BY DESTINY BRADEN (’17) AND ANNA MINTON (’17)
Prom is supposedly one of the best days of your life. A night full of long dresses, heels, dream dates and dancing, Prom is a chance for every girl to be a princess. It is a chance for the shy to be noticed and dreams to come true.
This night, so full of excitement and drama, makes the perfect idea for a movie. Here’s a list of the top ten Prom movies.
“High School Musical 3: Senior Year”
While this film doesn’t include the normal ideal of Prom, it does keep the romantic theme of it. High school sweethearts Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) and Troy (Zac Efron) are dealing with the fact that they will soon be going their separate ways for college. Gabriella informs Troy that she won’t be able to make it to Prom because she is visiting Stanford. Troy surprises her by showing up in a tux and they have an untypical Prom, dancing under a tree on campus.
Josie (Drew Barrymore), a copy editor of Chicago Sun-Times, gets a second chance at her failed high school Prom when her boss asks her to write a story about teenage culture. Disguised as a high school student, she attends Prom with the popular Guy Perkins (Jeremy Jordan) dressed as characters from Shakespeare.
Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald) is an unpopular high school student, so it is a shock when she gets asked to Prom by the rich, popular Blane McDonough (Andrew McCarthy). Blane’s friends make fun of him for asking Andie to Prom, causing him to lie and tell her that he already had a Prom date that he forgot about. Deciding to brave Prom alone, Andie makes herself a gorgeous pink dress. Blane decides she is more important than his friends, and they make-up, enjoying Prom together.
Eighth grader Julie Corky (Alexa Vega) decides to have a sleepover on the last day of eighth grade. The girls create a scavenger hunt to decide who gets to sit with the popular kids by the fountain and who gets to sit by the dumpsters. The list includes getting the Prom crown, which just happens to go to her crush Steve Phillips (Sean Faris). He surprisingly asks her to dance and puts the crown on her head saying that she won and he knew about the scavenger hunt.
In a town where dancing and partying is outlawed, Prom is held in secret. Ren McCormack (Kenny Wormald) is new to town and meets the pastor’s daughter Ariel (Julianne Hough). Together they plan a secret Prom in a cotton mill in town. Everything goes perfect until Chuck, Ariel’s boyfriend, shows up and tries to trash the dance. After he is beaten, the movie ends with everyone enjoying the dance.
The school bad boy, Jesse Richter (Thomas McDonell), is forced to help class president Nova (Aimee Teegarden) plan for Prom after all of the decorations are burnt in a shed fire. Throughout the process, the pair become closer. Jesse plans on asking Nova to Prom, but he is discouraged by Nova’s dad who thinks he is bringing her down. On the night of Prom, Nova goes alone and Jesse realizes that he should’ve asked her, despite of what her dad thought. He surprises her at Prom by asking her to be his date by the fountain.
Carrie (Chloë Grace Moretz) is a shy senior who gets bullied in the locker room after gym and discovers that she is able to move things with her mind. Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde) feels guilty, and has her boyfriend Tommy ask Carrie to Prom. One of the main bullies, Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubleday), stuffs the ballot so that Tommy and Carrie win Prom Queen and King, so that when they go on stage she can pour buckets of pig blood on them. The bucket falls on Tommy’s head, killing him. Carrie becomes furious and loses control of her power, destroying the school and killing dozens of people, including Chris.
In her freshman year, Donna Keppel (Brittany Snow) witnesses the murder of her mother by her former teacher, Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech), who was obsessed with Donna. Three years later, on the night of Prom, Fenton escapes from jail and disguises himself as a hotel employee. At Prom, Fenton kills many of her friends and Donna’s boyfriend, Bobby. In the end, an officer finally shoots and kills Fenton.
Popular high school student Zack Siler (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) makes a bet with his friend Dean Sampson, Jr. (Paul Walker) that he could turn any girl into a Prom Queen in six weeks. Dean chooses Laney Boggs (Rachael Leigh Cook), a nerdy, unpopular girl as the one Zack has to turn into the Prom Queen. As he tries making Laney more popular, the pair become closer until Dean reveals the bet to Laney. Heartbroken, she refuses to speak to Zack and goes to Prom with Dean. After finding out Dean just wanted to go with her for sex, Laney makes up with Zack and he has to pay the consequences for losing the bet.
Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik) is upset because her father won’t let her date unless her older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) gets a boyfriend. To fix this, the boy who wants to date Bianca pays Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) to date her sister so she can date the guy she likes. Eventually, Patrick and Kat begin liking each other and he asks her to Prom. It is there that Kat realizes that Patrick was paid to date her and refuses to talk to him. They then make up when he buys her a guitar with the money that he made from the deal.
Which is your favorite Prom movie? Vote below.
