Attack Of The Indies! (2026)

 

So, I was just digging through the pics that I have on my hard drive that I use for my writings on here and editing videos for YouTube and what not, and I completely forgot about this random gem that I slapped together waaaaaayyy back in 2015/2016 when I was still on Facebook getting Cinema Slayer initially on it's feet with some herbs from my local apothecary. And possibly some lightning from a coming storm. You see, I really did not think I would still have this blog going almost twelve years later as I've always had issues with keeping anything running this long (and I really do mean anything) because the world fucking sucks and it's always against me. Usually my term limit with keeping something afloat is roughly 3-5 years and then something in the universe happens that very clearly presents to me that everything is going to change. Not with Cinema Slayer. It's still here and flowing as strong as ever, but-my writing style has changed and my inflection has changed, my range and output has changed, my influence has changed, my reach has changed and my being noticed has changed because after resurrecting this little bumper of sorts that I used very briefly back on Facebook to promote this thing, I've realized that after all of these years I've still been serving up my quick and sarcastic horror film reviews. The PH may be different, but they still taste the same and that's really all that matters.

Here getting towards the end of 2026, I'm going to look back at the fact that I had a really solid year doing this because I had a number of indie directors who contacted me on the socials to watch and write reviews for their pictures that had already been released on the independent film circuit or were about to be unleashed into the world. People can attempt to stop them, Hollywood (weird) can attempt to stop them, the film studios at large can do what they can to try and crush them and their spirits-but it won't happen. There are artists and creatives out there that need this outlet and they need their stories to be told whether everyone cares to pay any attention or not. I ended up speaking with and writing about some incredible DIY films that I know more of you need to see and talk about and I'm putting together this "Attack Of The Indies!" list so you can have all of what I watched in one spot. It's going to be easy, it's going to be a great round-up an I'm hoping for 2027 that I have more independent directors come to me to so I can spread the word some more. There wasn't a single one of these pieces that I didn't really enjoy in one way or another, because these all kick ass in their own special ways. What ended up being my favorites? I'll save that for afterwards, but right now let's just get to the good stuff zits and zombies.

*These are in no particular order or anything, but I will state my favorites at the end.*

1. Dasher

What can I say about Dasher besides the fact that this shit was fantastic. Tom Zompakos and Juan Pablo Pendas directed an indie film about a guy just trying to survive and do his job as a worker in the gig economy-delivering people's food to their doorstep while being distracted by his girlfriend as well as his hilarious and over-the-top friend Grits who is always on some dumb shit. I love the dash cam aesthetic and the way this whole thing was filmed is a superb different approach that I actually hope that I don't see more of because that's what makes Dasher so unique. There's a lot of camera angles and cinematography that was achieved here specifically because of the use of dash cams being implemented for filming purposes, and the feel for what happens during it's runtime is completely different because of it. Tom and Juan, if you make another short film to be put out, call me. Text me. Hit me up on Instagram again. I want to see more from you boys.

2. Scream A Little Dream

I was warned by T.J. Moore that his indie flick Scream A Little Dream would trigger me and that a lot of other critics and reviewers hated this damn thing, but he was way fucking wrong. It had the opposite effect that he was expecting because I enjoyed the hell out of what this piece has to offer because there's an energetic S.O.V. prose here that he may or may not be aware of that caters to viewers like me who have been to the edge in terms of shoestring cinema and in my review here on Cinema Slayer towards the end I flatly stated that you "need to watch this shit". He loved that tag so much that now he's quoting me saying that in the new trailers and bumpers he's made to promote Scream A Little Dream and I couldn't be happier about it. Basically we have Kay, Jess Marie and Chrissy here to steeple the foundation. Jess and Chrissy get into a car accident that leaves Jess alive and Chrissy dead because of their excessive drinking. Jess has a massive guilty conscience about what happened to Chrissy and has waking nightmares that progressively get worse and weirder as the film trudges on. Don't sleep on this one if you detest S.O.V. or extremely low budget fair because you're going to be missing out. Seriously-watch this shit.

