Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II | |
---|---|
Peter R. Simpson | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | John Herzog |
Edited by | Nick Rotundo |
Music by | Paul Zaza |
Production company | Simcom Limited[1] |
Distributed by | Norstar Releasing |
Release date | October 16, 1987 |
Running time | 97 minutes[2] |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Budget | CA$2.5 million[3] |
Box office | US$2.7 million[4] |
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II is a 1987 Canadian
Filmed in Edmonton, Alberta in 1986, the film was retitled Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II by its Canadian distributor, Alliance Films. It was released theatrically in the United States by The Samuel Goldwyn Company in October 1987, and grossed nearly $3 million at the U.S. box office. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with many drawing stylistic comparisons to various other films of the era, ranging from David Lynch's Blue Velvet to its horror contemporaries Carrie and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The character Mary Lou Maloney would also appear in the next installment, Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (1990).
Plot
In 1957, 17-year-old Mary Lou Maloney confessed her various sins to a priest en route to her senior prom. Before leaving, she defiantly tells the priest that she loved every minute of her sinning and gives him her phone number. She goes to the Hamilton High School prom with wealthy but unpopular Billy Nordham, who gives her a ring with her initials. Shortly after receiving Billy's ring, Mary Lou sends him off to get refreshments before sneaking backstage to make out with Buddy Cooper. Billy catches them in the act, but Mary Lou leaves him for Buddy. She then dumps her drink on his jacket. While cleaning up in the bathroom, Billy overhears 2 boys preparing a stink bomb. The boys abandon the bomb in the trash due to the principal approach, but once he leaves, Billy grabs it. Mary Lou is announced as prom queen and Billy, having snuck up onto the catwalk, drops the bomb on stage before she is crowned. To the horror of Billy and everyone in attendance, the flames from the bomb ignited her dress. Due to their panic, no one attempts to save her and she burns to death. But not before looking up and seeing that Billy is the one who’s responsible.
30 years later, student Vicki Carpenter goes looking for a prom dress in the school prop room after being denied a new dress by her overly religious mother. While searching, Vicki finds an old trunk containing Mary Lou's prom queen accessories and takes them, releasing Mary Lou's spirit in the process. Vicki shows the accessories to her friends in art class but her closest friend, Jess, is angrily dismissive. Vicki later learns that this is due to Jess struggling with an unexpected pregnancy. Vicki leaves the accessories in her art class and Jess, who stayed late after school to work on a project, finally takes a look at them. Noticing that the crown has real jewels, Jess tries to remove them. This enrages Mary Lou's spirit and she kills Jess, then throws her body out of a window. Her death is eventually ruled a suicide. Vicki soon finds herself plagued by nightmarish hallucinations and confides in Buddy, who is now a priest. When he hears Vicki's stories, Buddy believes Mary Lou may return. Going to Mary Lou's grave, he tries to bless it with his bible but it bursts into flames. Buddy then unsuccessfully tries to warn Billy, now the principal of Hamilton High and the father of Vicki's boyfriend Craig. Vicki hallucinates that her rival, Kelly, is Mary Lou and slaps her. This quickly gets Vicki detention, and she is dragged into the classroom chalkboard. When she re-emerges, she is now fully possessed by Mary Lou. Vicki visits Buddy at the church and, after revealing her possession, stabs him in the mouth with a crucifix. Vicki's new mannerisms and style of dress arouse the concern of Vicki's other friend Monica. Monica tries to confront Vicki in the locker room, but loses her temper and leaves to take a shower. She tries to apologize when Vicki joins her, but Vicki begins to mess with her sexually.
Frightened, Monica tries to leave the locker room, only to find that the door is suddenly locked. She then tries to hide in a locker, but Vicki kills her by
Mary Lou uses the trunk that held her spirit to open a vortex to the Underworld and it begins to suck Craig in. Before he can be pulled through, Billy arrives with the crown and finally gives it to Mary Lou. Thankful, she begins kissing him and the two of them vanish. Vicki, now free of possession, comes out of the trunk and reunites with Craig. In the school’s parking lot, they run into a concerned Billy who makes sure they’re both okay. After they all get into his car, Billy turns on the radio and the Ronnie Hawkins song "Mary Lou" begins to play. Billy shows that he is wearing Mary Lou's ring and his eyes begin to glow. Now possessed by Mary Lou, Billy quickly drives off with the terrified Vicki and Craig.
