I Love It When Horror Sequels Like Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987) Aren’t Sequels At All

Much ado has been made of Troll 2* over the last decade or two. And for good reason: It’s one of the worst movies ever made, in the absolute best way. (If you know, you know.)

Part of the charm of Troll 2, which is not directly evident from the film itself but has become a staple of its lore, is that it has absolutely nothing to do with Troll. (And Troll is actually pretty good! Michael Moriarty plays the main character, and do you know what his character’s name is? Harry Potter. I kid you not. J. K. Rowling is a thief.)

This sort of thing used to happen from time to time, especially when foreign distribution came into play. Horror films would be written, even shot and produced, as standalone properties before being absorbed haphazardly into a tangentially related franchise. And sometimes these sequels are better—or at least more memorable—than the original film. (Perhaps not in spite of but because of having nothing to do with the original.)

Such is the case with Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, a film that was originally called The Haunting of Hamilton High, which is admittedly not a very catchy or distinguished title. It wasn’t until the distribution stage that it bore the mark of a Prom Night sequel; they even put that part after the colon in the title, and I just think that’s great.

Are there similarities between the two films? A few, I suppose. They both take place at the fictional Hamilton High School. They were both shot and produced in Canada. They both involve lots of dead teenagers. But that’s about where the similarities end.

In fact, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II has more in common with movies like Carrie and A Nightmare on Elm Street, two films that it directly borrows from. (“Rips off” seems harsh; I like this movie, so I will give it the benefit of the doubt.) And many of the characters are named after prominent genre directors—Carpenter, Browning, Craven, Wood, Waters—which is pretty corny, but we can’t do anything about it now.

I wonder if people got mad in 1987 when they realized that this film has almost nothing in common with Prom Night. I can’t imagine getting mad about such a thing, but I’ve lived through nerds raging over Lady Ghostbusters and a Black Human Torch so I’m sure it happened.

But I think it’s pretty neat. First of all, who cares? If the movie’s good, it doesn’t matter. But also, it’s kinda refreshing, at least within the current context of the cinematic landscape. We live in a day and age where giant franchises are dominating the box office and IP is somehow both handled delicately and shoved into every crevice these studios can find. I enjoy many of these films myself, and I admire what they’ve done in many ways, but everything doesn’t have to be like that. We don’t need recurring characters in Escape Room: Tournament of Champions. Just give us a good movie, please.

Franchise-stuffing does still happen these days, but the IP is almost always adjusted during the script stage so that they can cast the films accordingly. (That’s how we got multiple Die Hard sequels, you know.) But maybe it’s time to lighten up a little. Maybe it’s time to follow Mary Lou’s example. Maybe it’s time to be more like Canada?

* I am contractually obligated to mention that, in case you weren’t aware, the lead actor from Troll 2, George Hardy, is a practicing dentist in Alexander City, AL. He’s a really nice guy, and there’s lots of great stuff from him in Best Worst Movie, the documentary about Troll 2.

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II is now streaming on Shudder, Peacock, Vudu, and lots of other streaming services, and it’s available to rent elsewhere.