Movies
Beyond Mary Lou: Exploring the Prom Night Quadrilogy
It’s Back to School time, so it’s high time to reflect on an institution that I’ve possibly spent more time with than my actual high school: Hamilton High, the center of the Prom Night quadrilogy. Prom Night, which lasted from 1980 through 1992, is a bit of a C-tier slasher franchise. It’s certainly not robust at the level of your Friday the 13ths or Nightmare on Elm Streets. And it doesn’t quite fit in with the B-tier franchises (so called because they swooped in slightly before or after the slasher golden era, not because of their quality) like Candyman, Final Destination, or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, considering the fact that many mainstream viewers probably don’t know Prom Night had a sequel in the first place.
An Often Overlooked Franchise
For those in the know (which I’m assuming is you, considering you clicked on a link to a site called Horror Press), the first two Prom Night films are the ones that you’ve probably seen or at least heard discussed the most. This makes sense, as the Canadian franchise abhors continuity and is loosely connected at best (despite the recurring presence of Hamilton High, actor Brock Simpson, and the iconic line “ It’s not who you come with, it’s who takes you home”), which wouldn’t necessarily spark obsessive fandom. However, each of the Prom Night movies has a special spark that makes them worth watching in one way or another, and I’d like to take a moment to dig into the meat of what makes this bizarre, misbegotten franchise truly special beyond its current reputation.
(For the record, this article will not cover the 2008 remake Prom Night, because it’s an in-name-only remake and my mother always taught me that if I don’t have anything nice to say about something, I shouldn’t include it in my slasher retrospective.)
Prom Night (1980)
The one that started it all! Prom Night remains notable in the slasher sphere for being one of the early titles to cement star Jamie Lee Curtis’ status as a scream queen after her auspicious debut in 1978’s Halloween. Following a masked killer stalking students six years after a prank gone wrong resulted in the death of a child, Prom Night also features one of Leslie Nielsen’s final dramatic performances before Airplane! provided him with the career pivot of a lifetime.
Prom Night is a pretty rote early slasher, for the most part. However, that’s of historical interest considering how early in the game it distills most of the most long-running tropes of the genre. On top of that, it’s got some indelible moments that spice it up. This includes the notorious extended sequence of Jamie Lee disco dancing her heart out, on which mileage may vary. But I love it, especially thanks to composer Paul Zaza’s zippy original song “Prom Night.” It’s a real curio of the culture of the late 1970s, which maybe isn’t what it intended to be but is still a fun thing anyway. Prom Night also boasts a killer chase sequence and a severed head rolling onto a catwalk in the middle of prom (though sadly the gore quotient of the rest of the film is not quite up to snuff).
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
Because of Prom Night’s lackluster reception, it makes sense that not only did it take more than half a decade to receive a sequel, but said sequel ignores basically everything about it except for the aforementioned connections that link every movie in this franchise. However, the gulf between films also feels huger as a result of one of the biggest slasher releases of the decade: 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. After the explosive release of that instant classic, the slasher genre made a Black Friday-esque rush on supernatural plots, grabbing every last amulet, spell, and demonic entity it could get its hands on, and the Prom Night franchise was no exception. Adding a healthy dose of Carrie into the Elm Street mix, Hello Mary Lou follows the titular Mary Lou Maloney (Lisa Schrage) after she is killed at prom in the 1950s and returns 30 years later to possess and murder various teens as part of her wicked revenge against her killers.
Prom Night II goes full-on rubber reality, presenting some of the most dazzlingly inventive supernatural horror sequences this side of Springwood, Ohio, including a disgusting living rocking horse and a chalkboard that turns into a pool of water with chalk letters floating around on it. With its deep psychosexual bent, full-tilt embrace of 1980s aesthetics, and effortless watchability, this entry is the undeniable high point of the franchise.
Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (1990)
Prom Night III does feature the return of Mary Lou (now played by Courtney Taylor, newly obsessed with a hunky boy, and willing to murder anyone who gets in his way), but it is something of a comedown if you’re a passionate fan of Prom Night II. However, the recent death of the slasher (1989 is pretty clearly the death knell of the genre’s post-Elm Street silver age before Scream kicked off its Renaissance in 1996) wasn’t enough to prevent this title from adding at least a little bit of spice to the mix.
