- Notes provided by Sony Pictures Entertainment. -

SYNOPSIS

The night every high school girl dreams of turns from magic to mayhem for Donna Keppel (Brittany Snow) when the obsessed psychopath who killed her entire family escapes from prison and comes to claim her. What should have been the night of a lifetime turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse, as Donna and her friends are stalked by a deranged predator who will let nothing stand between him and his intended victim.
An enthralling thriller that combines a gorgeous young cast with a glamorous setting, hip soundtrack and nail-biting suspense, Prom Night features Brittany Snow (Hairspray, John Tucker Must Die), Scott Porter ("Friday Night Lights"), Jessica Stroup (The Hills Have Eyes 2), Dana Davis ("Heroes"), Collins Pennie (Half Nelson), Kelly Blatz (The Oakley Seven), James Ransone ("The Wire"), Brianne Davis (Jarhead), with Johnathon Schaech (Hush, That Thing You Do!) and Idris Elba (This Christmas, "The Wire"). Inspired by the classic 1980 horror film of the same name, Prom Night is directed by Nelson McCormick ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Prison Break") and written by J.S. Cardone (The Covenant).
Original Films' Neal H. Moritz (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Click) and Toby Jaffe (The Quick and the Dead, Thomas Crown Affair 2) are the producers. Glenn S. Gainor (Vacancy, Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo), Marc Forby (29 Palms, Hostile Intent), Cardone, Bruce Mellon (Cruel Intentions), William Tyrer (The Prestige) and Chris J. Ball serve as executive producers. The creative team includes director of photography Checco Varese, AMC (La Misma Luna), production designer Jon Gary Steele (Vacancy), editor Jason Ballantine (Wolf Creek), music by Paul Haslinger and music supervisors Greg Danylyshyn and Gerry Cueller . Prom Night is rated PG-13 for violence and terror, some sexual material, underage drinking and language.

****

Senior Prom is a night no one ever forgets-especially Donna Keppel. As she prepares for the definitive high school experience, Donna is unaware that the knife-wielding psychopath who murdered her family has escaped from prison and is on his way back to her to finish what he started.
Three years earlier, Donna was the only survivor of a murderous rampage by Richard Fenton, a teacher obsessed with her innocent beauty. After her parents took out a restraining order to protect her, Fenton broke into her home and slaughtered them, along with Donna's younger brother. Donna survived the attack by hiding from the killer and her testimony put Fenton in a maximum security asylum for the criminally insane.
With the support of her aunt and uncle, Donna has finally begun to recover from the unspeakable horror of that night. Now a senior in high school, she is starting to put the past behind her and blossom into a lovely young woman with unlimited opportunities.
On the night of her Senior Prom, Donna and her friends Lisa (Dana Davis) and Claire (Jessica Stroup) are just three beautiful young girls marking their glorious transition to womanhood. Along with their dates, they have rented a suite in the swanky hotel where the prom is being held and plan to spend the night celebrating their futures. Their biggest concern is whether it will be Lisa or the girls' catty archenemy, Crissy, who is crowned Prom Queen.
But as Donna and her classmates party, Fenton stealthily prowls the hotel, meticulously setting in motion his plan to claim the woman he sees as his true love-and killing anyone who gets in his way. Meanwhile, a dedicated detective (Idris Elba) struggles to sort through a tangled web of clues and stop Fenton before Donna's enchanted evening becomes a blood-spattered nightmare.

THE MAKING OF PROM NIGHT

The memories of that night will fade with time, but you'll never forget it.
Just like you'll never forget tomorrow night. -- Dr. Elisa Crowe, Prom Night

