The Making Of Prom Night

The memories of that night will fade with time, but you'll never forget it. Just like you'll never forget tomorrow night. - Dr. Elisa Crowe, Prom Night

When Marc Forby and Neal H. Moritz set out to make a film inspired by the 1980 thriller Prom Night, their intent was to completely re-imagine the picture for a new, more sophisticated audience. The original film, which starred Jamie Lee Curtis at the height of her "scream queen" notoriety, is one of the classic slasher films of that era, but Forby and Moritz envisioned a script in which the emphasis would be on suspense, with the gore toned down significantly.

"In the post-Saw world, we've gone as far as we can with onscreen violence," says Forby, who, along with Glenn S. Gainor, is executive producer of Prom Night. "We went back to the classic, old-school thriller where the scares are really coming more out of, 'Where is the villain right now? Is he right there? Is he behind her?'"

Forby and Moritz, the producer of the blockbuster I Know What You Did franchise, as well as the recent box office smash, I Am Legend, spent almost five years developing a script for Prom Night before finding just the right tone for their film.

"Neal and I went through four sets of writers and every take imaginable on the story," says Forby. "There were differing opinions on how to structure it-do you start the killings in act one of the film or do you save it for later? We even had a version where the children being killed were reincarnated souls of people who had done very bad things and karma was coming to get them. At the end of the day, we decided to do Prom Night as a classic, straightforward psychological thriller. Rooting it more in reality was a much more compelling way to go."

When writer J.S. Cardone came on board, he found a vision that everyone was happy with. The result is a script that producer Toby Jaffe, who worked on The Amityville Horror remake as a production executive at MGM, describes as "very Hitchcockian. In a lot of classic Hitchcock movies, you kind of know where the threat is coming from. The fun for the audience is in seeing how the protagonist deals with it. We're with them, trying to figure out how they're going to get themselves out of this problem."

Anticipation, notes Forby, is more frightening than overt violence. "One's imagination is far greater than anything any filmmaker can show you," he says. "Anticipation accounts for ninety-nine percent of the thrills in a classic horror film. And anticipation is heightened when the audience has a piece of information the character doesn't. The longer you can hold back the knowledge from the characters, the more anxiety the viewer is going to experience watching, because they know where the killer is and they want to reach out and help."

To bring Cardone's screenplay to the screen, the producers brought in veteran TV director Nelson McCormick, whose resume includes dozens of hours of acclaimed television dramas from "Nip/Tuck" and "The West Wing" to "ER" and "NYPD Blue."

"Growing up, I was heavily influenced by popcorn horror films like Halloween and Friday the 13th," says the director. "But what really scares me more are films that feel real. In movies like Deliverance and Dead Calm, the terror goes a little deeper because the situations are so real, and that's where I wanted this film to be rooted."

After years of working successfully within television's tight production schedules, McCormick knows the value of detailed preparation. "Neal and I first spoke to Nelson about directing the film a couple years ago, and he was just remarkably well prepared," says Forby. "He even came with storyboards. He'd mapped it all out. It was purely because of that passion we hired him. We knew he was really going to get behind it, and he did. He watched every horror film out there. I mean, he became a real expert within two months. You want that kind of passion."

Producer Toby Jaffe agrees that McCormick took his research as far as it could go. "He was meticulous about everything, even down to the prom clothes and prom music. In addition to excelling at the genre of thriller filmmaking, he tried to really recreate what a prom feels like today."

McCormick discovered a documentary called The World's Best Prom about a high school celebration in Racine, Wisconsin and what it meant to the community at large, as well as the students in attendance. "This documentary explores the levels of how invested this one town was in the prom," he says. "It follows the seniors and what they are going through leading up to the prom, and continues during and after their prom night."

McCormick even had the cast watch the documentary before filming started. "I gave it to the actors because I wanted to refresh their memories of the prom," he continues. "It's a rite of passage-a coming of age and a very big deal for most kids. I wanted to bring them back to that time."

The director was equally diligent in researching the techniques master thriller and horror filmmakers of the past have used to create heart-pounding suspense and jump-inducing scares. "He really did his homework," says executive producer Gainor. "He really studied to see what works-for example, a slow, creeping camera is very scary. You don't want to rush through a scare. You want to have a moment to breathe. What makes the difference between a horror film and a thriller is that a horror film is quick to just jump in there and get you to the blood, and a thriller like this is going to take its time."