3. Hellmare

 RFN Pictures put together a helluva film here in Hellmare and I'm glad that I was able to be a part of writing about it here on Cinema Slayer. This piece has everything you could want in a lower budgeted indie title, especially in the kills and the gore. And the special effects. Fantastic stuff here that can't and shouldn't be missed by the vast majority of horror fans, especially if you're a fan of stuff from the 80's-it's whacky, it's crazy and there's a guy wearing a horsehead mask that mutilates people with a power drill, I mean-it's on the freaking cover art of the damn thing, front and center and once it grabs you it doesn't let go. Philip inherits his grandfathers house after he passes away and who plays him but the legendary Lloyd Kaufman-but his house still contains all of his stupid witchcraft crap and whatever else in the attic. He also held on to a copy of the highly sought after and ever rare film Hellmare that Phil and his friends have been dying to see for years now because of it's rarity and because they keep reading about it in horror magazines. Of course after they pop the movie in a watch it, what happens-they get sucked right into the movie itself and they have to survive that as well as the trailers for other films at the beginning of the VHS tape. Killer. Hellmare says 'fuck you' as the subtitle and you know what-that's all the attitude you need for this one. 

4. Justice/Predator Puncherz

The whole thing with predators and pedos has been becoming a sick and inclining problem over the last handful of years, and groups like the Predator Puncherz are here to do all of us a favor. They're here to protect us and our children because without them, this is just going to keep getting worse. Inspired by the work of people like Chris Hansen, the Predator Puncherz really are here to punch predators, except unfortunately in the short film itself, we don't actually get to see them punch any of these pieces of shit. However, we do get to see them get arrested and go to prison, we do get to hear their bizarre conversations they've had online with minors being read aloud before them and just all around having their lives ruined. They did this shit to themselves. We need this type of service from a dedicated group that is willing to go into the lions den to sort these losers out-and that group is the Predator Puncherz. Also, I always give the kudos mostly to the decoy girls because bad things can happen doing that. Watch out.

5. Beyond Mamushi

Psychological thrillers are solid slabs most of the time, and Beyond Mamushi is no exception. This technically was the best of the bunch that I sat through this year (indie-wise) and the cinematography is superb and on a level where I wanted there to be specific frames printed as photography pieces. That's the highest praise that I could give this flick for how it was filmed and edited, and the plot is no different. I'm not going to really expunge much here incase you still haven't seen this one yet, but it's basically Kate and Chris's relationship on the edge here and you don't really know if all of what Chris is doing to her on the daily in terms of abuse is actually real or is it in her head. You don't really know. A lot of terrible things take place here to build up the skeleton of what happens later and towards the end, but things basically get to a point where Kate writes that she needs to kill Chris on a piece of paper and accidentally leaves it in the bathroom of Chris's fathers place and everything that swirls before and after that is just pure tension and nightmare fuel. Just watch Beyond Mamushi. It will mess with you.

6. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Badlands

Ian Messenger and his gang did not contact me to write something about Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Badlands-I just found out somewhere along the line that he made his own side story to that universe, and I took it upon myself to review it because I'm a fan of his work and I'm an even bigger fan of anything that has to do with Leatherface doing his signature 'chainsaw dance' as well as slicing people up and wearing their faces as his own. That sounds fucked up-and it is-but that's what Bubba does around these parts and you can't stop him. I mean, I guess you could with a well placed .556 round to the chest, but that's never going to happen in these films because then there wouldn't be anymore of them. There isn't much you need to know here besides the fact that it's TCM related and that the main focus is this kid named Jonah (who is a content creator on YouTube) gets lost in the Texas killing fields near where the Sawyer/Hewitt family lives, and all of his friends go on this nasty hunt to try and find him. And this flick does get nasty and Ian does it right. Watch this. Just do it.