When Marc Forby and Neal H. Moritz set out to make a film inspired by the 1980 thriller Prom Night, their intent was to completely re-imagine the picture for a new, more sophisticated audience. The original film, which starred Jamie Lee Curtis at the height of her "scream queen" notoriety, is one of the classic slasher films of that era, but Forby and Moritz envisioned a script in which the emphasis would be on suspense, with the gore toned down significantly.
"In the post-Saw world, we've gone as far as we can with onscreen violence," says Forby, who, along with Glenn S. Gainor, is executive producer of Prom Night. "We went back to the classic, old-school thriller where the scares are really coming more out of, 'Where is the villain right now? Is he right there? Is he behind her?'"
Forby and Moritz, the producer of the blockbuster I Know What You Did franchise, as well as the recent box office smash, I Am Legend, spent almost five years developing a script for Prom Night before finding just the right tone for their film.
"Neal and I went through four sets of writers and every take imaginable on the story," says Forby. "There were differing opinions on how to structure it-do you start the killings in act one of the film or do you save it for later? We even had a version where the children being killed were reincarnated souls of people who had done very bad things and karma was coming to get them. At the end of the day, we decided to do Prom Night as a classic, straightforward psychological thriller. Rooting it more in reality was a much more compelling way to go."
When writer J.S. Cardone came on board, he found a vision that everyone was happy with. The result is a script that producer Toby Jaffe, who worked on The Amityville Horror remake as a production executive at MGM, describes as "very Hitchcockian. In a lot of classic Hitchcock movies, you kind of know where the threat is coming from. The fun for the audience is in seeing how the protagonist deals with it. We're with them, trying to figure out how they're going to get themselves out of this problem."
Anticipation, notes Forby, is more frightening than overt violence. "One's imagination is far greater than anything any filmmaker can show you," he says. "Anticipation accounts for ninety-nine percent of the thrills in a classic horror film. And anticipation is heightened when the audience has a piece of information the character doesn't. The longer you can hold back the knowledge from the characters, the more anxiety the viewer is going to experience watching, because they know where the killer is and they want to reach out and help."
To bring Cardone's screenplay to the screen, the producers brought in veteran TV director Nelson McCormick, whose resume includes dozens of hours of acclaimed television dramas from "Nip/Tuck" and "The West Wing" to "ER" and "NYPD Blue."
"Growing up, I was heavily influenced by popcorn horror films like Halloween and Friday the 13th," says the director. "But what really scares me more are films that feel real. In movies like Deliverance and Dead Calm, the terror goes a little deeper because the situations are so real, and that's where I wanted this film to be rooted."
After years of working successfully within television's tight production schedules, McCormick knows the value of detailed preparation. "Neal and I first spoke to Nelson about directing the film a couple years ago, and he was just remarkably well prepared," says Forby. "He even came with storyboards. He'd mapped it all out. It was purely because of that passion we hired him. We knew he was really going to get behind it, and he did. He watched every horror film out there. I mean, he became a real expert within two months. You want that kind of passion."
Producer Toby Jaffe agrees that McCormick took his research as far as it could go. "He was meticulous about everything, even down to the prom clothes and prom music. In addition to excelling at the genre of thriller filmmaking, he tried to really recreate what a prom feels like today."
McCormick discovered a documentary called The World's Best Prom about a high school celebration in Racine, Wisconsin and what it meant to the community at large, as well as the students in attendance. "This documentary explores the levels of how invested this one town was in the prom," he says. "It follows the seniors and what they are going through leading up to the prom, and continues during and after their prom night."
McCormick even had the cast watch the documentary before filming started. "I gave it to the actors because I wanted to refresh their memories of the prom," he continues. "It's a rite of passage-a coming of age and a very big deal for most kids. I wanted to bring them back to that time."
The director was equally diligent in researching the techniques master thriller and horror filmmakers of the past have used to create heart-pounding suspense and jump-inducing scares. "He really did his homework," says executive producer Gainor. "He really studied to see what works-for example, a slow, creeping camera is very scary. You don't want to rush through a scare. You want to have a moment to breathe. What makes the difference between a horror film and a thriller is that a horror film is quick to just jump in there and get you to the blood, and a thriller like this is going to take its time."
"A lot of spectacular detail went into the production design and the camera movements and building in the scares," adds Gainor. "And there are subtle references to some of the best thrillers of the 20th century. There is a moment where there's blood going down a drain. There are moments that remind me of Jaws, when something just passes across the screen and is gone. Just like a fin, but in our case, it's the killer."
"One of the greatest things about this script," says the director, "is the crossover of genres-it's a cop movie interwoven with a teen terror film. You have a detective who's getting a second chance to bring a killer to justice. The killer is an obsessed man who is driven to insanity by a student he simply must have, to the point that he will kill anyone who stands between him and her. And in the middle of these two men is this young woman, who's experiencing the most magical night of her life, the night of her prom, an event which is synonymous with the end of youth-the death of youth, metaphorically."
Adding to Prom Night's palpable tension is the fact that while their storylines are inextricably intertwined, those three characters-Donna, Detective Winn and Fenton-don't come together onscreen until the final, cathartic climax.
"Our threat is a man who suffers from the same disorder that John Hinckley, Jr. did with Jodie Foster," McCormick explains. "It's called 'erotomania.' Our killer imagines a relationship that doesn't exist. He imagines that this woman is meant to be with him for the rest of his life and he will do whatever it takes to make that happen.
"There's something very human about it," says the director. "Maybe not to that extreme, but we've all wanted something badly in our lives and have been driven to obsession over it-a job, a car, a spot on a team-so we can relate to this guy on some small level. He's not just a killing machine out to rack up a body count."
Executive producer Mark Forby adds, "It's about an obsession, not the act of killing. Fenton is fixated on a goal and has to kill people that get in his way. It makes him a more interesting villain because it adds dimension. There's a little part of you that can have some empathy."
Hinckley, Jr., Mark David Chapman and Ted Bundy all served as models for Prom Night's villain, according to McCormick. "We felt there was a cerebral superiority to these guys," he says. "They're quite brilliant and we wanted that mindset to be captured in the Richard Fenton character."
"I kept thinking about Seven and The Silence of the Lambs," the director continues. "You had these brilliant minds who are the villains who are always a step or two-or twelve-ahead. You get the sense that they're going to win unless our hero catches a break. The audience is behind him right to the end and it's neck and neck to the finish. If this were Jaws, Richard Fenton would be my shark; if this were Alien, he would be my creature."

Nothing is going to keep us apart. She needs me now more than ever...
All she has is me. -- Richard Fenton, Prom Night

McCormick had a very specific visual aesthetic in mind, one that would reinforce the audience's visceral response to the action. "The shots had to create claustrophobia," he says. "They had to create a psychological state. What you can't see in a frame is often more scary than what you can. If you really study the classic horror films and thrillers, you set it up with us experiencing what our protagonist is experiencing from their point of view, and then shock us with the stalker point of view or the shot of somebody coming in behind them."
Delivering the look McCormick sought fell to award-winning cinematographer Checco Varese, AMC. The Peruvian-born director of photography prides himself on being able to get inside a director's head and interpret his or her concept visually. "When you shoot a thriller, it's based on fear, it's based on surprises," says Varese. "We had to figure out how to tell the story and at the same time not show too much, so the audience will still have this hunger to try and understand what is going to happen.
"We were playing with different levels of darkness throughout the film," Varese continues. "We tried to play with as much darkness as we could while still keeping the action clear. At the prom, we had these fantastic areas of light and beautiful colors and rock 'n' roll, but at the same time something horrible was happening. Our gaffer, Danny Eckleson, invented these razor lights that deliver a slender beam of light. They cast this glow on the actor's eyes, or on Brittany's back, but it came from somewhere that you couldn't quite figure out. It enhanced the sense of mystery and fear."
To intensify the viewer's anxiety, the cameraman slowed the shutter speed of the camera, which gave footage a slightly jittery feeling. He also switched suddenly from wide angle to long lenses to keep the audience off-guard. "Other scenes were shot in a traditional way, so when you get to the action scenes, the difference would just immediately make you either afraid or relax and then we would all of a sudden jump to another technique."
Varese cites another way camera techniques aided in the storytelling. "There's a scene where Fenton, the killer, turns around and looks at Donna. We shot it at 120 frames, which is slow motion-four times reality. It's like he wants to freeze the moment to see her better. And the camera zoomed in very slowly to her. It was actually a very sweet moment."

