Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II

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Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBruce Pittman
Written byRon Oliver
Produced byPeter R. Simpson
Starring
CinematographyJohn Herzog
Edited byNick Rotundo
Music byPaul Zaza
Production
company
Simcom Limited[1]
Distributed byNorstar Releasing
Release date
October 16, 1987
Running time
97 minutes[2]
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish
BudgetCA$2.5 million[3]
Box officeUS$2.7 million[4]

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II is a 1987 Canadian supernatural slasher film[5] directed by Bruce Pittman, and starring Michael Ironside, Wendy Lyon, Louis Ferreira, and Lisa Schrage. It follows a high school student who becomes possessed by Mary Lou Maloney, a student who died at her high school prom in 1957. A sequel to the slasher film Prom Night (1980), it was originally intended to be a standalone film titled The Haunting of Hamilton High, but was retitled in order to capitalize on the success of the original Prom Night. The only story connection between the two films is that they are set at the same high school. However, both films were executive produced by Peter R. Simpson.

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[edit]

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 telekinetically crushing the lockers together. After Monica's murder, Vicki seduces Craig and lures him away under the pretense of having sex. She then knocks him unconscious and leaves to confront and taunt Billy, now revealing her possession to him too. Billy later finds Craig and takes him home, however, he knocks Craig out again when he tries to go after Vicki. Still refusing to fully accept that Mary Lou is back, Billy goes to the cemetery and digs up her coffin. When he opens it, he only finds Buddy’s dead body. After Vicki is finished getting ready for the prom, she seduces her father. Her mother catches them kissing and, horrified, she attempts to stop Vicki from leaving. Vicki then kills her by telekinetically smashing her through the front door. Vicki enjoys the festivities at the prom while Kelly, desperate to become prom queen, fellates her classmate Josh since he’s in charge of the voting results. When Josh changes the outcome to make Kelly the winner, Vicki electrocutes him to death through his computer and reverses his changes. Once announced as prom queen, Vicki goes up on stage and eagerly waits for her crown. Before she can get it, Billy shoots her multiple times to the horror of the crowd. Arriving just after the shooting and approaching what appears to be a dying Vicki, Craig is knocked back when the charred corpse of Mary Lou bursts out of her body. Mary Lou uses her powers to wreak havoc and kill or injure multiple people, including Kelly. All of this restores Mary Lou’s body until she’s almost fully healed from her burns. After Craig tries to knock Mary Lou unconscious, he is chased into the school prop room.

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[edit]

  • 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[edit]

The film was originally titled The Haunting of Hamilton High,[6] and includes many references and homages to past horror films in its script, including A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Carrie (1976)[7] and The Exorcist (1973). In addition, several characters were named after popular horror film directors and other cult figures, including John Carpenter, George Romero, Wes Craven, Frank Henenlotter, Stephen King, John Waters, Dan O'Bannon, Edward D. Wood Jr. and Tod Browning.[6][8]

The film was shot on location in Edmonton, Alberta at Westmount Jr. High School, on a budget of approximately CA$2.5 million.[3] Other portions of the film were shot inside an abandoned furniture store.[9] The Toronto-based Simcom Limited produced the film,[1][10] while the media company Allarcom also co-funded its production.[3] Filming began in early August 1986.[3][10] The production chose Edmonton due to the local school board's enthusiasm about shooting a film in the city, as well as the fact that the local schools had the neo-Gothic architecture the producers had envisioned.[3]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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 The Boston Globe deemed the film a "miserly slice-and-dicer: Carrie without the bucket of blood," though she conceded it is "somewhat livened by the presence of Michael Ironside."[15] The Philadelphia Daily News's Ben Yagoda panned the film, writing that it "can be credited with nothing other than providing temporary employment for a group of untalented individuals," and drawing comparisons between Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and The Exorcist (1973).[16] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post drew similar comparisons, writing that the film "may be derivative, but for the most part it's clever enough to trade on its sources with humor and class. It's Peggy Sue Lives on Elm Street, with dollops of Carrie, The Exorcist and a half dozen other genre stalwarts."[17]