7. In The Willows

Ian Messenger and his crew at Sixth Chamber Pictures did in fact contact me to watch In The Willows and review it, because well-why not I guess, right? But this was directed by Ashley Messenger (which I still don't know if it's his sister or wife possibly) which always add something different to a film like this. The basis here is that a group of friends want to help their buddy Jackson out with his addiction problems by way of taking him out in the middle of nowhere to a survival/farm resort type of place where there are no modern conveniences such as the internet and/or possibly running water or electricity. Why the hell would you want to do this? Well, it's to cut off the access he has to his network of people that can give him the goods in terms of drugs and whatever else he needs to stay down in it. Heh. But yeah, so this is a backwoods slasher type of situation, and I'm sure you know what that means-it means that there are going to be a lot of fucking weirdos in different kinds of masks and costumes lurking about-waiting to kill people and to eat them. I actually still don't know if this is a cannibal family or cult or whatever the hell, but In The Willows delivers to the point that I want a sequel. You hear me, Ian and Ashley? I never really ask for a follow up, but I want one for this. Por favor.

*My favorites for this year were Dasher, Beyond Mamushi and Hellmare if I'm being completely honest. All of these entries are freaking fantastic, but those three stood out the most.

If you are an indie director or know someone that is involved in making an independent horror flick that is looking for someone to write a review for any project that is going to be released in any capacity, please don't hesitate to contact me. The easiest way is through Instagram. Thank you to all of you and I hope that I hear from any or all of you in the future.*

Blue Murder

 

I went scraping through what Tubi and Bloodstreamtv had to offer in the way of what I haven't seen or heard of yet lately, and I found Blue Murder. What caught my eye mainly was the cover art and just the title itself-Blue Murder as a name for a slasher/gore flick honestly in my opinion fits perfectly because it's quick, easy to say and it holds onto my favorite color. But I just have to bog myself down here unfortunately because when this thing finally came to it's close zits and zombies, I was left saying "meh" out loud a few times as well as shrugging my shoulders. I don't know what I really expected out of this particular title, but what I received was an honest to goodness mediocre romp that just adds yet another flick to my ever growing and seemingly endless pile of purgatory films. I know that this wasn't supposed to be some grand masterpiece that was going to change the face of horror or the holiday of Halloween itself-but I just personally thought that it was a little to out there and whacky for it's own good. There isn't much here to really reflect on because it's a similar type of situation to what happens in Child's Play when Charles Lee Ray uses some kind of magic to put his soul into a Good Guys doll so he can just keep continuing his work-and boy does he ever do that. But here in Blue Murder we start things off with a female serial killer named Gertrude that ends up in a hospital after she gets through another night of killing a bunch of really dumb girls living together, and there just so happens to be a nurse named Blue that works there as a nurse. And for Halloween, she's dressed up as a nurse. Oh man, that's so funny. But the comedy here in Blue Murder with my tastes just wasn't that funny at all-it was pretty stupid to be frank and just way to on the nose. I'm sure that was Justin Aramo's point and purpose for it when he wrote and directed this piece, but it really just didn't do anything for me at all. It felt like he was trying to recapture a lot of that really dumb comedy humor from the 90's and early 2000's that worked and was really great back then, but for whatever reason here in 2026 for Blue Murder, it just felt lame, pointless and made me roll my eyes a couple of times. Usually with this type of material I'll latch onto it right away and just think it's funny, but it didn't land here for me in the slightest and I really think that's a shame because everything that surrounds that layer is great-I really enjoyed the various kills and the gobs of gore here. It was put together really well in terms of blood and people being offed, and I usually at least find one chick that I think is a smoke show above all of them as well as a comedy relief character that just makes me smile, and I did in fact one of those things. I really didn't think any of the ladies here really did justice in that way, and the only character that I found to be great that was only in it for maybe a minute or two was basically at the end when Blue enters a diner after all the idiots that she killed through the night and is greeted by Bloodsucka Jones to have a seat and get a cup of coffee. This guy is just funny the second you see him and his energy and demeanor to me was just through the roof. I just wish he was in it longer than literally ninety seconds. His over exaggerated afro (it's a wig obviously) just caps the whole thing off and I just wished that there was maybe a spin-off flick with this dude as the main character-that would be awesome. Make it  a shitty 70's grindhouse type flick like a Pam Grier movie or Hobo With A Shotgun or something-that would be kick ass. But really though with Blue Murder, Blue inherits the spirit of Gertrude as she is shocked in the hospital, and the whole rest of it is her misadventures of killing sorority and frat jackasses at a near by college, trick or treating, breaking into people's homes, murdering a couple that doesn't celebrate Halloween but they are obsessed with Christmas and the absolute stupidest cop ever by the name of Officer McNulty. That's really all there is here, zits and zombies. I'll just say that if you're a Troma fan and just love really, really dumb comedy along with a lot of swearing (I don't care about cussing, but holy crap this was even to much for me) coupled with chicks that are mostly 7's and gore that's actually really well done, you'll get into Blue Murder. Other than that, don't touch it. You can do better. We can all do better this Halloween season. Blue is my favorite color-but not this time.