I did it for us. -- Richard Fenton, Prom Night

In casting Prom Night, the filmmakers needed to put together a microcosm of the archetypal high school social scene, complete with Good Girl, Queen Bee, Alpha Jock, Class Clown and more. To do so, they turned to some of Hollywood's most promising and attractive new talents.
Brittany Snow plays Donna Keppel, the object of Fenton's obsession. "I can't think of a better personification of goodness and innocence than Brittany Snow," says McCormick. "I don't think you can care about these films unless there's a character that you get invested in. You need to fear for her and care for her. I think Brittany is someone you naturally want to protect and care for. There is something about watching someone as beautiful as Brittany is being attacked that just makes us fear."
Snow began her career at the age of eight and has racked up numerous big and small screen credits including Hairspray, in which she played Michelle Pfeiffer's daughter, and the Emmy®-award winning TV series "American Dreams."
"Before this, I underestimated the people who do thrillers and horror movies," says the 21-year-old actress. "I underestimated how much work it is. I feel like I really got to be a part of something very cool. As an actor, you are constantly in a heightened state in this kind of film," she says. "You might have a scene where you're hysterically crying, and then you take a break. In the next scene, you're supposed to still be crying, but it's a week later in real time and you have to be in the same place emotionally. I always want my work to be genuine, so that was challenging and rewarding."
Snow studied the psychology of stalkers and the victims of stalkers before she started filming. "I wanted to immerse myself in things that were dark and eerie to help me get to that fear when I needed it," the actress says. "I also watched a lot of 'To Catch a Predator,' just to get into the mindset of the victim. What I learned through my research was that a lot of crazy killers are everyday people-cops, teachers, and astronauts-respected people. People you might meet on the street, or who live down your block. And they have this whole secret life."
Idris Elba has made a name for himself in both the U.S. and Britain, playing hardboiled characters in films such as American Gangster and 28 Weeks Later. In Prom Night, he is Detective Winn, the police officer who arrested Fenton three years earlier and makes it his personal mission to protect Donna.
"Idris is the anchor of this film," says Gainor. "His character is a second protagonist, the other driving force in the movie. The story is not only about Donna, it's also Winn's story, because he caught Fenton and trusted the system to incarcerate him. Instead, the system put him in an insane asylum from which he was able to escape."
Adds McCormick: "It was essential to feel Detective Winn is a caring person, a person who seems good-hearted in nature. When I met Idris, I immediately got a sense that he had the warmth and quiet strength that would bring Detective Winn to life. He really committed himself to this role and worked very hard to make each scene personal-this is not just about bringing a man to justice for Winn, this is about getting a second chance to end Donna's nightmares."
Elba notes that, in an interesting twist, Winn is almost as obsessed with Fenton as Fenton is with Donna. "He's become close to the family, having suffered the trauma with them," says the actor. "He wants to look after these people and this town because he really cares for them. He takes it personally. And whether he'd like to admit it or not, he has a relationship with Richard Fenton."
The actor chosen to play Fenton had to be able to walk a razor sharp line. He needed to be believable as Donna's terrifying stalker, without crossing over into an inhuman monster. "I wasn't looking at Fenton as the boogeyman," says screenwriter Cardone. "This is a guy who became obsessed, as a lot of middle-aged men do, with that sort of female innocence that's starting to blossom into maturity. We've seen pictures done on this subject matter before, in Lolita and other really classic scenarios. This is a case of a man who can seem truly normal on the exterior. But like all of us, he has that kink, that little twist in his nature."
"Johnathon brings a very interesting irony to the part," says Cardone. "He is an individual who people would be naturally drawn to, but he is driven by an obsession with this young woman. That's the reason that we drifted away from the original story structure of Prom Night. We realized that the killings that take place are not out of anger or out of revenge. They're simply because certain people get in his way. This is a really distorted love story."
Schaech, who is cast more often as a heartthrob than a villain, says he actually liked his character when he first read the script. "You have to like somebody to play them. But there are actually qualities to Richard Fenton that are very much like me, but taken to the farthest degree. He's in love and nothing is going to stand in his way."
He worked closely with the director to develop the right balance for his character. "Nelson asked me to develop him as an accessible human as opposed to a monster. His direction made my performance better, and I think that all of the literature he had me read prior to coming on board really helped define the character and make him more real.
"Richard Fenton is very charismatic, sort of like Ted Bundy," the actor continues. "I read some books about Bundy, studied John Hinckley, Jr. a bit and watched a lot of different thrillers to try to make the character a little more unique, more real, as opposed to making him a monster.
"Killers like Hinckley are obsessed people who may not know they are doing anything wrong, but are actually trying to reach out," says the actor. "That's why Richard Fenton is so attractive. He comes from a place where he thinks he's right. He doesn't think he's the bad guy or is doing anything bad, he just wants Donna and people are getting in his way. He may feel a sense of remorse, but he's doing it because it has to get done. He's madly in love."
Donna's best friend and protector Lisa is played by Dana Davis, known to millions of fans of the hit TV series "Heroes" as Monica Dawson. "She's the girl everybody wants to be," says Davis. "She's popular. She's happy all the time. I mean, I want to be Lisa. She has so much life and energy to her. I was a theater nerd in high school, so getting into Lisa mode was fun."
The actress believes audiences will find Prom Night's frighteningly human villain fascinating. "A lot of times in thrillers, the killer is like this mist. But in our movie, the killer is right there in your face. You see him. You know his name. I think that makes it so much creepier."
Donna's other BFF, Claire, is played by Jessica Stroup. Prom Night brings the genre to a different level. It's not about slashing bodies and running around, there's a method to the madness and that was the reason I really wanted to do it."
Stroup is no newcomer to the horror genre. In fact, she laughs, "A lot of people have labeled me a 'horror girl' because I've done it a bit. I actually shot my first movie at the Park Plaza Hotel (filming location for the fictional Pacific Grand Hotel, where the prom takes place). When I showed up and walked into the ballroom, I remembered that I had gotten strangled in the corner downstairs in my first film."
Donna is accompanied to the prom by her longtime boyfriend Bobby, played by Scott Porter. A less gifted student than Donna, Bobby is headed to a state college while Donna has received a full scholarship to an Ivy League university on the other side of the country. Afraid that their relationship won't withstand a long distance romance, Donna has second thoughts about going so far away.
Porter, best known as star high school quarterback Jason Street in the award-winning television series "Friday Night Lights," says although Bobby would love Donna to stay close to home, he realizes it wouldn't be fair to her. "She's kind of gotten over the hump of her past and she's extremely intelligent and he doesn't want to hold her back. He also believes that regardless of what happens when they go away to college they'll always share a special bond."
Because of Porter's shooting schedule for the series, he didn't actually have an opportunity to audition with Snow. "They had to kind of blindly cast me as far as the chemistry between the two of us," he recalls. "But the first day on set we had a pretty intense scene and, and it was fantastic."
Claire's prom escort, Michael, is played by Kelly Blatz. "Michael is the one with the flask," says Blatz. "He's the party animal extraordinaire, the jokester. But you wonder if all of this is a mask to cover some emotional pain. It's all a front for him."
"I was kind of like Michael in high school," says Blatz. "I wasn't as much of a jerk, but I used my humor to attract people, like Michael does. Michael is very jealous when it comes to Claire, which is something that I went through with my girlfriend, so I knew exactly where he was coming from."
Brianne Davis plays Crissy Lynn, an overachieving "mean girl" with her eye on the Prom Queen tiara. "Crissy is very type A," according to Davis. "She wants to be the best. That's her whole goal in life.
"The movie is very character driven, which I really like," she adds. "You'll get to know the characters a lot. And probably with each person, you'll find a little of yourself in them."
Crissy is always surrounded by her girlfriends Taylor and April. Rachael Specter plays Taylor, who she says is a typical high school student who just enjoys fitting in with the popular crowd. "What's scariest about this movie is that we're in a place where we feel completely safe. And you would never suspect anything or worry about anything at prom."
Jana Kramer, who plays April, says that audiences will get a "killer rush" from the film. "It's a really cool concept. They're going to be so scared. I like scary movies. They freak me out and I don't go to sleep, but I like them."
Playing Rick Leland, the school jock and Crissy's boyfriend, wasn't much of a stretch for him, says Kellan Lutz, who adds that he loved high school. "Rick is me in a nutshell, with little mixes here and there. I felt so natural. I never had a role before where I could pretty much play myself and just add little things."
He says that Prom Night is the kind of movie he loves to see on a date. "I don't get too scared myself, 'cause you know, I'm a man and what not. But I like taking girls to the movie and when they jump up, I can put my arm around them and it's cool."
Lisa's prom date Ronnie Heflin, played by Collins Pennie, is the life of the party, says the actor. "He's the glue that holds all of the friends together. He's fun, he loves life, loves his friends, and loves to be around them. And he's very much in love with his girl, Lisa."

