B000244G9U

096009182397

1980

1980-07-18

92

1h 32min

Awards, 2 nominations

Paul Lynch

William Gray, Robert Guza Jr.

Leslie Nielsen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Stevens

Peter R. Simpson, Richard Simpson

Paul Zaza, Carl Zittrer

Robert C. New

Brian Ravok

Reuben Freed

Jenny Arbour, Christine Hart, Kathleen Mifsud

Deanne Judson, Maggie McMeekin, Dan Nyberg

Martha Hendricks, Lee Knippelberg, Dan Nyberg, Steve Wright

Marmie Charndoff, Jo-Ann Chorney, Robin Collyer, Linda McClelland, Mark Molin, Dave Ross, Alan Sharpe, Jeff Wilson

Gary C. Bourgeois, Tony Currie, Bryan Day, Robin Leigh, Tom Mather, Bruce Nyznik, Andy Malcolm

Allan Cotter, Warren Keillor

Jere Berry, Randy Kamula, Terry Martin, Dwayne McLean, Karen Pike, Shelley Cook

Christophe Bonnière, Carlo Campana, Greg Farrow, Henri Fiks, Robert Fresco, Bob Gallant, Frieder Hocheim, Marvin Midwicki, Barry Stone, Dennis Thompson, David Zimmerman

Karen Hazzard, Sheila Manning

Constance Buck, Kat Moyer

Bill Carter, Joan Giammarco, Ian McBride, Brian Ravok

Aine Furey

Highstreet, Frank Morrone, Paul Zaza

Sarah Grahame

Donato Baldassarra

Donato Baldassarra, Elizabeth Blomme, Stan David, Jody Morden, Linda Moyle

Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Guardian Trust Company, Prom Night Productions, Simcom Limited

Canada

English

R

5.3

18238

45

Prom Night is a 1980 Canadian slasher film directed by Paul Lynch, written by William Gray, and starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen. The plot follows a group of high school seniors who are targeted at their prom by a masked killer seeking vengeance for the accidental death of a young girl six years earlier. It features supporting performances from Casey Stevens, Eddie Benton, Mary Beth Rubens and Michael Tough.

Prom Night was filmed in Toronto in late 1979 on a budget of $1.5 million. Distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures, it premiered in the United States in July 1980 in select cities, and was an immediate financial success. Its release platform expanded to major cities such as Los Angeles and New York in August, where it was again met with high box-office receipts. At the time, the film was AVCO Embassy s most financially successful release, breaking weekend records in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New England.

By the end of its theatrical run, Prom Night had grossed $15 million in the United States, and was Canada s highest-earning horror film of 1980. Critical reaction to the film varied, with some, such as Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, dismissing it for its depictions of violence against women, while others alternately praised the film for its more muted violent content. Prom Night received some critical accolades, garnering Genie Award nominations for editing and for Curtis s leading performance. An alternative cut of the film was popularly aired on American and Canadian television networks in 1981.

In the intervening years, Prom Night has accrued a substantial cult following, not only for its horror content but also for its disco-heavy soundtrack, which was released by RCA Records in Japan in 1980. Some film scholars have cited Prom Night as one of the most influential slasher films of the period. Several companies released the film on video, and it was distributed on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 1998. A remastered Blu-ray edition was released by Synapse Films in 2014.

CA$1,500,000 (estimated)

$14,796,236

$14,796,236

Revenge,teenager,teenage sex,high school prom,slasher