You see, the turn that Prom Night III took was a sharp swerve onto Goof Boulevard. This film basically plants Mary Lou into a live-action Looney Tunes short, pushing away from rubber reality and toward full-on surrealism, complete with people on the other end of a phone line sounding like helium-addicted squirrels. Also, this entry is where the Canadian franchise really leans into pretending to be set in America (as if naming the high school after Alexander Hamilton wasn’t enough), so the camp quotient is upped by the flotilla of American flags that are shoved haphazardly into what feels like every frame. While the kills aren’t quite on the level of the previous outings, they’re still delightfully wacky and presented more creatively than the average direct-to-video slasher.
Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil (1992)
Prom Night IV is probably the hardest to defend of the bunch, but hell, I’m gonna do it anyway. It’s even more unrelated to the ongoing franchise than the previous outings, as it follows a group of teens who are having an anti-prom party at an isolated mountain cabin where they are stalked by a murderous stigmata-bearing priest. It’s by far the most rote slasher of the bunch, even compared to Prom Night, so perhaps its biggest strength is that it is somehow an early 1990s slasher that doesn’t make you want to gouge your own eyes out with an ice cream scoop. Also, I’m sorry to say it, but you really can’t go wrong with a killer priest wielding a super-sharp crucifix.
This is definitely the one where you have to put your “bad-good” goggles on in order to properly appreciate stuff like the killer coming out of a 33-year coma looking like he hasn’t aged a day, or the shriekingly bad decisions made by the final girl at every turn. But there’s plenty of joy to be mined here still, including a meta joke that references Jamie Lee Curtis, pre-empting the meta-horror boom that would come several years later thanks to Wes Craven’s New Nightmare and Scream.
Prom Night, Everything is Alright
So yes, it may be the case that pretty much every one of the Prom Night movies should be taken with a grain of salt. But for a haphazard four-film franchise to have such a deep bench of offbeat and interesting titles is no small feat. This Back to School season, you can still go ahead and embrace your high school/college horror by binging Scream or Elm Street movies, sure. But why not also throw in a Prom Night or two? Or four?
Movies
How Lucha Libre Birthed Mexico’s Wildest Horror Films
Though schlocky B-horror is often associated with American films of men in cheap rubber monster suits and small casts running around in the desert, past our southern border Mexican pop culture has a strong, storied history of B-horror surrounding luchadores, masked wrestlers. Movies where the kings of the ring beat down on anything demonic or alien that crosses their path. But those films themselves have a wild origin, stemming from a post-war hunt for identity and censorship on the basis of sex. Truly, the luchador films that became the bulk of mexploitation cinema as we know it today didn’t come from a strong desire to uplift lucha but from attempts to suppress it. To understand lucha libre and how it became popular enough to be banned from television, we have to get back to the first half of the 20th century, with the end of the Mexican Revolution.
Today’s story is one of domino effects. Of how cultural moments and political decisions can send out ripples that no one can see coming, to the most unlikely of places sometimes. It’s about the unpredictable and ephemeral nature of life, on and off film. And about how cool it is to see a guy in a silver mask elbow-drop a werewolf. This is the story of how Lucha Libre birthed some of Mexico’s wildest horror films.
Though schlocky B-horror is often associated with American films of men in cheap rubber monster suits and small casts running around in the desert, past our southern border Mexican pop culture has a strong, storied history of B-horror surrounding luchadores, masked wrestlers. Movies where the kings of the ring beat down on anything demonic or alien that crosses their path. But those films themselves have a wild origin, stemming from a post-war hunt for identity and censorship on the basis of sex.
Truly, the luchador films that became the bulk of mexploitation cinema as we know it today didn’t come from a strong desire to uplift lucha but from attempts to suppress it. To understand lucha libre and how it became popular enough to be banned from television, we have to get back to the first half of the 20th century, with the end of the Mexican Revolution.