PROM STORIES

The stars of Prom Night shared their own memories of the quintessentially American rite of passage that signifies the end of high school life and the beginning of adulthood:

BRITTANY SNOW - "I went to the prom on TV in the '60s in 'American Dreams,' but I never went to a prom in real life. I was working the day of my high school prom. They tried to work it out with my production schedule but the way it worked out, I could either go to the prom, or go to my graduation party with my ten best girlfriends and all of our families. I thought it was more important for me to have this party with my girlfriends and have the inside jokes and the slide show and all of our families would get to be there. Everyone said our party was better than the prom, so I feel like I made the right choice."

JOHNATHON SCHAECH - "At the end of the evening, I remember being in a hotel parking lot when a group of kids approached us. Seeing that we were coming from the prom, one kid pulled a shotgun out. But I looked at one of the guys and remembered him from playing little league football. He remembered me too, and he told his buddies to let us go and we survived to graduate. Tough town."

SCOTT PORTER - "I went to six proms. Three were at my own school. In my sophomore year, I went with a senior, and then I had my own junior prom and then my own senior prom. I had to go to one at another school as a favor to my mom, whose co-worker had a daughter who needed a date. And then I had two other friends from other schools who invited me to theirs, so I had my share of proms."

DANA DAVIS - "I was super serious and didn't like the whole prom thing, so junior year I worked up a great lie if any guy asked me to the prom, and I managed to dodge the prom bullet that year. But my senior year, this guy asked me in January! So I hadn't worked up my lie yet. And so he asked me to go and I was like 'Oh, um, I don't have, oh, okay.' And so I ended up going with him and he won Prom King and was the superstar all night, signing autographs and taking pictures with the Prom Queen. I just sat there by myself, lonely and depressed, thinking 'wow, great prom...exciting.'"

COLLINS PENNIE - "I never got to go to the prom, which is something I regretted later on. What attracted me to this movie had a great deal to do with the fact that I didn't get to go to my own prom. So I was like 'Wow, by doing this movie, I get to experience what I didn't get to experience in high school.' Nelson gave me the best advice, he said 'Just relax and have fun. This is your senior prom many years in the making!'"

