Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)

Let's be realistic.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Fantastic!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The opening does a good job of hooking you, after that it takes about half the movie for things to get going, but when they do, man, you get some of the best horror-camp the 80s spat in your face. First off, the set pieces are amazing - some of them looking like they'd be right at home in a Freddy movie. Also, the main actress sells her characters transformation once possessed, going from a wholesome, high school student into a vicious, murdering bitch. The cherry on the haunted cake is Micheal Ironside, who is always welcome in any movie (yes, even Highlander 2). Then, I suppose, the whip-cream is the girls locker room sequence (boner inducing). Lastly, the ending is spooktacular, with some more incredible effects. I highly recommend this superior sequel, and (spoilers) there's another one.

In 1957 Hamilton High, Mary Lou Maloney is a sexually aggressive girl who dump her stiff boyfriend Billy Nordham at prom after making out with another guy. He's hurt and sets off a stink bomb as Mary Lou is crowned prom queen. Her dress is set on fire and she dies a horrible death. In the present, Vicki Carpenter (Wendy Lyon) is a sweet girl suffering under her strict religious mother. Her boyfriend Craig Nordham is the son of principal Billy Nordham (Michael Ironside). Vicky finds Mary Lou's cursed crown. Her friend Jess releases the spirit when she tries to take the crown apart. She is hung to death by the spirit and it is declared it a suicide.There is a bit of comedy both intentional and unintentional. The 80s style is insane and the movie has to also have 50s style. For lower level 80s horrors, this is one of my favorites. I love the locker room scene. It is shoot perfectly. Every cut has something terrific. Then it ends in such a memorable way. The movie is an amalgam of some great horrors like Carrie. Sometimes the horror B-movie seams are showing but I do love the locker room.

"Hello Mary Lou"... concerns a girl who finds herself possessed by the vengeful spirit of a deceased prom Queen.This was a surprisingly spooky and nifty little horror flick by my standards. It's not exactly the best movie ever made, but I'll get to that in a minute. The ultimate strong points of this film are most definitely the special effects and it's decent writing . The special effects are top notch, and the stunningly original ideas behind them make them even more impressive. We get a creepy as all get out rocking horse which springs to life, a chalk board which becomes a pool, a locker which squishes some poor girl, some really good burn makeup, and much more. While some of the effects seem similar to another popular slasher series of that time (Nightmare on Elm Street), they are still very good in their own right. The plot and storyline, while a little too "Carrie"-esque, do move along quite well. It was quite interesting to see Vicki's slow transformation from average school girl to insane demon, and the kills which get thrown in are less than routine (see the locker death I mentioned above). Earlier I said this wasn't exactly the best movie ever made. I have my reasons. Mostly it's due to the acting. While it was interesting to see Vicki become Mary Lou, Wendy Lyon's performance just becomes more and more over the top as we go along, and builds up to an absolutely ridiculous, "Places to go, people to kill" answering machine message. No one else's performance was much to write home about either. Another beef- Mary Lou's spirit just isn't that scary. She's still a rebellious and "loose" teenage girl, and while that actually makes sense for this film, it was still more campy than scary to me. Overall, it's a very effective and chilling mini masterpiece of a horror film. It's underrated, probably due to it's lame title and it's odd association with a less than stellar slasher film from seven years earlier(which makes me wonder why they chose to call it a sequel at all. It has practically nothing to do with the original, and by 1987, "Prom Night" must've already been old news; it's not like there could've been legions of fans clamoring for even an in name only sequel or anything, but what do I know?) Lord knows that's why I had avoided it for so long. But give it a shot, if you're into an unusual slasher with great, surrealistic effects and a little originality to boot.