Mexicanidad and the Rise of Masked Wrestlers
To those unfamiliar with the particulars of the Mexican Revolution, it stands as one of the most violent times of political upheaval in human history. After the deposition of decades-long oligarchical dictator Porfirio Diaz and his regime, multiple parties began to fight for control of the country as its residents sought economic relief, agrarian reform, and the cession of land back to indigenous populations.
The Revolution saw a revolving door of commandants, a cadre of different political groups fighting for a variety of different reasons, and the loss of (by the most conservative estimates) over a million lives in a civil war never before seen in Mexico. Needless to say, the Mexican national identity had been wounded severely by the conflict as doubt and fear filled the populace, and political figures like Lázaro Cárdenas, who found themselves in power following the Revolution, began to try and restore that identity.
From this turning point comes the concept of Mexicanidad, a push for Mexican pride and a reaffirming of the image of the Mexican people that was driven by the tastemakers of Mexican society in politics and media. And for Mexican men, and specifically Mexican working-class men, that evolved into an emphasis on masculinity, virility, athleticism, and what would eventually evolve into our modern conceptions of machismo.
The Television Ban That Birthed Lucha Libre Horror Films
And so came the revitalization of lucha libre, for many reasons. Wrestling as a sport had and still has a fairly low barrier to entry, making it the perfect cheap entertainment for the working class. It had previously captured the hearts of Mexican citizens as far back as the late 1800s when wrestling made its way to the country. It involved masculine displays of strength and agility, which was perfect for the Mexicanidad crowd to endorse. The sport also had a rotating cast of colorful characters, usually the same guys you saw last week but fighting with different masks on, which was the perfect draw for young audiences who soon began to see their favorite luchadors at the comic stands and in wider media.
The craze of professional wrestling spread like wildfire, and more importantly, it spread to a female audience. As female athletes became a point of cultural interest, luchadoras became a very popular element of lucha libre despite being in the minority of performers. There began a melding between the rigid roles of masculine and feminine energy, undesired by many of the political and cultural elites of mid-century Mexico.
The cultural thermometer rapidly cooled due to lucha, and in 1954, federal authorities imposed a 30-year-long ban on lucha libre on Mexican television to prevent the waters from being muddied by such “dangerous” concepts. Soon, lucha had gone from a sport beloved by all people to a brutish, lowbrow event. Which, couldn’t be further from the truth, but cultural hegemony is a hell of a drug!
CDMX’s airwaves had become a no-fly zone for masked wrestlers, and a lost media massacre ensued that caused little to no recordings of those classic matches from the 40s and 50s being kept in circulation. Whole careers had evaporated from record overnight.
But…that didn’t stop luchadors from going to the movies.
Gothic Horror Revival in Mexican Cinema
The film wasn’t just a smash hit at the box office, it was a superkick to the mouth of Mexican cinema that ended up causing a true gothic horror revival. The film’s producer and star, Abel Salazar, found enough success with the film that the Mexican market was soon saturated with gothic horror of his own design, as Hammer Horror took over the British film market.
EL SANTO, BLUE DEMON, AND THE RISE OF LUCHA LIBRE IN HORROR
Despite the television ban, you couldn’t make Mexico forget its masked heroes so easily. The two most significant of which were El Santo y Demonio Azul (more commonly referred to as Blue Demon). Well, technically both of them began as rudos (heels, or bad guys) and later became tecnicos (faces, or heroes). The point is, Santo and Blue Demon’s rivalry was a legendary one, with their masks becoming a piece of indelible Mexican iconography and recollections of their matches being burned into people’s brains.
El Santo was convinced by fellow wrestler, Fernando Osés, to join him on the set of a film he was shooting, as the recent TV ban opened up opportunities in film for wrestlers. Santo was initially signed to star in one of the first lucha films called El Enmascarado De Plata (The Man in the Silver Mask), but backed out last minute because of fears the film would fail and damage his reputation.
Santo’s actual debut pulled him into the world of monster movies that had begun to thrive in Mexico, with his first film being Santo Contra El Cerebro Del Mal (Santo vs. The Brain of Evil) in 1961. From there he went on to do Santo Contra Los Zombies (Santo vs. The Zombies), and by the time he had shot Santo vs. The Men from Hell and Santo in The Hotel of the Dead, he had been locked in as a b-horror icon.
