The first thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was the hazy dream-like filter that's all over the entire movie. It annoyed the hell out of me at first, but it eventually grew on me and gives the film a unique charm. It's not overly distracting, but it does take a few minutes for your eyes to fully adjust to it.
All the early-morning scenes in the movie are visually stunning. A few years ago this is isn't something I would've noticed or paid too much attention to. But those awesome and eerie early mornings where there's a thick fog and a layer of dew on everything is perfectly captured in this film.
The film itself isn't great by any means, but like I stated, this film has a unique charm that can't be ignored 38 years later. Friday the 13th pre-dates this movie by two months. But F13 is known for ushering in the camp slasher craze (which I will be eternally grateful for), but Prom Night doesn't nearly get the credit it deserves for introducing us to the modern "whodunit" teen slasher, something F13 also did. It's a subgenre that faded quickly and made a huge re-emergence in the late '90s and early 2000s (and now again in the late 2010s).
My only real complaint with the film is the super anti-climactic ending. Yeah, the killer is revealed and all, but there's no real final confrontation...and the killer's exit is quite dull...leaving a few unanswered questions and red herrings left out in the wind.
Horror seems to be back at full-force nowadays and so are the slashers. But it never hurts to go back and see where this sub-genre's humble beginnings began to take root.
Why oh why couldn't Prom Night (2008) have been a shot-for-shot remake? I think people might have actually enjoyed it.
But it's all good. I enjoy the original Prom Night and hopefully you, too, find the time to revisit this classic slasher.
If you're curious about my thoughts on the sequels, please refer to my 2014 post: Revisiting the PROM NIGHT sequels.