When high-school student Donna (Brittany Snow) comes home to find her parents brutally murdered by her obsessed school teacher Richard Fenton (Jonathon Schaech), he is sent to a psychiatric prison hundreds of miles away.

Three years after the tragedy, Donna is ready to celebrate her high school Prom with her boyfriend Bobby (Scot Porter) and friends.

But when Mr Fenton escapes from jail, Donna's night will be memorable for the wrong reasons.

Director Nelson McCormick is most noted for his television work on popular US series like Prison Break and Nip/Tuck.

But while these shows keep viewers glued to their screens with interest, Prom Night is more likely to have them falling asleep.

It is not the regurgitated concept of an unstoppable stalker killing off a band of disposable teens which makes the film so droll, as even the most low budget, Halloween rip-offs have some redeeming features.

It is the fact that it simply isn't scary.

McCormick completely fails in creating genuine tension by refusing to take advantage of a host of missed opportunities.

Despite a ballroom filled with defenceless teens that could be incorporated into a high bodycount, a majority of the 'action' takes place in a hotel suite wardrobe.

And even when the 'killing' takes place, the decision to constantly cut-away, and the disturbing absence of any kind of blood or gore despite a knife attack, highlights how artificial the whole movie is.

To then throw in a drastically unconvincing killer and a gaggle of D-list actors (who all share the same hiding technique of holding their mouths to avoid detection) and the result is 88 minutes that rolls on for what seems like hours.

While Idris Elba as a local detective offers some respite, the film still plays more like an over-sweetened episode of Dawson's Creek than a legitimate horror; with an over-bearing use of dialogue between the cast instead of any decent action highlighting how two dimensional they all are rather than creating any depth.

If you are after a gripping horror, rent Friday the 13th. The scariest thing about Prom Night is the advertising poster.

2/10 - A slasher film without the slashing.