He was of course reunited with Blue Demon throughout his career, and the two often teamed up like superheroes to fight a wide variety of fiends. Ranging from alien spiders to vampire women to Mesoamerican mummies on a rampage, there was nothing they weren’t willing to powerbomb into oblivion. Blue Demon starred in 25 films over his lifetime– Santo starred in more than 50. The two were prolific actors and artists, and despite the often irreverent nature of the films they made and the questionable quality of many of them, the two were horror icons that most of the world is simply unaware of.
Many of their films were not distributed widely, let alone localized to English-speaking territories; only a total of 4 Santo films ever got English language versions. But even if those dubs never came, we can stand and salute the wild history of b-horror that these luchador legends have given us.
Top Lucha Libre Horror Films to Watch Today
Arañas Infernales (Hellish Spiders) is a really fun piece of schlocky, monochrome, nuclear bug horror from the late 60s; the little evil alien spider puppets in this film are so doofy looking, I want ten of them. It’s pure ham and cheese as far as content goes, but it’s impossible to say it isn’t fun.
Santo y Blue Demon Contra Los Monstruos (Santo & Blue Demon vs. The Monster Men) is some oh-so-glorious technicolor nonsense that brings us a six-man grudge match between the heroes, a mummy, a werewolf, a vampire, and a Frankenstein. I don’t even have to say anything else, you know it’s too hype of a concept to turn down.
Santo Contra Las Mujeres Vampiro (Santo vs. The Vampire Women) has some genuinely unparalleled ambiance and set design, with this black and white gothic horror mixing a modernized Mexican aesthetic with the pseudo-Victorian mansion where the finale takes place. Santo dives into a nest of female vampires in white dresses to rescue a damsel in distress, and hilarity ensues. It is probably the most technically competent of all of these when it comes to its directing.
The Mummies of Guanajuato was ultimately one of if not the biggest moneymakers, as it brought the three most famous luchadores together: Santo, Blue Demon y Mil Máscaras united to put the squeeze on some mummies killing Mexican citizens. Those monsters by the way, actually look great thanks to their makeup! All the ring exhibition stuff of them wrestling in the film is impressive as well. This one is my true favorite. If I could only watch one, it would be this.
And that’s all! Well, I’m off to go watch Santo vs The Zombies again, stay chill Horror Press rea–
What’s this?
ITS EDITOR JAMES-MICHAEL WITH THE STEEL CHAIR?
HES COMING IN BECAUSE OF MY HELLBOY ARTICLE BEING TOO LONG?!
LORD HAVE MERCY!
***
Major thanks to Marjolein Van Bavel, a professor of Modern Cultural History at Radboud University, whose writing formed most of the research on the historical part of this article. She discusses luchadoras in much more detail in her article “Morbo, lucha libre, and Television: The Ban of Women Wrestlers from Mexico City in the 1950s”, which I highly recommend you check out. Her writing was one of the major resources used for this article, and as such, deserves a shoutout.
And another shoutout to Brian Schuck of Films From Beyond, who pointed me towards Doyle Green and his book Mexploitation Cinema, which is a huge resource on lucha libre in horror. Both of them are incredible, please show them some love!
And as always, good luck, and happy watching horror fans!
Movies
Menstruation Meets Mayhem: 5 Horror Films That Bleed Terror
While periods are not quite trending in horror, there are more movies than one would suspect in this niche subgenre. Obviously, Carrie’s shower scene is historical for a reason. However, using a soaked tampon as zombie bait in It Stains the Sands Red is fantastic. Even finding a gruesome murder while using a truck stop bathroom to change a tampon in Candy Land felt like relatable cinema for me as a Midwesterner. So, I thought I would pull five bloody horror movies about “Aunt Flo” going to the “Red Wedding”. These titles know that being “on the rag” is great for the genre. This is why I am cordially inviting you to step into the restroom with me so I can show you some pretty wild shit. Here are five movies that will make you hesitate the next time someone asks you what your favorite period film is.