ACM Official: Ice Cream Man

 

I want to start this off with a side note stating that I woke up waaaayyy to late to have the time to watch a full horror flick to write about it, so I just went on YouTube and looked up "horror movie short films" and one of the first results that popped up was one for a three minute endeavor simply named "Ice Cream Man". The thumbnail is what's posted above to start this piece off, and I just had to watch this because ice cream is one of my favorite treats among how ever many thousands of other tooth-rotted parlays that are out there, and because this guy just looks way to goofy to ignore. I mean, just look at this guy-I wouldn't be caught dead hanging out with this weirdo let alone being okay with the fact that he would be my local ice cream man. He just screams "I just love serving frozen treats to little kids..." and I'm going to stop there because now I just want to take a bat or some sort of a heavy object-turned-weapon to beat the living shit out of him until one eye is sunken in and the other is so black and blue that he'll need reconstructive surgery after it's finally over. I don't know if I would ever let it be over. I'll state up front too that I don't know anything at all about ACM Official, I don't know who Alex Magana is and he did not contact me at all to review this, but here it goes...

So this young girl opens the freezer to look for something to eat and she gets out a pint of Dreyers (not Breyers) vanilla ice cream and her little sister just shows up out of nowhere behind the freezer door while it's open. Her name is Sophie and she warns her not to start eating the ice cream because it's their mother's ice cream and 'the ice cream man will show up if anyone but their mother eats it' and that she needs to be careful. So Riley (the older sister) shrugs it off and plunks down on the couch and starts eating it. Lo and behold, this guy does randomly appear off to the side in a doorway with a goofy-assed grin on his face, and then when Riley isn't looking in between bites his hand starts creeping out of the top of the ice cream container to to formulate some fear and dread. Then he just pops up behind her and tells her that she's going to give all the ice cream back that she just ate... every last scoop. Here's my favorite thing about this Ice Cream Man short-the ice cream man himself. I don't know who Brandon Joseph Burnette is, or if he's been in anything else (or even any other ACM Official productions) but this guy is great. His energy and demeanor that he employs for the villain himself really, really reminded me of Larry Drake as Dr. Giggles. He almost seemed like he wanted to have that sort of unhinged cackle with a layer of psychotic charm behind it just like Dr. Giggles did, but he held back. I think that would have added to it a little bit while he was actually scooping the ice cream back out of Riley's throat and tossing it back into the ice cream container. Man, now I just want to watch Dr. Giggles again for the hundredth time-but honestly zits and zombies, if you're limited (very limited) on time like I was this morning because I woke up a lot later than I normally do to write something on here and still need some kind of a horror fix, look up Ice Cream Man from ACM Official. I think you'll dig it. If you don't, then I don't know. I mean, there's always the Ice Cream Man from 1995 horror flick with Clint Howard in it playing Gregory Tudor, and that's a great one too. Or I Scream For Ice Cream from the Masters Of Horror series that was released on DVD a number of years ago, and that's also a fantastic ice cream centric piece that I've always enjoyed. So there's options out there for creamery based horror. Now go get it. I just won't be the one on the ice cream truck.