"A lot of spectacular detail went into the production design and the camera movements and building in the scares," adds Gainor. "And there are subtle references to some of the best thrillers of the 20th century. There is a moment where there's blood going down a drain. There are moments that remind me of Jaws, when something just passes across the screen and is gone. Just like a fin, but in our case, it's the killer."

"One of the greatest things about this script," says the director, "is the crossover of genres-it's a cop movie interwoven with a teen terror film. You have a detective who's getting a second chance to bring a killer to justice. The killer is an obsessed man who is driven to insanity by a student he simply must have, to the point that he will kill anyone who stands between him and her. And in the middle of these two men is this young woman, who's experiencing the most magical night of her life, the night of her prom, an event which is synonymous with the end of youth-the death of youth, metaphorically."

Adding to Prom Night's palpable tension is the fact that while their storylines are inextricably intertwined, those three characters-Donna, Detective Winn and Fenton-don't come together onscreen until the final, cathartic climax.

"Our threat is a man who suffers from the same disorder that John Hinckley, Jr. did with Jodie Foster," McCormick explains. "It's called 'erotomania.' Our killer imagines a relationship that doesn't exist. He imagines that this woman is meant to be with him for the rest of his life and he will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

"There's something very human about it," says the director. "Maybe not to that extreme, but we've all wanted something badly in our lives and have been driven to obsession over it-a job, a car, a spot on a team-so we can relate to this guy on some small level. He's not just a killing machine out to rack up a body count."

Executive producer Mark Forby adds, "It's about an obsession, not the act of killing. Fenton is fixated on a goal and has to kill people that get in his way. It makes him a more interesting villain because it adds dimension. There's a little part of you that can have some empathy."

Hinckley, Jr., Mark David Chapman and Ted Bundy all served as models for Prom Night's villain, according to McCormick. "We felt there was a cerebral superiority to these guys," he says. "They're quite brilliant and we wanted that mindset to be captured in the Richard Fenton character."

"I kept thinking about Seven and The Silence of the Lambs," the director continues. "You had these brilliant minds who are the villains who are always a step or two-or twelve-ahead. You get the sense that they're going to win unless our hero catches a break. The audience is behind him right to the end and it's neck and neck to the finish. If this were Jaws, Richard Fenton would be my shark; if this were Alien, he would be my creature."

Nothing is going to keep us apart. She needs me now more than ever…

McCormick had a very specific visual aesthetic in mind, one that would reinforce the audience's visceral response to the action. "The shots had to create claustrophobia," he says. "They had to create a psychological state. What you can't see in a frame is often more scary than what you can. If you really study the classic horror films and thrillers, you set it up with us experiencing what our protagonist is experiencing from their point of view, and then shock us with the stalker point of view or the shot of somebody coming in behind them."

Delivering the look McCormick sought fell to award-winning cinematographer Checco Varese, AMC. The Peruvian-born director of photography prides himself on being able to get inside a director's head and interpret his or her concept visually. "When you shoot a thriller, it's based on fear, it's based on surprises," says Varese. "We had to figure out how to tell the story and at the same time not show too much, so the audience will still have this hunger to try and understand what is going to happen.

"We were playing with different levels of darkness throughout the film," Varese continues. "We tried to play with as much darkness as we could while still keeping the action clear. At the prom, we had these fantastic areas of light and beautiful colors and rock 'n' roll, but at the same time something horrible was happening. Our gaffer, Danny Eckleson, invented these razor lights that deliver a slender beam of light. They cast this glow on the actor's eyes, or on Brittany's back, but it came from somewhere that you couldn't quite figure out. It enhanced the sense of mystery and fear."

To intensify the viewer's anxiety, the cameraman slowed the shutter speed of the camera, which gave footage a slightly jittery feeling. He also switched suddenly from wide angle to long lenses to keep the audience off-guard. "Other scenes were shot in a traditional way, so when you get to the action scenes, the difference would just immediately make you either afraid or relax and then we would all of a sudden jump to another technique."

Varese cites another way camera techniques aided in the storytelling. "There's a scene where Fenton, the killer, turns around and looks at Donna. We shot it at 120 frames, which is slow motion-four times reality. It's like he wants to freeze the moment to see her better. And the camera zoomed in very slowly to her. It was actually a very sweet moment."

In casting Prom Night, the filmmakers needed to put together a microcosm of the archetypal high school social scene, complete with Good Girl, Queen Bee, Alpha Jock, Class Clown and more. To do so, they turned to some of Hollywood's most promising and attractive new talents.