Stephen Hunter of The Baltimore Sun criticized what he described as a "rudimentary" script as well as the "waste" of Ironside.[18] The Atlanta Constitution's Eleanor Ringel wrote: "for all its rip-offs, Hello Mary Lou is never a total chore to sit through. As vengeance-minded females go, Ms. Schrage makes Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction come off like a Girl Scout leader," adding that it serves as a "black-comic commentary on the whole notion of prom queens."[19] Juan Carlos Coto of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reviewed the film favorably, writing that "despite its lack of original material, this film is well-scripted, directed, and acted–and surprisingly entertaining."[20] A review in TV Guide awarded the film one out of five stars, praising the special effects and Pittman's direction, but ultimately deemed the film "all too predictable."[21]

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 John Kenneth Muir wrote, "In the annals of unnecessary sequels, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II rates high. Contrarily, in the ranks of 1980s horror movies, it's merely a mediocre effort."[23] Film scholar Mike Mayo said the film is only a Prom Night sequel by title, and that it in fact bears more similarity to A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).[24] Writing for Syfy in 2017, Rebecca Pahle praised the film's special effects and acting, and deemed it a "slasher masterwork."[25] Jacob Knight of ComingSoon.net similarly praised the film in a 2015 retrospective, writing: "It's a shame Hello Mary Lou never became a bigger hit, because it's an oft-forgotten gem of the horror genre, standing the test of time nearly thirty years on. An amalgamation of national tax shelter weirdness, brazen borrowing from better films, and the tossing of creative caution to the wind, Pittman's picture evokes numerous classics while indubitably carving its own identity."[26]

Home media[edit]

Virgin Vision released the film on VHS in May 1988.[27]

As a tie-in for the release of the 2008 remake of Prom Night, MGM Home Entertainment (distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) released a new widescreen DVD of Hello Mary Lou on April 1, 2008.[28] The film had earlier been released in Canada in 2003 as a full-screen DVD from Alliance Atlantis, who has since regained rights to release Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II again, as part of a 5 horror movie collection DVD set from Echo Bridge Home Entertainment in 2013.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Dambrofsky, Gwen (October 4, 1986). "Movie stuntwoman has flaming desire". Star-Phoenix. p. C-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Stine 2003, p. 143.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Dodd, John (August 22, 1986). "Flick puts city on horror map". Edmonton Journal. p. 25 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  5. ^ "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II". Museum of the Moving Image. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ a b Canby, Vincent (October 17, 1987). "Film: 'Hello Mary Lou'". The New York Times. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Miller, Rhett. "Canuxploitation Review: Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II". Canuxploitation. Archived from the original on December 13, 2018.
  9. ^ "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.
  10. ^ a b Pecchia, David (August 3, 1986). "High Hopes". Los Angeles Times. p. 30 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Lumenick, Lou (October 19, 1987). "Teen horror movies: One's witty, the other witless". The Record. p. B-6 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Curtains Unveiled: An Interview with Peter Simpson". The Terror Trap. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  13. ^ Thomas, Kevin (November 17, 1987). "Movie Reviews – 'Hello Mary Lou': Enriching a Genre With Imagination". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  14. ^ Cosford, Bill (November 13, 1987). "Blackboard bungle: Hello Mary Lou, Prom Night II". The Arizona Republic. p. 51 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Sherman, Betsy (December 5, 1987). "No thrills or chills in 'Prom Night'". The Boston Globe. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Yagoda, Ben (October 19, 1987). "Horror-Film Sequel Has Little Prom-ise". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 46 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Harrington, Richard (October 22, 1987). "'Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017.
  18. ^ Hunter, Stephen (October 20, 1987). "'Hello Mary Lou,' goodbye sincerity, wit and talent". The Baltimore Sun. p. 48 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Ringel, Eleanor. "'Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II' exorcises old high school demons". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Coto, Juan Carlos (October 20, 1987). "Sequel to 'Prom Night' surprisingly entertaining". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. p. 6E – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II". TV Guide. Archived from the original on September 20, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  22. ^ "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  23. ^ Muir 2011, pp. 578–580.
  24. ^ Mayo 2011, p. 284.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ Knight, Jacob Q. (July 20, 2015). "De Palma Daydreams: On Hello Mary Lou Prom Night II". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017.
  27. ^ Naureckas, Jim (May 15, 1988). "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on October 13, 2019.
  28. ^ Barton, Steve (April 10, 2008). "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (DVD)". Dread Central. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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