Freddy's Back-Leavy For Krueger

 

So, bit-by-bit recently my wife has been showing me pics, trailers, clips and various other pieces of media depicting Michael Leavy as the new potential Freddy Krueger and I have to say this guy has got it. He's got the voice, the tone, the look, the way he moves-everything. If you have not seen it yet or bothered to look it up, there is a four minute short film on YouTube with him in full make-up and Freddy attire with the glove, hat and sweater, doing his thing and invading the nightmares of some young chick named Natalie. This basically ends up being a promo piece or "bumper" if you will to try to get fans, press and audiences pumped up and ready to justify why Michael Leavy should indeed play the new Freddy Krueger. The feeling that was imbued in me almost immediately when the short started was that this would be in fact a fresh, new version of A Nightmare On Elm Street that I don't know if we necessarily need because we can all just go back and watch the original with Robert Englund, but we do actually all need so desperately to forget about that abomination remake with Jackie Earle Haley that was released in 2010. My wife and I saw it in the theater when it was released back then and us and everyone else in the theater hated it. I don't know a single fan of the franchise that liked it. At all. For any reason. Maybe there are some Freddy fans out there that embrace that film and like it at the very least for what it is, but there's no way in hell if I was still collecting physical copies of horror films would I reserve any kind of space on my shelf for that piece of shit. This however-this potential new flick starring Michael Leavy as Freddy Krueger-the invader and killer of our dreams-which is also approved by Robert Englund himself which is fantastic-this will be a legendary remake. I'd wager that this would most likely be on the same level of ten out of ten remakes in the realm of The Fly, The Blob, IT with Bill Skarsgard and John Carpenter's The Thing (everyone forgets that that's a remake too) because after all the pieces that my wife has shown me as well as watching the short film this morning, I'm confident. I'm very confident that this is the torch that needed to be handed off to carry this character into the future to garner possible new fans and audiences so that Freddy Krueger will never be forgotten. Let's be real though-this character is way to much of a horror icon at this point to ever be fully forgotten, it's just great to see someone a lot younger with the talent, looks, charisma and energy to be able to keep this going. 1-2 Freddy's coming for you... 3-4 better lock your door... 

I'm not a hashtag guy by any means, but I have to say #LeavyForKrueger. I'm all in. And he's getting shout-outs from fucking Felissa Rose, Barbara Crampton and Robert Englund himself. What more could he possibly need to make this happen? Nothing I say. Nothing. We as horror fans are here for it and there's nothing that can stop him. Unless of course there ends up being some kind of bullshit studio interference or something because that's an unfortunate possibility. But here we are. Can't wait until this comes to fruition. It's going to be one for the books. Watch for it.

Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil

 

I knew this already going in, but Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil basically has nothing to do with the first three entries in the franchise. This easily could have just been titled "Deliver Us From Evil" or "Jonas The Priest Needs His Meat" or something along those lines and I still think that this flick would have garnered a solid cult following. What we do have with Prom Night IV however is an entertaining departure from the Mary Lou timeline that takes place in parts two and three with a Catholic priest by the name of Father Jonas that becomes possessed by the devil back in 1957 during the Hamilton High School prom (which is the very loose connection we have to the previous films here) and is contained by holy words, drugs and physical restraints in the basement of the church that employs him by Father Jaeger. Thirty plus something years later, a young man that goes through all of the training he needs to become the new Father under Jaeger's wing by the name of Father Colin is set to take over, and his mortal duty given to him by Jaeger is that he needs to keep Jonas drugged and contained in the basement so that "the devil in him doesn't awaken". He of course flubs this duty the very first time he needs to perform it and Jonas comes to life and kills his ass right there in the church. Hamilton High School is once again having their annual prom dance and we now have new characters to romp around with by the names of Meagan, Mark, Laura and Jeff. I actually enjoyed all four of these main "teen" characters (the word teen has quotes around it because it's yet another case of twenty-somethings playing teen-somethings) and of course, my favorite has to be Meagan because she's the resident final girl and the steaming hot brunette played by Nicole de Boer, but she's also the sweet, innocent goody girl that learns and opens up about life along the way. There's a character arch there, which is saying something considering this is the fourth entry in a franchise where basically the main focus is slashing, silliness, a young girl that was whoring around in parts two and three and ultimately just doesn't have any focus other than being entertaining. I think that's what the main thing here about Prom Night IV I can say is is that it's just entertaining, even though it could have just stood on it's own as a singular piece without having to be attached to the Prom Night franchise. The music is excessively cheesy, the kills are varied and pretty gory to be honest, the cinematography is solid and Jonas himself is just a villain you can't really take seriously. His facial expressions and the way he moves around his environment when he's trying to snuff everyone in the third act is just to goofy to be heavy, and I genuinely just had a good time watching him act like the fool that he is. I want there to be a lot more to say about Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil, but there just isn't. It's a solid final entry into this seminal franchise even though it really has nothing to do with it at all besides the very weak connection to the series' central high school and the year 1957 from the earlier parts-other than that it's all it's own thing. If you can enjoy it for what it is like I did, you'll have a good time. I'm just glad that I never joined the priesthood-even though I actually had a chance at doing so when I was younger. What a waste that would have been. A man of the cloth I am not.