Brittany Snow plays Donna Keppel, the object of Fenton's obsession. "I can't think of a better personification of goodness and innocence than Brittany Snow," says McCormick. "I don't think you can care about these films unless there's a character that you get invested in. You need to fear for her and care for her. I think Brittany is someone you naturally want to protect and care for. There is something about watching someone as beautiful as Brittany is being attacked that just makes us fear."

Snow began her career at the age of eight and has racked up numerous big and small screen credits including Hairspray, in which she played Michelle Pfeiffer's daughter, and the Emmy®-award winning TV series "American Dreams."

"Before this, I underestimated the people who do thrillers and horror movies," says the 21-year-old actress. "I underestimated how much work it is. I feel like I really got to be a part of something very cool. As an actor, you are constantly in a heightened state in this kind of film," she says. "You might have a scene where you're hysterically crying, and then you take a break. In the next scene, you're supposed to still be crying, but it's a week later in real time and you have to be in the same place emotionally. I always want my work to be genuine, so that was challenging and rewarding."

Snow studied the psychology of stalkers and the victims of stalkers before she started filming. "I wanted to immerse myself in things that were dark and eerie to help me get to that fear when I needed it," the actress says. "I also watched a lot of 'To Catch a Predator,' just to get into the mindset of the victim. What I learned through my research was that a lot of crazy killers are everyday people-cops, teachers, and astronauts-respected people. People you might meet on the street, or who live down your block. And they have this whole secret life."

Idris Elba has made a name for himself in both the U.S. and Britain, playing hardboiled characters in films such as American Gangster and 28 Weeks Later. In Prom Night, he is Detective Winn, the police officer who arrested Fenton three years earlier and makes it his personal mission to protect Donna.

"Idris is the anchor of this film," says Gainor. "His character is a second protagonist, the other driving force in the movie. The story is not only about Donna, it's also Winn's story, because he caught Fenton and trusted the system to incarcerate him. Instead, the system put him in an insane asylum from which he was able to escape."

Adds McCormick: "It was essential to feel Detective Winn is a caring person, a person who seems good-hearted in nature. When I met Idris, I immediately got a sense that he had the warmth and quiet strength that would bring Detective Winn to life. He really committed himself to this role and worked very hard to make each scene personal-this is not just about bringing a man to justice for Winn, this is about getting a second chance to end Donna's nightmares."

Elba notes that, in an interesting twist, Winn is almost as obsessed with Fenton as Fenton is with Donna. "He's become close to the family, having suffered the trauma with them," says the actor. "He wants to look after these people and this town because he really cares for them. He takes it personally. And whether he'd like to admit it or not, he has a relationship with Richard Fenton."

The actor chosen to play Fenton had to be able to walk a razor sharp line. He needed to be believable as Donna's terrifying stalker, without crossing over into an inhuman monster. "I wasn't looking at Fenton as the boogeyman," says screenwriter Cardone. "This is a guy who became obsessed, as a lot of middle-aged men do, with that sort of female innocence that's starting to blossom into maturity. We've seen pictures done on this subject matter before, in Lolita and other really classic scenarios. This is a case of a man who can seem truly normal on the exterior. But like all of us, he has that kink, that little twist in his nature."

"Johnathon brings a very interesting irony to the part," says Cardone. "He is an individual who people would be naturally drawn to, but he is driven by an obsession with this young woman. That's the reason that we drifted away from the original story structure of Prom Night. We realized that the killings that take place are not out of anger or out of revenge. They're simply because certain people get in his way. This is a really distorted love story."

Schaech, who is cast more often as a heartthrob than a villain, says he actually liked his character when he first read the script. "You have to like somebody to play them. But there are actually qualities to Richard Fenton that are very much like me, but taken to the farthest degree. He's in love and nothing is going to stand in his way."

He worked closely with the director to develop the right balance for his character. "Nelson asked me to develop him as an accessible human as opposed to a monster. His direction made my performance better, and I think that all of the literature he had me read prior to coming on board really helped define the character and make him more real.

"Richard Fenton is very charismatic, sort of like Ted Bundy," the actor continues. "I read some books about Bundy, studied John Hinckley, Jr. a bit and watched a lot of different thrillers to try to make the character a little more unique, more real, as opposed to making him a monster.

