Prom Night (1980) Is Awkward, Dull, and Totally 80s. [Tubi Horror Review]

Genre – Horror
Director – Paul Lynch
Writers – William Gray, Robert Guza Jr.
Cast – Jamie Lee Curtis, Leslie Nielsen, Eve Plumb, Michael Tough, Casey Stevens
Runtime – 93 Minutes
My Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐½☆☆☆☆☆

Watch/Stream Prom Night on Tubi for free

If you know anything about me, you will know I like watching low budget horror films, and Tubi is the perfect platform to find them. I don’t actually like a lot of them, but I do find some of them dumb fun and good to put on when I want to turn my brain off. Although, some are just dumb without the fun part.

So I will be doing mini reviews, well more statements, about these films, much shorter than my other reviews, and my ratings for the films will generally be based on how much fun they are, because not many of them are actually good in the objective sense.

All my Tubi horror film reviews

Prom Night actually had a half decent budget for its time of $1.5 million, and isn’t the usual low budget fare I seek out on Tubi, but I watched it, so will write about it anyway.

Prom Night

Prom Night follows a relentless killer who is out to avenge the death of a young girl who died after being bullied and teased by four of her classmates.

Now high-school students, the guilt-ridden kids have kept their involvement a secret, but when they start being murdered, one by one, it’s clear that someone knows the truth.

Also coping with the past are members of the dead girl’s family, most notably her prom-queen sister, Kim Hammond.

My Thoughts

Opens with bullying and death

Some kids bully a girl so badly she falls to her death, that’s the whole setup.

Fast forward six years and it’s prom night

Everyone kind of looks like they lost a bet at a thrift store. You get the full 80’s jam, with shoulder pads, glitter, and perms everywhere, and no one dances like a normal human.

Jamie Lee Curtis is doing her best

She tries, hard. Her performance is the only good thing, really. She’s the calm in a storm of bad acting and worse writing.

The killer’s look

A sparkly black ski mask and a knife. Nil points for creativity.

The kills are pretty basic

A few axe swings, some throat slashes. But not much fun, just standard slasher checklist stuff.

The pacing drags hard

It takes forever to get going. For almost an hour, you get teens wandering halls, looking confused, dancing badly, and staring into space, and you’ll wonder why you’re still watching. Spoiler: it’s for Jamie Lee Curtis.

Leslie Nielsen is here and looks lost

He plays the principal and is a bit pointless with no purpose. Just stands there, looking confused for the most part.

The soundtrack is an identity crisis

Disco beats one second, tense strings the next, and some weird piano noodling thrown in for good measure. It just doesn’t fit.

Dialogue is painfully awkward

Characters say nothing of interest and deliver everything with zero conviction. You’ll probably laugh, but not because it’s funny.

The killer’s identity is obvious

You’ll figure out who’s behind the mask halfway through. And you probably won’t care.

The prom queen subplot

Jamie Lee’s character has a sister who’s the prom queen, and it’s meant to add drama but feels like they just forgot about it.

Final Thoughts On Prom Night

Prom Night is a slow, awkward disco slasher saved by Jamie Lee Curtis’s performance and a seriously ‘80s vibe.

Prepare for a slog filled with bad acting, obvious twists, and zero scares.

Final Score: 4.5/10
UP: Jamie Lee Curtis, disco vibes
DOWN: Slow pacing, dull killer, bad soundtrack, obvious twist, awkward dialogue

Prom Night Trailer

Simon Leasher

A lover of cinema for over 35 years, I have watched many films from around the world in many different genres, yet I still normally always come back to trashy slasher horror films when in doubt. More

And yes, The Godfather 2 is better than The Godfather.