JESSICA STROUP - "I went to three proms. I was that girl who loved prom. I'm a Southern girl. I grew up in North Carolina, and I went to prom in once in junior year and twice in senior year. In my high school that was the only dance we had, so everything was built up into the prom and it was glorious! We started planning the summer before. I would travel to every single store, trying to find a dress. You'd walk in and see other girls, months before, doing the exact same thing. It was all about never seeing a replica of your dress!
"In this movie, we all wear our hair down and it's very natural. Where I'm from, it's poofed and pulled and teased. I had mine flicked back in the tightest something-or-other bun, I don't know! It took hours to get ready! I would start getting ready at around six o'clock in the morning and just go all day, getting primped and ready. All for a few hours of the actual prom! I had so much fun!"

KELLY BLATZ - "My prom was exactly how it is in this movie. We had the big screen and the setup was just like it is in the film. I went with my girlfriend, so I didn't have to do anything outrageous to ask anyone, which took a lot of pressure off me since that's probably the most stressful part for the guy. I remember we went to some park to take a thousand pictures with our parents and then we went to dinner, and then the prom. Afterwards, we went to a hotel where we all got a huge suite on the beach and it's all kind of blurry from there...."

ABOUT THE CAST

Brittany Snow (Donna Keppel) is one of the brightest and most engaging acting talents to emerge in recent years. Brittany recently starred in New Line Cinema's Hairspray, playing Amber Von Tussle, the daughter of Michelle Pfeiffer's character, Velma Von Tussle. Snow recently wrapped production as the title role in the independent film Finding Amanda, opposite Matthew Broderick. Snow also wrapped shooting the Tony Kaye film Black Water Transit..
Snow was seen in the FOX movie John Tucker Must Die in her first leading film role. She made her big-screen debut in the box-office hit The Pacifier for Disney starring opposite Vin Diesel. Brittany had a recurring role as Matt's neo-nazi girlfriend on FX's "Nip/Tuck" as well.
A native of Tampa, Florida, Brittany began her acting career appearing in and lending her voice to numerous national commercials. She also starred in theater performances including the national tour of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."
Snow made the transition to television when she landed a starring role on the long-running daytime drama "Guiding Light." Brittany would commute on the weekends from Florida to New York City where the show was taped. Additional television credits include: "Safe Harbor," "Sea Quest DSV," and the pilot "Murphy's Dozen." Her next project was the NBC series "American Dreams." Snow played Meg Pryor, a teen in the 60's struggling to find balance between her family's strict upbringing and her own desires as a young woman.

Scott Porter (Bobby) currently stars on NBC's critically acclaimed series "Friday Night Lights." He plays Jason Street, a former star high school quarterback who is confined to a wheel chair after a tragic football accident leaves him paralyzed.
Porter just completed shooting the live-action Speed Racer, opposite Emile Hirsch and Matthew Fox and directed by the Wachowski Brothers for a summer release from Warner Bros. He made his feature film debut as Colin Thompson in the 2007 Warner Bros. Picture Music & Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, and followed with a role in the independent feature Descent, opposite Rosario Dawson.
On stage, Porter has starred in two off-Broadway productions: "Alter Boyz" as Matthew (Drama League Ensemble Cast nominee) and the award-winning "Toxic Audio" (Drama Desk Award, Most Unique Theatrical Experience.)
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he attended high school in Florida. Porter currently splits his time between Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, where "Friday Night Lights" is shot on location.

Jessica Stroup (Claire) left her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina and headed for Los Angeles where she hasn't stopped working as an actress ever since. Her feature credits include The Hills Have Eyes II, Broken with Heather Graham, and This Christmas. Jessica just finished shooting a lead role opposite Mischa Barton in Homecoming.
Jessica's television film credits include the Fox pilot "Southern Comfort" starring Madeleine Stowe and Eric Roberts and the CBS movie "Vampire Bats" with Lucy Lawless and Timothy Bottoms. She has also guest starred on such popular television series as "October Road" and "Grey's Anatomy." Jessica also plays a recurring role on the CW's "Reaper" as 'Cady' and will next be seen guest starring in HBO's new show "True Blood."

Dana Davis (Lisa Hines) may be best known for her portrayal of Monica Dawson in the second season of NBC's Emmy-nominated series "Heroes," playing a young hurricane Katrina survivor who, after losing her mother in the storm, discovers she has the supernatural ability to mimic any action she sees. Be it complicated martial arts skills, climbing walls and buildings or weapon skills that might take others decades to perfect, Davis' character masters these skills at a glance. She also graced the big screen alongside Hillary Duff in New Line's Raise Your Voice and Paramount/MTV Films' "Coach Carter" alongside Samuel L. Jackson.
On television, Davis starred as Felicia Jones in ABC's series "The Nine." She has also appeared in substantial guest star roles on critically acclaimed hit series such as "CSI: Miami," "Cold Case," "Gilmore Girls," and in a recurring role on "Boston Public" as Marie Ronning. Other television credits include recurring roles on "The O.C," "Point Pleasant" and "Veronica Mars," plus guest star roles on "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Joan of Arcadia."
Davis' talents extend far beyond the screen. She is a classically trained musician whose talents are oftentimes showcased in her work as an actor. She has spent the past 10 years perfecting her skills as a violist and has previously sung in the children's choir as backup for Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack, and with Barbra Streisand in her "Timeless Tour" in Los Angeles.
With a heart for charity and children, Davis also volunteers with Empowering Lives International (empoweringlives.org) a nonprofit organization working among the impoverished in East Africa to provide training, resources and encouragement to help break the cycle of poverty and help people realize their importance in the eyes of God.
She was raised in Davenport, Iowa, and it was there she discovered her passion for theatre and acting. Her theatre credits include Neil Simon's "Fools," "The Miracle Worker," and dozens of roles in various musicals.