Cast
- Michael Ironside as Principal Bill "Billy" Nordham
- Steve Atkinson as Young Billy Nordham
- Wendy Lyon as Vicki Carpenter
- Justin Louis as Craig Nordham
- Richard Monette as Father Buddy Cooper
- Robert Lewis as Young Buddy Cooper
- Lisa Schrage as Mary Lou Maloney
- Lorretta Bailey as Mary Lou (creature)
- Terri Hawkes as Kelly Hennenlotter
- Wendell Smith as Walt Carpenter
- Judy Mahbey as Virginia Carpenter
- Beverley Hendry as Monica Waters
- Brock Simpson as Josh
- Beth Gondek as Jess Browning
- John Pyper-Ferguson as Eddie Wood
- Vincent Gale as Rejected Boy
- Michael Evans as Matthew Dante
- Dennis Robinson as Mr. Craven
- Larry Musser as Mr. O'Bannon
- Glen Gretzky as Robert
- David Robertson as Mr. King
Production
The film was originally titled The Haunting of Hamilton High,
The film was shot on location in
Jim Doyle, a special effects designer based in Los Angeles, served as the effects coordinator on the film.[1] Doyle had previously worked on Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart (1982), and WarGames (1983).[1] Some sequences required elaborate set-ups to film, such as the surrealistic sequence in which Vicki collapses into the chalkboard, which becomes a metallic liquid: Though only a 45-second sequence,[1] the production crew scheduled five days to complete the scene, at an estimated cost of $2,000 per hour.[3] Doyle designed the set with the blackboard lying flat on the floor, and filmed it so as to appear that it was standing on end.[1]
Producer Peter Simpson and The Samuel Goldwyn Company reshot half of the film before it completed production, with writer Ron Oliver directing the new scenes himself. The film was subsequently rebranded as a sequel to the slasher Prom Night and retitled Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II by its Canadian production company, Simcom, peripherally connecting the films.[11] Simpson later stated that he felt branding the film a continuation of Prom Night damaged its reception.[12]
Release
The film was released theatrically in October 1987, and later expanded to a wide release on November 13, 1987. It grossed $911,351 in its opening weekend, and ended up making $2,683,519 at the U.S. box office.[4] The film was more of a success on home video.[8]
Critical response
Contemporaneous
Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review, praising Lyon's performance and drawing comparisons to Blue Velvet, adding: "You don't ... have to take Hello Mary Lou at all seriously, and it probably would be a mistake to do so. Certainly, it's not on the deeply personal, highly idiosyncratic artistic level of the David Lynch film, but it is a splendid example of what imagination can do with formula genre material."[13] Vincent Canby of The New York Times described the film's extended "grand guignol" finale, writing: "Bruce Pittman, the director, and Ron Oliver, who wrote the screenplay, have constructed the movie as if it were a gourmet banquet for toddlers. From the first course to the last, it's all ice cream."[7] Bill Cosford from The Arizona Republic called it "a badly made film, as awkward as can be, and long stretches of it make no sense whatsoever. Nor does it manage, as the better slasher films do, to re-create a high-school milieu of even passing authenticity."[14]
Betsy Sherman of
Modern assessment
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II holds a 56% approval rating based on 18 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.30/10.[22]
In a retrospective assessment, film scholar and critic
Home media
Virgin Vision released the film on VHS in May 1988.[27]
As a tie-in for the release of
References
- ^ a b c d e f Dambrofsky, Gwen (October 4, 1986). "Movie stuntwoman has flaming desire". Star-Phoenix. p. C-11 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Stine 2003, p. 143.
- ^ a b c d e f Dodd, John (August 22, 1986). "Flick puts city on horror map". Edmonton Journal. p. 25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
- ^ "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II". Museum of the Moving Image. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023.
- ^ a b Castor, Phil (March 24, 2017). "High School Retrospective: A Look Back At Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II". Blumhouse Productions. Archived from the original on March 26, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
- ^ a b Canby, Vincent (October 17, 1987). "Film: 'Hello Mary Lou'". The New York Times. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
- ^ a b Miller, Rhett. "Canuxploitation Review: Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II". Canuxploitation. Archived from the original on December 13, 2018.
- ^ "Interview: Director Bruce Pittman On Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)". TV Store Online. June 5, 2014. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
- ^ a b Pecchia, David (August 3, 1986). "High Hopes". Los Angeles Times. p. 30 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Lumenick, Lou (October 19, 1987). "Teen horror movies: One's witty, the other witless". The Record. p. B-6 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Curtains Unveiled: An Interview with Peter Simpson". The Terror Trap. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
- ^ Thomas, Kevin (November 17, 1987). "Movie Reviews – 'Hello Mary Lou': Enriching a Genre With Imagination". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
- ^ Cosford, Bill (November 13, 1987). "Blackboard bungle: Hello Mary Lou, Prom Night II". The Arizona Republic. p. 51 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sherman, Betsy (December 5, 1987). "No thrills or chills in 'Prom Night'". The Boston Globe. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Yagoda, Ben (October 19, 1987). "Horror-Film Sequel Has Little Prom-ise". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 46 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Harrington, Richard (October 22, 1987). "'Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017.
- ^ Hunter, Stephen (October 20, 1987). "'Hello Mary Lou,' goodbye sincerity, wit and talent". The Baltimore Sun. p. 48 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Ringel, Eleanor. "'Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II' exorcises old high school demons". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
- South Florida Sun-Sentinel. p. 6E – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II". TV Guide. Archived from the original on September 20, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
- ^ "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
- ^ Muir 2011, pp. 578–580.
- ^ Mayo 2011, p. 284.
- ^ Pahle, Rebecca (October 17, 2017). "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II is the feminist slasher classic you probably haven't heard of". Syfy. Archived from the original on November 24, 2017.
- ComingSoon.net. Archivedfrom the original on October 27, 2017.
- ^ Naureckas, Jim (May 15, 1988). "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on October 13, 2019.
- ^ Barton, Steve (April 10, 2008). "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (DVD)". Dread Central. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017.
Sources
- Mayo, Mike (2011). The Horror Show Guide: The Ultimate Frightfest of Movies. ISBN 978-1-578-59459-7.
- ISBN 978-0-786-45501-0.
- Stine, Scott Aaron (2003). The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-476-61132-7.