Prom Night III: The Last Kiss

 

The poster art for Prom Night III: The Last Kiss says it all-Alex eventually becomes a rebellious dude on a bike with a leather jacket, sunglasses, a hot brunette on the back and flames torching everything in his path. It's one of the times in horror film history where you get what you see because the marketing for whatever movie it is actually sells you what the film really embodies, and everything here encompasses just that. Except there's so much more. How does Alex make it there? How does he get everything that is shown on the cover on the box art? It happens because Mary Lou Maloney from Prom Night II still isn't all the way dead yet and she still has unfinished business with Hamilton High, so she breaks out of her chains that are keeping her in hell, dancing and jazzercising for all eternity. The main overall crimp with Prom Night III: The Last Kiss is that it's a fucking goofy movie. The tone has a heavy layer of cartoony humor about it and I'm always up for something off center like that and I will fully admit right away that I really enjoyed this one for it. My favorite so far in this franchise still has been Prom Night II, but Prom Night III is a very close second. I have a really strong feeling that Prom Night IV isn't going to be this way-it's probably going to end up being a try-hard return to how slow and rigid the original was, and there's nothing wrong with that either. I just hope it has some kind of energy behind it to keep things moving. Okay, so I'm not here to waste your time with my predictions about the next sequel though-I'm here to focus on Prom Night III: The Last Kiss and this honestly was a great time. I loved that Mary Lou came back full force and was the main enemy here, pulling Alex away from his girlfriend Sarah and his friend Shane to frame him and make it look like he was murdering people all around the school. There's only four main kills that take place during it's runtime, but they sure are great and the special effects are fantastic here as well as being campy as all hell which just compiles onto the already off-center nature that this flick embodies in the first place. I mean Mary Lou (played by Courtney Taylor this time around) is way hotter in this next sequel than she was in part II, but she wears a really sexy ice cream vendor outfit and ends up killing the biology teacher with two ice cream cones which pin his hands to the serving table at her creamery stand and then proceeds to shred the guys head and face with a blender sort of appliance that looks like it would be used for mixing said frozen treats. Sounds fun, right? It is a fun gag in the film and it also ends up being really damn brutal. Also, the other kill that I want to point out is that she ends up tossing a football to the captain of the football team at one point and half of the football randomly turns into a drill bit styled thing where it impales the captain onto the bottom pole of the field goal in the football field. All of the kills here in Prom Night III: The Last Kiss are like this-just ridiculous, over the top shenanigans that could only be employed into a fun, lower budgeted romp built specifically for the home video market back in the very early 90's. But that's the main basis-Mary Lou still wants revenge for what happened to her back in the second film, so she comes back and uses Alex as a scapegoat for all of her killings, hatred and vengeance. She kills anyone that annoys her, gets in her way and makes out with (and has sex with at one point) Alex just so he keeps coming back her to to keep her spirit going. This flick really is a riot and if you've never seen any of the Prom Night movies like I haven't until very recently and for some crazy reason you decide to start with Prom Night III: The Last Kiss, I really don't think you'd be let down. Unless you just don't have a taste or pre-disposition to watch a film like this anyway. Then I'd probably just say that you're a boring lump that needs to lighten up and learn how to have fun with this shit once in awhile. By the way, for the guys out there-towards the end there's a scene where Alex is already in jail and Mary Lou randomly appears to bail him out and she's wearing a really hot police uniform. Or at least, I though she looked great in it. I just had to throw that out there. May part IV be as entertaining as II and III. Now I just want a cone with strawberry ice cream. At 9a.m.-what a world.