Collins Pennie (Ronnie Heflin) grew up in "the 'Hood." Despite its many disadvantages, every so often you hear a success story that lifts and inspires. Collins Pennie is one of those stories.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. June 20th 1985, Collins spent half of his childhood in numerous foster homes only to move out on his own at the tender age of 15. Collins was an ordinary kid who quickly realized that he wanted more out of life than what the Brooklyn projects had to offer. Armed with acting, singing and dance gifts Collins was able to leave a world where drugs and violence prevailed and find a new home in the world of entertainment.
Collins' undeniable talent and determination made the major industry power players take notice. After only four months in the business, Collins landed his first role playing Sean on the hit daytime drama "As The World Turns." Just two months later Collins landed a guest-starring role playing Jimmy Gordon on the hit show "Law & Order." A role playing a drug addicted thief on "Without A Trace" soon followed.
His Television work quickly caught the attention of the world-renowned Ford Model Management, who signed Collins. Soon after, he was chosen to be a part of the successful "ck One" fragrance campaign for Calvin Klein.
He now has three films under his belt: All Fall Down, a Showtime Network short directed by David Koepp, God's Forgotten House, and the Oscar nominated film Half Nelson.

Kelly Blatz (Michael) has appeared in the feature films The Oakley Seven and Simon Says. He has also been featured on Nickelodeon's hit series "Zoey 101." Upcoming projects include the title role in "Aaron Stone" for the Disney Channel and the lead in the independent film From Within.

James Ransone (Detective Nash) recently wrapped shooting in Africa the lead in the HBO miniseries "Generation Kill," based on the book by Evan Wright. James was last seen in the Universal feature Inside Man, from director Spike Lee opposite Denzel Washington and Clive Owen, and is remembered for his tour de force performance in the critically acclaimed HBO series "The Wire." He also had memorable roles in Larry Clark's Ken Park, and John Waters' A Dirty Shame.

Brianne Davis (Crissy Lynn) has a number of films to her credit including The Haunting of Marsten Manor, Something's Wrong in Kansas, Swedish Auto, The Kid & I, Jarhead, Crash Landing, Promtoversy and House of Grimm. She has also appeared on various television shows and episodes including "Entourage," "Veronica Mars," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Nip/Tuck," and "Dawson's Creek."

Johnathon Schaech (Richard Fenton) started his acting career with the lead role in Franco Zeffirelli's The Sparrow. He went on to play the title characters in Houdini and Judas and starred in such films as Hush, The Forsaken, The Doom Generation, Finding Graceland, and Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do, to name a few.
He is currently in theaters with two award-winning indies, Little Chenier and Sea of Dreams, and will be in Screen Gems' Quarantine and Poker Club, both to be released later in the year.
Johnathon and his writing partner Richard Chizmar wrote for Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series last year, and are currently writing for NBC's new series "Fear Itself." Chizmar and Schaech also penned the screenplay for Stephen King's From a Buick 8, which is currently in production.

Idris Elba (Detective Winn) may be best known as the charismatic, calculating leader of a Baltimore drug empire in HBO's highly acclaimed original series "The Wire." His other work for HBO includes the telefilm "Sometimes in April." Elba's feature film credits include The Gospel, Daddy's Little Girls, The Reaping, 28 Weeks Later, American Gangster and This Christmas. Elba has completed production on the Warner Bros. Pictures crime thriller Rock 'n Rolla for director Guy Ritchie, and Jada Pinkett Smith's directorial debut Human Contract, and is about to start filming the thriller Obsessed, for Screen Gems.
At 19, Elba landed the lead parts in several plays performed on London's Theater scene, gaining rave reviews for his performances. By the age of 24, Elba was a mainstay on British television and starring in some of the BBC's best-rated shows: "Dangerfield," "Bramwell" and "Ultraviolet." His work in European film found him opposite the legendary Catherine Deneuve in Belle Maman.
Despite the steady success that Elba was experiencing, he began to feel constricted by the breadth of roles he was getting in the U.K. and felt that there were more abundant opportunities to explore in America. In 2000, "Ultraviolet" was purchased by Fox Television to be adapted for the United States. Although the pilot was not put on the fall calendar, it offered Elba the big break into the American marketplace that he was looking for. In New York, he starred in Sir Peter Hall's off-Broadway production of "Troilus and Cressida," considered one of Shakespeare's more complicated plays. Elba received rave reviews for his portrayal of Achilles. Shortly thereafter, he landed a part on Dick Wolf's acclaimed television series "Law & Order."

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Nelson McCormick (Director) makes his feature film directorial debut with Prom Night. McCormick's work in television includes "CSI, "Prison Break, "Alias," "Nip/Tuck," "ER," "Cold Case," "House," and "The West Wing."
McCormick's filmmaking career began as a combat cameraman documenting breaking stories from air-to-air combat to humanitarian relief for which he was twice decorated with Air Force commendations. McCormick then won critical acclaim for his work in commercials directing spots for Nike, Airwalk, Rock The Vote and Masterlock. In 2005, McCormick served as Co-Executive Producer/Director on the critically acclaimed FX war drama, "Over There."

J.S. Cardone (Screenplay by/Executive Producer) is a screenwriter, director and producer with an impressive list of feature film credits that includes The Covenant, Wicked Little Things, 8mm2, The Marksman, Sniper 2 & 3, Mummy an' the Armadillo, Alien Hunter, True Blue, The Forsaken, Outside Ozona, Exit in Red, Black Day Blue Night, Shadowhunter, A Climate for Killing, Vampires: the Turning, The Slayer, Crash and Burn, Shadowzone and Thunder Alley. Cardone's next projects are Burn in Heaven and Strange Fruit.

