Classic Horror Movie Review: 'Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 (The Haunting of Hamilton High) (1987)

Directed by Bruce Pittmann

Written by Ron Oliver

Starring Michael Ironside, Wendy Lyon, Justin Louis

Release Date October 16th, 1987

Published October 19th, 2023

Hollywood is often accused these days of being obsessed with existing I.P or intellectual property. Sequels, remakes, re-imaginings, these are movies that are derived from existing I.P. It's true, Hollywood is obsessed with existing I.P, uncovering old products that can be made new again, it's familiarity wielded as a marketing campaign. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is an I.P, Marvel movies, Star Wars, the Fast and Furious movies, and any number of horror franchises are existing I.P and Hollywood loves to recycle these I.P products.

It's tempting to say that this isn't a new practice and it really isn't a new practice. But, things like Disney turning their legendary cartoons into live action movies or even creating a franchise out of something used to be at least a little bit frowned upon. Remakes, re-imaginings and loosely related sequels were once the realm of hucksters and shysters not prestigious movie studios with decades of credibility, awards, and blockbusters. Why, there was once a time when Superman got sold to a couple of con-artists who used Superman 4 as a money laundering scheme, ALLEGEDLY. Could you imagine a studio willingly giving away Superman I.P today?

The best example of the disreputable nature of I.P-plays back in the day came from the horror genre. Hucksters and con artists of all stripes were in the business of capitalizing on I.P and, even if they didn't know it, they laid the groundwork for where we are today with the out of control obsession with I.P. Take for instance, Troll 2, often viewed as the best worst movie of all time. That film has nothing whatsoever to do with the modestly successful low budget 80s horror movie, Troll. The producers simply managed to become the owner of the Troll I.P and felt that slapping a number 2 on a monster movie they acquired was a clever marketing gimmick.

Another great example of abusing an I.P is the actual subject of this article, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2. In 1980 Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen co-starred in Prom Night, a movie that posits a group of children who accidentally kill a little friend of theirs and agree to pretend they had nothing to do with the death. A decade later, as the kids are readying for their Senior Prom, they are menaced by someone from their past who knows what they did as kids. One by one they are picked off as Leslie Nielsen's detective tries to track down the killer.

Some time in the 7 years after Prom Night became a modest moneymaker, the rights to the title Prom Night were gobbled up and the owner decided to make use of the I.P name by slapping it on to a movie that happens to have a Prom as a central plot point. The film in question is a serviceable but not very good Canadian horror film called The Haunting of Hamilton High. That film actually saw release in some markets under the title The Haunting of Hamilton High but when that didn't make much money the film was retitled to take advantage of the Prom Night I.P and thus we have Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2.

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 could not possibly be any different from Prom Night. Where Prom Night had elements of murder-mystery and slasher movie, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 is a fully supernatural horror movie featuring demonic possession, ghosts, body swapping and any manner of science fiction level super powers. The story goes that Mary Lou Maloney was on track to become Prom Queen of Hamilton High in 1957. While at the Prom, Mary Lou dropped her geeky boyfriend to get with a hot bad boy. The geeky prom date then accidentally lit Mary Lou on fire while getting revenge on her with a stink bomb.

Dead for 30 years, for no reason in particular, Mary Lou Maloney starts to come back from the grave. Logic is not a strong point for Hello Mary Lou Prom Night 2. I can extrapolate that when the class of 1987, including Vicki Carpenter (Wendy Lyon), and her friends open an old trunk in the school basement and find an old tiara from the class of 1957, the one intended for Mary Lou, it awoke Mary Lou's spirit, but I am forced to guess at this as the movie is far too shambolic for an actual answer. Mary Lou is somehow connected spiritually to the tiara, I think. And this, somehow, gives her ghost/demon persona the power and strength to hang a woman before throwing that woman through a window to her death? It's best to not bother questioning what happens in this movie or you will do nothing else while watching it.

Ghost Mary Lou can commit murders but it cannot win prom queen. Thus, Mary Lou sets her sights on Vicki and slowly begins to possess the popular young student. In a legitimately terrific scene, Mary Lou takes possession of Vicki's body by pulling her into a chalkboard which morphs into a swirling greenish black roiling cauldron, a vortex that swallows up Vicki. Then, Mary Lou as Vicki emerges from the trunk in the basement. How did she wind up in a trunk in the basement? I don't know and the movie doesn't know. How does Vicki suddenly have a full wardrobe of 50s clothes? It's best not to ask questions.