"Killers like Hinckley are obsessed people who may not know they are doing anything wrong, but are actually trying to reach out," says the actor. "That's why Richard Fenton is so attractive. He comes from a place where he thinks he's right. He doesn't think he's the bad guy or is doing anything bad, he just wants Donna and people are getting in his way. He may feel a sense of remorse, but he's doing it because it has to get done. He's madly in love."

Donna's best friend and protector Lisa is played by Dana Davis, known to millions of fans of the hit TV series "Heroes" as Monica Dawson. "She's the girl everybody wants to be," says Davis. "She's popular. She's happy all the time. I mean, I want to be Lisa. She has so much life and energy to her. I was a theater nerd in high school, so getting into Lisa mode was fun."

The actress believes audiences will find Prom Night's frighteningly human villain fascinating. "A lot of times in thrillers, the killer is like this mist. But in our movie, the killer is right there in your face. You see him. You know his name.I think that makes it so much creepier."

Donna's other BFF, Claire, is played by Jessica Stroup. Prom Night brings the genre to a different level. It's not about slashing bodies and running around, there's a method to the madness and that was the reason I really wanted to do it."

Stroup is no newcomer to the horror genre. In fact, she laughs, "A lot of people have labeled me a 'horror girl' because I've done it a bit. I actually shot my first movie at the Park Plaza Hotel (filming location for the fictional Pacific Grand Hotel, where the prom takes place). When I showed up and walked into the ballroom, I remembered that I had gotten strangled in the corner downstairs in my first film."

Donna is accompanied to the prom by her longtime boyfriend Bobby, played by Scott Porter. A less gifted student than Donna, Bobby is headed to a state college while Donna has received a full scholarship to an Ivy League university on the other side of the country. Afraid that their relationship won't withstand a long distance romance, Donna has second thoughts about going so far away.

Porter, best known as star high school quarterback Jason Street in the award-winning television series "Friday Night Lights," says although Bobby would love Donna to stay close to home, he realizes it wouldn't be fair to her. "She's kind of gotten over the hump of her past and she's extremely intelligent and he doesn't want to hold her back. He also believes that regardless of what happens when they go away to college they'll always share a special bond."

Because of Porter's shooting schedule for the series, he didn't actually have an opportunity to audition with Snow. "They had to kind of blindly cast me as far as the chemistry between the two of us," he recalls. "But the first day on set we had a pretty intense scene and, and it was fantastic."

Claire's prom escort, Michael, is played by Kelly Blatz. "Michael is the one with the flask," says Blatz. "He's the party animal extraordinaire, the jokester. But you wonder if all of this is a mask to cover some emotional pain. It's all a front for him."

"I was kind of like Michael in high school," says Blatz. "I wasn't as much of a jerk, but I used my humor to attract people, like Michael does. Michael is very jealous when it comes to Claire, which is something that I went through with my girlfriend, so I knew exactly where he was coming from."

Brianne Davis plays Crissy Lynn, an overachieving "mean girl" with her eye on the Prom Queen tiara. "Crissy is very type A," according to Davis. "She wants to be the best. That's her whole goal in life.

"The movie is very character driven, which I really like," she adds. "You'll get to know the characters a lot. And probably with each person, you'll find a little of yourself in them."

Crissy is always surrounded by her girlfriends Taylor and April. Rachael Specter plays Taylor, who she says is a typical high school student who just enjoys fitting in with the popular crowd. "What's scariest about this movie is that we're in a place where we feel completely safe. And you would never suspect anything or worry about anything at prom."

Jana Kramer, who plays April, says that audiences will get a "killer rush" from the film. "It's a really cool concept. They're going to be so scared. I like scary movies. They freak me out and I don't go to sleep, but I like them."

Playing Rick Leland, the school jock and Crissy's boyfriend, wasn't much of a stretch for him, says Kellan Lutz, who adds that he loved high school. "Rick is me in a nutshell, with little mixes here and there. I felt so natural. I never had a role before where I could pretty much play myself and just add little things."

He says that Prom Night is the kind of movie he loves to see on a date. "I don't get too scared myself, 'cause you know, I'm a man and what not. But I like taking girls to the movie and when they jump up, I can put my arm around them and it's cool."

Lisa's prom date Ronnie Heflin, played by Collins Pennie, is the life of the party, says the actor. "He's the glue that holds all of the friends together. He's fun, he loves life, loves his friends, and loves to be around them. And he's very much in love with his girl, Lisa."