A twisted take on hide-and-seek in an abandoned building leads to the accidental death of 10-year-old Robin Hammond. The four older kids whose cruelty served as a catalyst to the little girl’s tumble from a window kept their mouths shut and the girl’s death got blamed on a serial killer who was close enough to be a suitable suspect. Six years have passed and as the quartet of guilty brats get ready for senior prom, somebody who knows their secret begins picking them off. The dead girl’s older sister Kim (her majesty Jamie Lee Curtis) and her little brother Alex have managed to move past the horrible incident (sure they have) and keep on keeping on with their lives. Hell, she’s even dating one of the derps responsible which pisses off his ex, the super-bitch Wendy who was the member of the quartet responsible for demanding a coverup. Ooooph. Their father (Leslie fuckin’ Nielsen) does what he can to watch over his kids as their high school principal. A possible pervert groundskeeper (he definitely looks the part), the recently escaped disfigured serial killer, a unibrowed future rapist or one of the still grieving parents serve as suspects but even in 1980 we already knew better. Those would all be way too easy. A subplot featuring a police lieutenant hunting down the escaped lunatic goes nowhere, high school dramatics take center stage while slasher sensibilities kinda just linger in the background, a wonderful decapitation serves as the main horror set-piece and Curtis displays some sick disco moves in what remains the most important part of the film and the main reason for a watch in my heart. It’s a bit mediocre but so am I and I don’t have Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen hanging around to make me worth your time. There’s always long stretches in between my viewings of this one and I always manage to forget just how much doesn’t happen before things finally kick into horror mode. It makes me wonder how much differently it would have played out if it had had Friday the 13th as an inspiration as opposed to Halloween. Probably would have been more like The Prowler which I may have a nostalgic bias to but completely recognize is no great shakes anyways. It’s awkward but the final act makes it worth a look.
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