Neal H. Moritz (Producer) is one of the most prolific producers working in Hollywood today, with a wide range of film and television projects to his credit. Founder of Original Film, a feature film and television company, Moritz most recently produced the thriller Vantage Point, starring Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, Matthew Fox and Forest Whitaker. He is currently in post-production on the romantic comedy Made of Honor, starring Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan, due for release in early 2008, and just began shooting the fourth installment of the Fast and Furious series this month.
Most recently Moritz produced this past summer's successful comedy Evan Almighty, starring Steve Carrell and Morgan Freeman. Other recent credits include Click, starring Adam Sandler, Gridiron Gang, starring Dwayne 'The Rock,' Johnson, and the action-packed Fast and Furious:Tokyo Drift. For television, he is an executive producer on the acclaimed drama series Prison Break.
After establishing Original Film in 1997, the company's first self-financed feature was the hit Cruel Intentions, a modern take on the classic novel, Dangerous Liaisons, starring Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe. This teen drama grossed over $75 million in box office sales in 1999, and today is considered a cult classic amongst those that came of age at the time of its release.
Moritz then went on to produce The Skulls, which marked one of five collaborations with director Rob Cohen. The two have also teamed on the blockbusters The Fast and the Furious and xXx, both starring Vin Diesel; Stealth, starring Jamie Foxx and Jessica Biel; and the HBO movie "The Rat Pack," which earned 11 Emmy nominations.
With 34 movies to his credit, Moritz's successes include romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama, starring Reese Witherspoon and Patrick Dempsey, The Fast and Furious series, and S.W.A.T., starring Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell. Comfortable in any genre, from comedy, horror, action or drama, Moritz is also responsible for the popular I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, and xXx, all of which spurred successful sequels.
Other films Moritz has produced include the Denzel Washington thriller, Out of Time, Saving Silverman with Jack Black, Torque, a motorcycle action movie starring Ice Cube, Blue Streak with Martin Lawrence, and Volcano. Moritz has made a number of teen films, including the college comedy Slackers, starring Jason Schwartzman, The Glass House, and Not Another Teen Movie, a spoof of the very teen-film genre that he helped create. His first produced major feature film was Juice, starring Omar Epps & the late Tupac Shakur, in 1992.
A graduate of UCLA with a degree in Economics, Moritz went on to get a graduate degree from the Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program at the University of Southern California.

Toby Jaffe (Producer) joined Original Film in late 2005. Previously, he spent three years at MGM Studios as Executive Vice President, Production. During his tenure at MGM, he supervised the development, budgeting, and production of numerous films including hits The Pink Panther, starring Steve Martin; Walking Tall, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson; and Michael Bay's remake of The Amityville Horror, starring Ryan Reynolds.
Jaffe began his entertainment career as a talent agent at The Leading Artists Agency. After the company merged to become United Talent Agency, he advanced to head up the motion picture literary department and represented writers, producers and directors, among them Barry Sonnenfeld, Curtis Hanson, Rob Cohen, Boaz Yakin, Chuck Russell and Joss Whedon. In that capacity, he was also responsible for bringing together many of the creative and financial elements that led to the success of such films as Twins, Point Break, Class Action, The Rookie and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Next, Jaffe served as President of Production for The IndieProd Company, a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Japan Satellite Broadcasting. There, he worked with such talent as Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Kenneth Branagh and Sam Raimi while supervising such films as The Quick and the Dead (on which he also served as Executive Producer), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Universal Soldier.
Before joining MGM, Jaffe ran his own independent production company. There, he collaborated with some of Hollywood's most celebrated talents, including Mark Wahlberg, Angelina Jolie, and Martin Lawrence, on such recognized films as Rock Star, Life or Something Like It and the hit comedy Blue Streak.

Glenn S. Gainor (Executive Producer) holds the title of Production Executive for Screen Gems and serves as head of its physical production. Prior to his post at Screen Gems, Gainor executive produced the comedy Strange Wilderness for Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions, released through Paramount Pictures.
In addition to Prom Night, Gainor has Executive Produced a number of films for the studio including Quarantine, a realistically captured thriller about a news reporter (Jennifer Carpenter) trapped in a quarantined building and Vacancy, starring Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale. Other Executive Producing credits include Grandma's Boy, starring Allen Covert, Doris Roberts and Shirley Jones, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalow, Starship Troopers 2, Who's Your Daddy?, and the thriller Skeletons in the Closet with Treat Williams and Linda Hamilton. He co-executive produced Sonny, starring James Franco, Brenda Blethyn, Mena Suvari and Harry Dean Stanton and directed by Nicolas Cage.
He served as line producer on A Rumor of Angels, starring Vanessa Redgrave, Ray Liotta and Catherine McCormick, as well as the critically acclaimed Panic, directed by Henry Bromell and starring William H. Macy, Neve Campbell, Tracey Ullmann, Donald Sutherland and John Ritter. Gainor co-produced George Hickenlooper's The Man From Elysian Fields, starring Andy Garcia, Mick Jagger and James Coburn as well as Happy, Texas, starring Jeremy Northam, Steve Zahn, Ally Walker and William H. Macy.
Gainor has also produced for the stage, teaming with Ovation Award winning director Andy Fickman for the musical Sneaux.
A graduate of the film program at California State University at Northridge, Gainor launched his career in the film industry when he wrote, produced and acted in an independent pilot. After an offer to write for an ABC series, Gainor turned his attention to producing with the Independent Film Channel's One Clean Move featuring Harry Hamlin and Gary Busey.

