Well, ok. I might be in the minority here, but I've always been a firm believer that the original 1980 version of Prom Night starring Jamie Lee Curtis just... what's the word? Sucked. It wasn't scary, tense, suspenseful, or engrossing, it was just boring and repetitive. On that note, this newer, glitzier version of Prom Night almost couldn't help but outdo it, given its budget and the available special effects of today. Most people are of the opinion that remaking a film like Prom Night gives the filmmakers some pretty big shoes to fill, but I say there was only one way to go, and that's up.

In any case, this new version of Prom Night is hardly a masterpiece of horror, but it has its high points, which is more than I can say for the old version. Brittany Snow and her teen-ish co-stars do a passable job with what they're given despite the fact that all their characters are completely interchangeable, skin color notwithstanding. The script, believe it or not, mixes things up a bit by revealing early in the film who the killer is and what his apparent motives are, something the original saved for last. There was an appropriate level of build-up, which led to a respectable level of suspense most of the time despite the preordained outcome; it wasn't all slash and bleed, a surprise all its own. Given the subject matter, you will certainly be surprised with the level of character development and the due given each character death, a rarity with "these kinds" of movies.

But while we're on the subject, here's a complaint you won't often hear out of me: despite the film's dreaded PG-13 rating, I really thought it earned an R. There wasn't an excess of blood, but some of the violence was graphic enough (and some of the killings grisly enough) that I thought it squeaked across the line into R territory. If you have teenagers, proceed with caution and don't treat this as your typical PG-13 rated half-scare-fest.

I was also disappointed that Jamie Lee Curtis herself didn't have a role in this new one; she would have been perfect as the gym teacher/emcee of the prom itself, a role that wasn't too big but big enough to give a respectable nod to the film's predecessor. Given her willingness to return to the Halloween franchise a few years ago, it probably would have taken little elbow grease to get her on board for this one as well.

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