I’ve never been to any of my high school reunions. I went to school in the Caribbean, and getting back there is hard to do, what with life interfering with my ability to reunite with former compadres. In real life, that is; celluloid memories, however, are ever present. And with another school year ending, what better time to revisit that sequel in name only, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)—a film that copies all the class notes off of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Carrie, but does it with such charm and gusto that you can’t help but love it anyway. This Canadian graduate from the Class of ’87 still has the moves. (The film that is, not me. My moves are buried in a trunk in the basement.)
Straight up slashers were pretty much done by the time Mary Lou was released; with the rise of more supernatural villains such as Freddy Krueger, there just wasn’t a viable market for a regular stab and gab much like the original Prom Night (1980), which did manage to cash in on that particular beloved sub-genre before rust oxidized the bloodied machete.
Hamilton High, 1957. Mary Lou Maloney (Lisa Schrage) is a popular girl with the male populace, and by popular I mean promiscuous. In the film’s first scene, she’s off to profess her sins, and writes her name on the confessional wall with lipstick. It’s Prom Night, and Mary’s ever-patient boyfriend, Bill (Steve Atkinson), catches her making out with Buddy (Robert Lewis) backstage before she’s crowned Prom Queen. As she takes the stage, Bill drops a stink bomb from above, which ignites her dress, sets her ablaze, and leaves all the prom goers aghast in the knowledge that it’s too late to get their deposits back on their tuxes and gowns.
Flash forward to Hamilton High, 1987, and the streamers are being hung again for the prom. An unearthed trunk releases Mary Lou’s tiara, and her spirit is reborn through teenaged Vicki (Wendy Lyon), who already has enough going on in her life. (For instance, dating the principal’s son, Craig (Louis Ferreira). And when the principal is the grown-up Bill and played by Michael Ironside, you’re just asking for trouble.) As the prom fast approaches, Mary Lou’s spirit becomes stronger, working through Vicki to attain her ultimate goal: reclaiming her crown and finishing her prom. It’s up to Craig, Bill, and (now a priest) Buddy (Richard Monette) to stop Mary Lou and her hallway horror.
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II distinguished itself right out of the gate by telling a completely different story than the original; not only that, it’s just a much better film. The first is a rather bland, darkly lit slasher with more dancing than killing, and is remembered more for the star power of Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen than any significant contribution to the genre. Free from the form, Hello Mary Lou decides to crib not from its predecessor’s brethren, but rather from the more fantastical elements present in popular horror of the day. The only connective tissue between the two films is the name of the high school; beyond that, they’re completely different in tone, attitude, and execution. Hello Mary Lou is filled with an energy you want from a high school horror film; teenagers have such a heightened sensibility that when a filmmaker can tap into that in a fun and clever way like director Bruce Pittman (Mark of Cain) and screenwriter Ron Oliver (1990s Goosebumps TV series) do, it makes for an entertaining romp.
And if the witty dialogue doesn’t sell it for you (and I think it should; there are some great lines, especially from Mary Lou), the creative effects work will. Working within an Elm Street world writ real, Jim Doyle (The Stand) et al. deliver on a limited budget, creating everything from chalkboard whirlpools to locker accordion deaths to a spectacularly gruesome rebirth for Mary Lou at the prom. It’s lively, effective work that champions the imagination of the filmmakers.
The same goes for the cast. We get energetic performances all around from your normal over-the-hill teenagers, with a special mention for headliner Ironside. How wonderful is it to see him in a good guy role? (Not a great guy, but good. It’s hard to scrub the meanness from that imposing mug.) As for Mary Lou herself, Schrage has a blast with the role; sexy, smart, clever, and deadly, she acts as a strong feminist version of Freddy. Women are killin’ it for themselves.
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II barely made back its $2 million dollar budget. Surely the tenuous connection to the original must have helped it attain even that meager goal; The Haunting of Hamilton High (original title) may have seen even less action at the box office. But being known as a sequel to a fairly well-known slasher has its upside, too—especially when said sequel leaps to the head of the class and shows the true meaning of school spirit. In the immortal words of Mary Lou Maloney (and Little Richard, of course): A wop boppa loo bop, a wop bam BOOM!
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This retrospective is part of our Class of 1987 special features celebrating a wide range of genre films that were first released thirty years ago. Stay tuned to Daily Dead in the coming days for more pieces celebrating one of the most exciting graduating classes in horror and sci-fi, and check here to read all of our Class of ’87 retrospectives.
Scott Drebit lives and works in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is happily married (back off ladies) with 2 grown kids. He has had a life-long, torrid, love affair with Horror films. He grew up watching Horror on VHS, and still tries to rewind his Blu-rays. Some of his favourite horror films include Phantasm, Alien, Burnt Offerings, Phantasm, Zombie, Halloween, and Black Christmas. Oh, and Phantasm.
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