Recently there has been some buzz over the new "horror" film, Prom Night which I’m guessing is hitting theaters soon.  This film is intended to be a remake of the classic 1980’s slasher of the same name starring Jamie Lee Curtis, yet appears to only bear resemblance to the original in name only.  I happened stumble across the trailer to this PG-13 film (I just love modern day PG-13 horror films, let me tell you) and what I saw quite frankly confused me.  Was this a feel-good teen drama about prom, or was it another not-so-scary horror film with a girl cowering in fear from a mysterious villain? 

Quite frankly, I didn’t know what this film was aiming for.  However, little did I know that this streak of confusion was to continue as I explored the other ways that Sony Pictures was trying to market this shit-fest.  Here is by far some of the worst promotion for a "horror" movie that I’ve ever seen.  Let’s start with the trailer:

Here we have:

• An amazing pop-punk cover of Cyndi Lauper’s "Time After Time"
• A bunch of model-like high schoolers that look nothing like teens in real life
• Screaming
• Jump scares and scenes that give away basically the entire movie
• More screaming

From this trailer, it looks to be that the "killer" is an escaped mental patient.  Truly groundbreaking stuff here, but that’s not all.

Next up is a promo for a contest from MTV.  Here we have a chance to meet Brittany Snow, which quite frankly isn’t a bad contest at all.  However, I did not this interesting tidbit of terror concerning the contest rules:

• Submit a 30-45 second video telling Brittany why she should pick you.  Be heartwarming, be funny, be original, be yourself.

Now those are some qualities that should be included in any film in this genre.  Keep in mind that the page has a scary backdrop and spooky fonts, yet encourages heartwarming attitudes and "just being yourself".  This is for a horror movie right?  Anyone?

Finally, I should talk a promo I saw last night on MTV for this film.  I don’t have any links or video for this one, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.   It featured some meathead high school kid in a tuxedo talking about his prom night.  Just think of Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds in a tuxedo and you’ll get the gist of what I’m talking about:

Anyway, this goof is talking about his night at the prom and how he went with his girlfriend, blah blah blah. Think of someone with the acting skills of a shoe, and that’s what I witnessed on screen.  He then goes on about how is girlfriend started to make out with another girl and other useless nonsense which has nothing to do with anything.

Now at this point I’m expecting the story to change into how he was chased by a madman, or something spooky along those lines. Of course this never comes about, and the promo abruptly ends and the Prom Night logo is flashed on screen. Nothing about horror or anything scary, just a douchebag talking about going to prom then a quick movie plug.  Wait what?

So there you have it, another mindless Hollywood disaster being marketed in a completely nonsensical way.  I won’t be surprised if this movie hits number one opening weekend either.  Ah, what will be the the next remake they have in store for us?  Only time will tell.

Technorati Tags: Prom Night, movie, Sony, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ogre, MTV, Brittany Snow, horror, remake, theater