'Prom Night' delivers tension and evokes empathy

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A remake in name only, "Prom Night" actually is a pleasant surprise.Yes, it's been promoted as another "psycho killer lays waste to randy teens" flick, but that's misleading. The killer is twisted in a complicated sense, and his mission is not one of murder but possession.Which isn't to say murder isn't the No. 1 by-product of his zeal. And for a PG-13 film, the slayings are fairly visceral, even if the blood is minimal."Prom Night" also belies its PG-13 rating by providing a number of jumps that are earned, not cheap. Instead of camp, "Prom Night" delivers tension and evokes empathy.Three years ago, Donna Keppel (Brittany Snow) lived through an ordeal that would scar anyone for life. She came home to her suburban Oregon home and witnessed her mother's brutal murder; her father and younger brother were already dead when she arrived. The killer was a high-school teacher, Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech), who was obsessed with Donna.Fenton was sent to a maximum-security mental hospital, and Donna was taken in by her uncle and aunt, Jack (Linden Ashby) and Karen (Jessalyn Gilsig). Now about to graduate, Donna has earned a full scholarship to Brown University.Donna and her boyfriend, Bobby (Scott Porter), triple-date to the prom with Donna's best friends, Lisa (Dana Davis) and Claire (Jessica Stroup), and their respective boyfriends, Ronnie (Collins Pennie) and Michael (Kelly Blatz). For the most part the teens have a good time, unaware that escapee Fenton has arrived at the hotel and is waiting for his chance to reunite with Donna. Fenton is clever, and his handy blade soon claims several victims.Snow and her co-stars are much more natural than actors in slasher films usually are. Director Nelson McCormick gets good performances from them and reaps suspense from J.S. Cardone's script. Schaech also raises the bar. He's a whiz at making Fenton fearsome."Prom Night" may not be the time of your life, but you won't feel as though you've wasted a big chunk of it.Rated PG-13 for violence and terror, some sexual material, underage drinking and language.3.5 stars (out of five).(Contact Knoxville News Sentinel film critic Betsy Pickle at pickle(at)knews.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)