The Last Prom (1980) User Reviews

Predictable

[Paul-308 · 3/10 · 1 April 2005]

You could see the final outcome from a mile away.All the signs were there....the prom,the liquor,the fast ride,the distraction of the females.... A good commercial for seatbelt usage,and later model vehicles that sit the passengers further back from the windshield.Also,the ending is rather anti climatic,as the Ford Econoline van barely suffers a crease across its nose after hitting a bridge abuttment at high speed (highly unlikely).More damage to the van would have made it a little more believable.And why do these films always take place during/after a prom? Is it a case of once you survive the prom,you will be good for life? More than anything else,it shows the lack of policing the prom for liquor,and not keeping tabs on the MINORs who are leaving the dance for a joyride.

Chilling yet effective

[gjung01 · 16 April 2003]

This was done like an after school special but the message still remains fresh even when I saw it at just 10 years of age. The story follows the scenario of teenagers drinking and driving on prom night. The lead girl is a good kid but is thrown into the situation by peer pressure and wanting to fit in. Of course, this leads to tragic results and a final scene that uses silence in a powerful way to emphasize the finality of death. Unfortunately, this scenario has played out many times in real life. Many kids may think twice after watching this film.

I've Been There and haven't done it!

[marcus-brainard · 10/10 · 22 May 2008]

I saw this when i was 14, in 1970 and the "death" car was a 1959 Chevrolet Impala and the story was told what happens when kids get drinking and driving fast and Prom Night becomes a tragic event. And 28 years later the same story is done however the "death car" is now a Ford Enconline Van for the death car the same damage is similar to the damage of the 1959 Impala Convertible. The story is the same but there are different actors and what happens when you drink and drive fast. It holds a good message. But My ideal of Prom Night is pool date for two. However in 1974 in my senior year I went to a prom at my local school as an observer & did pose with girl for the photo session & I was dressed to the 9s for the photo. It seems people like Prom Events gone bad. There is "Carrie" and there is "Prom Night I thru IV" to name examples. But Prom Night ala Esther Williams is my kind of Prom Night to Remember.

At least they listened to a cool DJ

[mitchinam · 6/10 · 19 November 2019]

I am a retired broadcaster. My first gig out of college, in the summer of 79 was at a southern Illinois radio station. It was owned by Gene Mcpherson. He was a successful Cincinatti newscaster and documentary film maker and he had purchased this Olney, Ill.station and actually lived on the premises. I was his evening DJ, and he asked me to record what you hear when the ill fated teens turn the radio on. I believe I likely adlibbed the "don't do anything I wouldn't do" portion.I was only 22 at the time, and it took me 40 years before I actually saw this on line and heard my part. I believe Gene paid me $25 for it. Even by 1980 standards, this is a little cheesy, the actors are obviously amateurs, but it does get the point across with good production values. By the way my old boss is the newscaster at the beginning and he narrates throughout.

Death

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 12 March 2024]

Directed and written by Gene McPherson, The Last Prom is a remake of the 1962 film and it updates it in a way that it kept shocking students for decades. I mean, I know that I saw it in 1988 in my high school.

Sandy Clark (Sheelagh Bevan) may have broken up with her boyfriend, but her friend Judy Grant (Mary LeClair) and her boyfriend Jim Miller (Ron Bohmer) fix her up with Bill Donovan (Jamie Bozian). Soon, they're at the big event and the boys are getting trashed on vodka while no one is watching and they're all joy riding and you see where this is going. Nearly everyone is about to die, as this is a slasher movie as much as anything that came out in the golden era of the genre.

Even though Bill caused the crash and killed everyone, he still goes to Sandy's funeral. I have no idea why this happens.

This film also led to the mock accident that schools put on outside in the parking lot every year. When they did mine, the effects looked so bad and I had begged to be allowed to do them and was refused, as I was told that the levels of gore that I had planned would upset people. Isn't that the point? Wouldn't people at prom maybe behave a little better if they had seen a cheerleader's intestines all over the Lincoln High School teacher's lot?

I kind of love the ghost images and foreshadowing with the scenes of the bloody van and Sandy's face heading toward a windshield. It's shot like a documentary otherwise but man, it sure comes off as the most doom student scare movie I have ever sat through numerous times. If only everything they forced us to do in school was this good.