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2

 

Right out of the gate I'm going to say here that Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 has energy for days which is the polar opposite compared to the original Prom Night flick starring Jamie Lee Curtis. The intensity, electricity and vibes just seething off of the edges of this sequel are so strong that if you bother sitting through this one, you'll be damned if you try to look away. It's mesmerizing to say the least and I'm also going to state here that the special effects, gore and sexual levels of tension here reach heights that I really didn't expect them to go to, but then again this film was put out seven years later which is insane to think about and it shows because this entry is so far removed from the first one that it could have just been titled "Hello Mary Lou" or "The Burning of Mary Lou" or maybe even "Possessing A Killer Prom Queen" or anything to that effect and it probably still would have worked. But since I don't know anything about marketing or any sort of business line like that it was just slapped with Prom Night 2 as the sub-title to boost attention and sales at the time to lure in more potentially burgeoning horror fans and teens of the 80's. Get those asses in the seats. But what happens here in Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 is that in 1957 we have a high school prom commencing. There is a very naughty bad girl among the ranks named Mary Lou who loves to booze it up, lie, cheat on her boyfriend and is just a general wild child. Billy Nordham (Michael Ironside of all actors which I did not expect to be in a film like this) is in fact the boyfriend that Mary Lou is cheating on with some dude in a backroom of the high school during the dance and Billy is having none of it. Some jackass in the men's bathroom is preparing some kind of a handmade stink bomb of sorts to try and prank the dance-which ends up looking like a really shitty quarter stick of dynamite-tosses it in the trash because he was going to get caught be a teacher or the principal. Billy is in the bathroom while this takes place and takes it upon himself to climb the rafters with it, light it and drop it down on Mary Lou right as she's on stage accepting her crown as prom queen. The flames from the wick get out of control and burns her ass alive on stage in front of the whole school and she is presumed dead of course afterwards. Multiple decades later, Billy himself ends up being the principle for the very high school that he burned Mary Lou at, and now his own son is a senior there and is dating Vicki who is the daughter of a very strict, staunch catholic couple. Plenty happens in between getting ready for the prom and the ending where in the third act Mary Lou actually physically comes back in a brutal way where she is basically born out of Vicki's chest a la' Aliens style where she just bursts out and still is covered in third degree burns all over her body to terrorize everyone. I mentioned this before but the special effects here honestly are incredible and I'd really have to say my favorite scene in the entire film has to be the scene where after Vicki is possessed early in the film by Mary Lou, she follows her friend into the shower after gym class, they're both nude and she starts kissing her on the face which is already weird in and of itself, but then she stalks her through the area where the lockers are and she drags her nails along them slowly like Fred Krueger to create that insane screeching sound and then proceeds to literally crush all of the lockers together to kill her friend because she was hiding inside her locker so Vicki wouldn't be able to see her. Brutality at it's finest if you ask me. If I'm going to sit here and choose which of the first two Prom Night flicks is better, I'm choosing to burn Mary Lou with a handmade stink bomb all over again. This second entry honestly was a riot and I had a great time this morning with it. I've seen and rad other reviews about how this sequel surpasses the original in basically every way, and now that I've seen it myself I completely agree. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 just sets the bar for the rest of the franchise so much higher that I'm now expecting them to be just as good if not better. Unfortunately I've been disappointed many times before and I just need to temper my expectations for part III. Who knows what level that one sits at. I'm crowning myself prom king because at this juncture it's the right thing to do.