Mary Lou as Vicki then sets about settling scores and assuring her place as the next Prom Queen. This, for some reason, includes sexually assaulting and then just plain assaulting Vicki's doofus boyfriend and, for reasons that make no sense, not taking revenge on the man who killed her at the prom years earlier. That guy is Bill Nordham (Michael Ironside) and he just happens to be the principal at Hamilton High. I'm told that Mary Lou keeps him alive because she's going to get revenge by torturing Bill's son and Vicki's boyfriend, Craig Nordham (Justin Louis), but I didn't see that in the movie.

Several grisly murders and a needless nude scene later, we are finally at the prom and with Vicki literally killing the competition, she's a shoe in for Prom Queen unless Bill decides to step in. A visit from Vicki confirms to Bill that Mary Lou is indeed back but he's still such a wishy washy nerd that it takes him several more scenes to be convinced to do something to stop Mary Lou. This includes seeing the dead body of his former romantic rival, the bad boy Buddy. After Mary Lou died, Buddy swore off sex and drugs and became a priest. In finding out that Mary Lou has returned from the dead, Buddy tried to stop her with an exorcism and wound up dead.

Hello Mary Lou Prom Night 2 is not a good movie. It is however, an enjoyably silly and occasionally impressive horror movie. I briefly touched upon a scene in which ghost/demon Mary Lou pulls Vicki into a chalkboard that turns into a swirling vortex of doom but I didn't mention how incredible this scene looks. The filmmakers used exceptional practical special effects to turn a pool into a chalk board. Then they invented a way to make it appear that Vicki was being pulled sideways into the pool. All the while the camera is on this swirling vortex of water where a chalkboard should be and as Victki is fighting the evil current, the words on the chalk board swirl around her as well until she's fully consumed.

It's a great scene, a gut wrenching and visceral piece of horror imagery. Naturally, the makers of Hello Mary Lou Prom Night 2 have to quickly locate a way to screw this up and boy do they ever screw it up. First, a now nude and wet Mary Lou emerges from the trunk in the basement. We learn nothing about what is happening to Vicki. You might assume that she's trapped in the subconscious as Mary Lou is using her body but no, instead, late in the film, the real Vicki tumbles out of the trunk in the school basement. This follows a scene where Mary Lou as Vicki is shot and emerges from Vicki's body as if she were peeling off a tight outfit. What? Yeah, that's weird.

The makers of Hello Mary Lou Prom Night 2 can't seem to find an idea and stick to it. It's actually part of the film's odd charm. Director Bruce Pittman will craft a good scene here and there and then upend it with logic free weirdness. For instance, even after watching the movie, I still don't know if Mary Lou possessed Vicki or became her clone. I don't know why Mary Lou used her demonic powers to cause Vick's hobby horse in her bedroom to sort of come to life and be evil but also stay in Vicki's room because it can't actually movie. What? Why? I don't know. There are several strange non-sequitur moments that make Hello Mary Lou Prom Night 2 to a bad movie but also a strangely watchable movie.

Comedian Patton Oswalt has a bit about a heroin addict who performed at a comedy open mic he hosted. The joke was that the heroin addict would start to tell a joke and then begin to fall unconscious before waking suddenly in the midst of telling a different joke, as if he thought he was talking while he was unconscious. And the guy absolutely killed, he got a big reaction. That bit reminds me of Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2, a movie that starts to make sense for a moment, drifts off to weirdness that makes little sense, and bounces back to deliver something oddly funny or a well crafted scare before falling off again into nonsense.

Hello Mary Lou Prom Night 2 was one of three old school horror movies that made up the Critics Choice episode of the latest I Hate Critics movie Review Podcast. Listen to the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Find my archive of more than 20 years and nearly 2000 movie reviews at SeanattheMovies.blogspot.com. Find my modern review archive on my Vocal Profile, linked here. Follow me on Twitter at PodcastSean. Follow the archive blog on Twitter at SeanattheMovies. If you have enjoyed what you have read, consider subscribing to my writing on Vocal. If you'd like to support my writing, you can do so by making a monthly pledge or by leaving a one time tip. Thanks!