Very low-budget, amateurish horror film that seems to be mostly the one-man show of Kazeem Molake, who wrote, produced, edited and directed and, according to the credits, executed all sorts of other tasks as well, including voicing the disguised killer who hijacks a Hummer limo carrying eight seniors to their high school prom. Molake clearly has some talent and skill, but not enough to know where he needs help, especially with regard to sound recording, which is pretty terrible, not that the dialogue you can hear is at all memorable or interesting.
This is the kind of home-made film where all the background extras are credited, probably in lieu of payment. It makes use of lots of footage supposedly taken from various security, hand-held and cellphone cameras, but doesn't adhere strictly to the "found footage" aesthetic. The best thing about "Prom Ride" is the editing -- Molake manages to stitch together all these different vantage points coherently, in a way that doesn't lose viewers, though there are a few instances where it's not quite clear what was happening. He keeps the film visually dynamic, which is no small feat in a movie where the action is confined to a small space for much of its run-time. It's not especially visually creative -- we don't see anything here we haven't seen before, though I did like the killer's mirror mask -- but shooting from so many angles and sources on such a low budget and stitching something together that isn't a complete mess is an achievement in itself.
Alas, the story is inane, as are the characters, if they can even be called that. "Prom Ride" is an object lesson in how to write so blandly that we spend what feels like hours with these seniors without getting to know or understand them at all. Perhaps that's just as well, given that their actions and motivations make no sense, and aren't remotely compelling. Cutting the bizarre musical number that looked like an audition reel for "High School Musical" could have helped. Cutting the entire poorly executed news-footage framing device would definitely have helped. But nothing can create interesting characters except good writing coupled with good acting, neither of which is on display here. Very little is asked of the attractive cast, and that's exactly what they deliver.
Molake may go on to do much better work down the road. If he does, "Prom Ride" is probably something he and everyone else involved with it will want to bury.
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