"Prom Night" took a long road towards becoming a horror series. Seven years after the original, a sequel finally rolled out. The slasher subgenre was played out by then and the original story presented little opportunity for a follow-up. "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II" took the series in a radically different direction, one of quasi-comedic supernatural horror. The stories are totally unrelated, connected only by the high school, prom setting. It's no surprise to read that the screenplay wasn't written as a sequel at all and was, instead, slapped with the "Prom Night" connection in post."Hello Mary Lou" is so much better then you'd expect an in-name-only sequel to a minor slasher flick to be. Its premise is successfully played for both humor and chills, featuring plenty of slimy special effects and an unexpectedly erotic streak. Back in 1957, promiscuous, rebellious prom queen Mary Lou Mahoney was accidentally set ablaze by her jilted boyfriend. Thirty years later, good girl Vicki Carpenter stumbles upon Mary Lou's tiara in an old store room. Slowly, the vicious spirit of the undead prom queen begins to possess Vicki, once again making prom night a night for terror at Hamilton High."Prom Night II" takes it time setting up its premise. The opening flashback is rather brilliantly presented, the camera swooping in and out of an old storage truck at the start and end. Vicki's eventual corruption by Mary Lou's spirit is a gradual process. She has disturbing hallucinations during the school day. Some of these are humorous, like the volley ball net transforming into a spider's web, her teammates turned into pasty-faced zombies. Others are genuinely off-putting and weirdly creepy. In her bedroom at home, her childhood rocking horse gains red, reptilian eyes and a perversely long tongue. The lunch lady in the cafeteria is suddenly spooning out corpse soup with a side of fresh cockroach. A subtle one has the face of a taunting schoolmate transforming into Mary Lou's grinning face. Vicki's final nightmare sees a chalkboard morphed into a pool of black sludge. The creepy rocking horse returns for a late moment of incestuous kissing, easily the film's most disquieting bit.The stand-out moment of "Hello Mary Lou" comes after Vicki is completely taken over by the evil ghost. After her changed behavior annoys a close friend, Vicki-Lou decides to seduce the girl while they're both in the gym shower. Unexpected for 1987, both actresses show full nudity as light-kissing turns to heavy petting. The audience gets a thrill but the character doesn't buy it. The stalking scene that follows features no music, only the possessed girl humming a tune, running her hands over the locker doors. The suspense builds nicely and the gory pay-off is impressive. The rest of the movie is more of a campy guilty pleasure but that one moment combines titillation and horror fantastically.The film mostly plays its supernatural elements for humor. While stabbing a priest to death, the possessed Vicki reflects on the truths of the afterlife. A high school teacher with grabby hands gets his comeuppance comically. The culture clash of a 1950s teenage getting launched into the eighties provides some amusing antics. An attempt to rig the prom queen vote goes awry for the AV nerd, probably the movie's funniest bit. The film's jokey side mostly manifest in horror film in-jokes. Characters have familiar sounding last names, like Carpenter, Henenlotter, Browning, Craven, Wood, Waters, and O'Bannon. Mary Lou's climatic reappearance goofs on "Carrie." There are numerous shout-outs to "The Exorcist." It's apparent the film was made by fans of the genre.Keeping the film sincere among its goofiness and nastiness are surprisingly well-acted and rounded characters. Wendy Lyon is immensely likable as Vicki. Her wide-eyes and innocent good-girl looks gets the audience's sympathies. Lyon plays a girl loosing her sanity very well. Once possessed, she has no problem playing the other side of the coin. She camps it up fantastically, delivering silly one-liners. Lisa Scrage doesn't have much screen time but makes an impression as Mary Lou. She's looks fantastic with her bright blue eyes and tight prom gown. She, too, has a good time playing a campy horror villain. The commitment to character is clear when the subplots that otherwise would have been drool actually hold your attention. Vicki's best friend has a startlingly confession early on, the camera not cutting away. You wouldn't expect such a moment of honest emotion in the middle of your trashy horror sequel.And that's why "Prom Night II" is awesome. The script is refreshing and smart. The performances are committed and strong. The direction is stylish. The film gets both laughs and scares. This is a sequel that is vastly superior to the original.