Marc Forby (Executive Producer) previously worked on such feature films as 29 Palms, Protection, Cruel & Unusual, Second Skin, Teacher's Pet, Dearly Devoted, The Fall, and Hidden Agenda. He also worked on TV movies including "Zebra Lounge" and "It Came from the Sky."

Bruce Mellon (Executive Producer) previously worked on such feature films as Cruel Intentions, The Skulls, and Cruel Intentions 2. He also worked on the TV movie "The Last Ride."

William Tyrer and Chris J. Ball (Executive Producers), are the co-founders and principals of Newmarket Films, one of the preeminent independent production and distribution companies operating in the entertainment industry. Ball and Tyrer have executive produced, under their Newmarket Films banner, more than 20 theatrical films including such titles as The Prestige, Cruel Intentions, The Mexican, Donnie, and Memento. Newmarket Films has theatrically distributed such box office successes as The Passion of the Christ, Whale Rider, Monster, Downfall, and Memento. Newmarket's library of films now encompasses nearly 300 titles.

Checco Varese, AMC (Director of Photography) won the 2006 Silver Condor Award for Best Cinematography at the Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards for his work on The Aura (El Aura). He also won the Best Cinematography award at the New York Independent Film and Video Festival for Night at the Golden Eagle. Varese recently shot Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna).
Varese was born in Peru and began as a cameraman working for all the major news networks. Specializing in areas of conflict, Varese traveled to and filmed in some of the most dangerous places in the world. He has shot numerous films, television shows and commercials. His TV experience includes "The Unit," "Emily's Reasons Why Not," "Their Eyes Were Watching God," "Global Frequency," "A Separate Piece," "Comfort And Joy," "Fidel" and "Primal Force." Varese served as cinematographer on music videos for artists such as The Game, Dave Matthews Band, Duran Duran, Prince and many more.

Jon Gary Steele (Production Designer) served as production designer for Vacancy, Cruel Intentions, American History X, Lonely Hearts, When a Stranger Calls, The Dukes of Hazzard, Beauty Shop, Employee of the Month, Mozart and the Whale, The Onion Movie, Straight Up, Hot Zone, The Sweetest Thing, The Glass House, One Night at McCool's, Dead Connection, Little Sister, When the Party's Over and The Runestone.

Jason Ballantine (Editor) Nominated for an ASE Award for Caterpillar Wish, an AFI and FCCA Award for Wolf Creek, Jason is currently editing John Soto and Jeff Gerritsen's thriller Crush.
He recently completed the Dimension Films creature feature Rogue - directed by Greg McLean. As 1st Assistant Editor and Visual Effects Editor, Jason worked alongside many noteworthy Directors and Editors on films such as Babe and Pig In The City, Dark City, MI2, Moulin Rouge, Hearts in Atlantis, The Quiet American and Star Wars Episode 2 and Episode 3 in a career spanning 14 years.

Paul Haslinger (Music By) Austrian-born Paul Haslinger has secured a distinctive reputation for composing film scores which incorporate both robust classical elements and compelling electronica. Formally trained in his hometown of Linz, he continued his classical studies while exploring the new domain of electronic music. Auditions for the band Tangerine Dream led to a five year collaboration, four albums, and several films, including Miracle Mile, Near Dark, and Canyon Dreams.
Haslinger released three solo albums and scored two landmark animated science-fiction films, Planetary Traveler and Infinity's Child. He continued honing his skills as the programmer for Graeme Revell, supplying memorable textures and atmospheric style to Blow, The Negotiator, The Siege, Pitch Black, and Tomb Raider. Haslinger earned his first solo credit as a film composer for the 2000 movie Cheaters, directed by John Stockwell. Since then, he has worked on Stockwell's Crazy/Beautiful, Blue Crush, and Into the Blue.
2002 found Haslinger composing and producing musical segments for the thriller Minority Report and in 2003, Haslinger scored Underworld. In recent years, Haslinger's score for the Ubisoft/Xbox release "Far Cry: Instincts" was enthusiastically received by the gaming community; while his work on the Golden Globe nominated series "Sleeper Cell" (Showtime) received wide critical acclaim for its integration of Western and Middle Eastern music elements. He also worked on Turistas for John Stockwell and the upcoming The Fifth Commandment for Rick Yune.

Greg Danylyshyn and Gerry Cueller (Music Supervision by) own and operate the music supervision and marketing company GoBig! Entertainment. For six years, they've been working on feature films, TV shows, video games, action sports programming, CD releases and any other medium that requires good music. Credits include feature films Big Stan, Waitress, Hostel, London, and American Son. TV credits include MTV shows "Viva La Bam," "Homewrecker," "Living Lahaina," and "Maui Fever." Gobig! Entertainment also handles music for Vans, Tony Hawk, Bam Margera, Volcom, Teva, and Thule.

Lindsey Hayes Kroeger and David Rapaport (Casting by) joined forces to create Kroeger/Rapaport Casting in the spring of 2005 and have enjoyed great success as a casting team. Their credits range from big budget studio films such as Vacancy starring Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale and Armored starring Matt Dillon and Laurence Fishburne, to smaller, independent character-driven pieces like the award winning Fix starring Olivia Wilde. Television credits include the pilot for the breakout hit "Gossip Girl" on The CW, and the series "Masters of Horror" on Showtime and "Fear Itself" airing on NBC this summer. Their eye for young talent lead them to cast the latest installment of the hugely successful Final Destination franchise in addition to Prom Night and The Shortcut, the first teen horror film from Adam Sandler's "Scary Madison" Productions.
Both David and Lindsey began their casting careers doing local casting in Boston and San Francisco, respectively and upon moving to Los Angeles worked under Mali Finn. While at Mali Finn Casting they worked on over 50 films (including The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Wonder Boys, 8 Mile, Running with Scissors, and North Country). David and Lindsey are both members of The Casting Society of America.