongue-in-cheek parody of the series so far and horror films in general. The fourth really plays up the religious leaning by having the killer be a psychotic priest who is killing horny teens, and all of these films minus the first have some connection or take place in 1957 in that same town, so shit was going very wrong there.

Also, where does Kelly fall in the category of most unlikeable bitch role in horror movies that have been covered by the show? She's easily in the top three for me, alongside Judy from Sleepaway Camp and Mia from Vampire Academy in that there were zero redeeming qualities about her, she literally is smiling at the fact that there's one less person competing for prom queen after the pregnant girl is killed by the magical cloth, that is some next level assholery there.

I did find Vickie backhanding her to be particularly satisfying I will admit.

Though I felt kind of bad for her watching her be sexually harassed by Potato Guy into a blowjob to win prom queen. I  thought they were setting it up that she was going to become this generations Mary Lou and seek revenge in the sequel but too many people died for her death to be as traumatic in a way? But maybe her angry ghost doesn't see it like that and they class of 2017 had another killer prom?

[K_D_Campbell 2]

Did anyone else notice that Craig never actually rides the motorcycle? Even the one scene where he “pulls up” it looks like it was pushed into frame by the crew. 

[The Working Dead 12]

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.
 

[theworstbuddhist 572]

47 minutes ago, The Working Dead said:

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.
 

I noticed Craven and figured yeah, that makes sense since the director clearly borrowed a lot from Nightmare on Elm Street (I think someone in the podcast mentions that the director also talked to Craven for advice?) There is a lot of that kind easter egging in horror, with directors playing bit parts in each others' films and naming stuff after each other.

[tomspanks 9039]

Well that was fast. Under Amazon trivia for this movie:

 

Eta: lol nvm it’s imdb 

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I finally saw the movie, and Mary Lou Maloney is a feminist icon.