I hate having a period. I know that is a cold take for many people who menstruate. No one enjoys the cramps, migraines, or a three to seven-day disruption from certain fun activities. Who among us is giddy when Aunt Flo arrives unless we are having a pregnancy scare? However, the thing that salts my tines the most about this painful and bloody part of life is the stigma surrounding it. Many places still charge the tampon tax. Tons of Republicans take office without understanding basic anatomy but want to regulate AFAB bodies anyway. This pisses me off, and that is why I love horror films that shove periods right in the audience’s faces. After all, menstruation is a goldmine for body horror and the perfect excuse to add buckets of blood to any movie.
While periods are not quite trending in horror, there are more movies than one would suspect in this niche subgenre. Obviously, Carrie‘s shower scene is historical for a reason. However, using a soaked tampon as zombie bait in It Stains the Sands Red is fantastic. Even finding a gruesome murder while using a truck stop bathroom to change a tampon in Candy Land felt like relatable cinema for me as a Midwesterner. So, I thought I would pull five bloody period horror movies with a visit from “Aunt Flo” or going to the “Red Wedding”. These titles know that being “on the rag” is great for the genre. This is why I am cordially inviting you to step into the restroom with me so I can show you some pretty wild shit. Here are five movies that will make you hesitate the next time someone asks you what your favorite period film is.
5 Must-Watch Horror Films That Turn Periods Into Terrifying Tales
Blue My Mind (2018)
Where You Can Watch: Prime Video and Tubi
A teen gets her period and begins to experience radical body transformations. Director and co-writer Lisa Brühlmann crafted a moody world, uninterested in playing by the rulebook. While Mia (Luna Wedler) has much bigger fish to fry than her period, I do not think we should overlook that moment in the film. It is easy to forget it in the grand scheme of things. However, nothing ushers in frightening bodily changes quite like menstruating. That moment also firmly plants this body horror movie as a unique coming-of-age tale.
Excision (2012)
Where You Can Watch: Fandango at Home, Plex, and Tubi
A high-school outcast with medical career aspirations concocts a wild plan to save her ailing sister. So much happens in this movie! There are plenty of cameos in front of this bloody backdrop, which is Pauline’s (AnnaLynne McCord) canvas. While she spends a lot of time fantasizing about blood and worrying about her sister, she does not let that stop her from cashing in her V-card. She is very upfront about her plan to lose her virginity while on her period, and she gets her bloody way. If you are looking for a movie with a period sex scene, Excision is your girl.
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Where You Can Watch: AMC+, Peacock, and Shudder
Two sisters who are loners in their suburban neighborhood find their relationship changing when one gets bitten by a werewolf. No list of period films is complete without Ginger Snaps. Both Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) are teens who are so late to get their period it has become a household concern. So, it is pretty awful timing for Ginger to get hers right when her life is about to be changed forever. We love when periods are the beginning of the horror story because that is all too relatable.
Read our review of Ginger Snaps here.
Tiger Stripes (2023)
Where You Can Watch: AMC+ and Shudder
An 11-year-old girl’s world is changed when she gets her first period and begins to change into something ferocious. Writer-director Amanda Nell Eu definitely has the cutest movie on this list. I enjoyed watching Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal) learn that it is okay to be different. More importantly, she learns that sometimes you need to rip a guy’s head off to get peace. This coming-of-age body horror movie has a lot of heart, and I am so glad it is finally streaming. Please insert this into your watch list to break up your steady diet of nightmare fuel.
Read our review of Tiger Strips here.
Verónica (2017)
Where You Can Watch: Netflix and Pluto TV
An evil entity attaches itself to a teen girl who made contact with a Ouija board. This Spanish film is inspired by true events and is possibly the most sinister period film on the list. Poor Verónica gets her first period while battling the demonic spirits invading her body. That is a lot for anyone to deal with at any age, and I am not surprised this movie lives rent-free in so many of our minds. If you enjoy this movie, you might want to watch the prequel Sister Death, also available on Netflix. However, in my opinion, Verónica is the better film.
Hopefully, some of these period films will leave you wanting more. If so, I suggest checking out what Alter has to add to the conversation. I also encourage you to boost filmmakers who know the real meaning of period horror.
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Menstruation Meets Mayhem: 5 Horror Films That Bleed Terror
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