Line #1 YMMV/HelloMaryLouPromNightII


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** While her venom toward Vicki and extravagant bid to win the prom queen vote might indicate a comedic [[AlphaBitch antagonist]], there’s a warmth to Kelly’s cheery front of self-confidence, and her hidden insecurity is played poignantly [[PlayedStraight straight]]. Her fruitless concession to Josh’s [[SexForServices price of fellatio]] in exchange for rigging the votes might have been seen as BlackComedy LaserGuidedKarma for her SpeakIllOfTheDead jibe, were it not for her [[{{Tearjerker}} quietly devastated]] reaction to losing a desperately sought [[IJustWantToBeLoved esteem]] and [[IJustWantToBeSpecial adulation.]]
3	*** Likewise, after Vickie calls her a bitch for speaking ill of Jess, Kelly quickly leaves. Was she ashamed of what she'd said or just frightened by Vicky's anger.
4	** Was Mary Lou always so evil? Or was she more just a typical AlphaBitch who was driven insane by her tragic death and being trapped as a ghost for 30 years?
5	** Was Josh extorting Kelly for sex to rig the votes really serious at first? Later, was actually going through with it [[BitchInSheepsClothing a display of his general personality]] or was he lashing out and projecting towards the popular girls apparently after being stood up by his own date, Monica.
6	* CompleteMonster: Mary Lou Maloney, from here and [[Film/PromNightIIITheLastKiss the following film]], was a popular, if [[AlphaBitch spiteful and manipulative girl]] in life, but became something much, much worse in death. When she used two boys, Buddy and Billy to become prom queen, and is killed in a [[DeadlyPrank revenge prank gone wrong]], Mary's spirit awakens years later, killing a pregnant teenager named Jess and [[DemonicPossession possessing]] her friend Vicki, trapping the latter in a dark world. Mary Lou seeks to become prom queen again, killing everyone who gets in her way; this includes Buddy, now a priest; Vicki's friend Monica; and attempts to seduce Vicki's father in his daughter's body before killing her mother. Mary Lou learns Vicki is now dating Billy's son Craig, and seeks revenge on Billy through his son. Billy is forced to shoot Vicki, causing Mary Lou's spirit to manifest and go on a rampage, during which she attempts to drag Craig into the underworld. When seemingly defeated, Mary Lou possesses Billy with the apparent intent to try to kill Vicki and Craig again. Escaping hell in the following film, Mary Lou kills another one of her ex-boyfriends before seducing and becoming obsessed with a student named Alex. Mary Lou would go on to kill students and teachers for Alex before he rejects her. In retaliation, Mary Lou kills his best friend Shane, framing Alex for the deed and plans on killing his girlfriend Sarah. At the prom, Mary Lou agrees to let Sarah live if Alex agrees to be her prom king for eternity in Hell. When Sarah seemingly rescues Alex, Mary Lou kills Sarah before leaving Alex stranded in Hell.
7	* CrossesTheLineTwice: Mary Lou's mocking "confession".
8	* EnsembleDarkhorse: For many fans, secondary characters Kelly and Monica provide the best parts of the movie, with both being liked for being decently complex characters and having some great lines.
9	* HesJustHiding:
10	** [[spoiler: Kelly's]] death could have been survivable in real-life (and it didn't look like she was fully impaled either). She also seems to still be moving a little as the camera cuts away.
11	** The pool of blood after [[spoiler: Monica is crushed in the locker]] might have just signified a bad injury given the amount of room in the locker vs how far back the metal was pushed. The fact that her death isn't mentioned later (in universe likely due to happening so soon before the prom) helps, as does how some of that blood looks too solid and not red enough (more like vomit with a little blood mixed in).
12	** Finally, while [[spoiler: Craig, Vicky and Billy]] are last seen helpless prisoners of Mary Lou, the fact that she is trapped in hell at the beginning of the next movie could imply that they triumphed over her.
13	* HilariousInHindsight:
14	** There was a [[Film/{{SusieQ}} certain other film made later]] about a ghost girl named after a famous song. Though in that movie it's a ''nice'' ghost.
15	** The prom episode of ''Series/{{Victorious}}'' had Trina and Sinjin's subplot take some cues from Kelly and Josh in this movie. A girl who seeking the popularity of winning prom queen approaches the somewhat perverted local nerd saying she's confident that she will win anyone but would like to make a deal with him to hack into the voting just to make sure. The price for this service ends up being lust driven (albeit in a PG way in ''Victorious'' with Sinjin just making Trina be his date) and someone ignores or changes the rigged voting to announce a different winner for Prom Queen after all of that.
16	* JerkassWoobie: Kelly can be an asshole, no question. But it's hard not to feel sorry for her seeing how humiliated she is after giving Josh his SexForServices, and her look of "I went through that for nothing?" when Vicki is announced as prom queen is even worse. While vicious to Vicki and Monica, Kelly's perfectly friendly approach to everyone else, and attempt to bribe Josh to rig the votes, hint a desperation to be [[IJustWantToBeLoved liked]] and [[IJustWantToBeSpecial adulated]]. While Josh wryly suggests her higher social station, she [[{{Shipping}} seems genuinely fond of him]]. On reading on the computer screen his [[SexForServices price of fellatio]], her look of forlorn humiliation further indicates that she does indeed have a heart. On finding she went through with it for nothing, her devastated expression may well provoke a strong urge to hug her.
17	* {{Narm}}: [[spoiler:Mary Lou!]]Vicki singing "Tutti Frutti" as [[spoiler:she telekinetically crushes Monica in the locker.]]
18	* NightmareFuel:
19	** The opening scene where Mary Lou burns to death, at the time the longest staged burn ever done on film, is incredibly well shot, utterly terrifying and also heartbreaking. Audiences can feel her pain and join in the horror of those witnessing the event.
20	** Other high points include Jesse's incredibly violent death, the locker room scene, and that rocking horse with its fucking tongue.
21	* SpecialEffectFailure:
22	** For the open matte VHS release, Wendy Lyon is clearly replaced by a phony looking dummy when Mary Lou's corpse crawls out of Vicki's body. It's less of an issue in the widescreen version, where the dummy's head cannot be seen.
23	** When Mary Lou's rotted corpse is standing on the gymnasium stage, the edge of the rubber mask the actress is wearing can clearly be seen when she leans her head back.
24	* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Although it can [[InNameOnly barely be called a sequel]], and the first still has a following, ''Hello Mary Lou'' manages to be much scarier, better-acted, and less boring than the first. It also takes itself less seriously, and has more fun with its ridiculous premise.
25	* ValuesDissonance:
26	** Audiences in the Eighties were probably supposed to take Kelly's humiliation after giving in to Josh's demands for SexForServices as an appropriate comeuppance for a mean girl. Today, it creates sympathy for a character who's probably not supposed to be sympathetic. By the same token, Josh comes off less as a roguish scamp putting one over on a stuck up princess and more like a sexual predator. That said, Kelly is written and played with strongly sympathetic elements, and her sadness, hesitation and disgust at both the proposal and failed outcome of Josh's [[SexForServices price]] are PlayedStraight.
27	** Having Mary Lou (who's meant to be a DepravedBisexual) as the only LGBT character in the film isn't likely something that would fly in the 21st century.
28	* TheWoobie: Vicki is a NiceGirl who undergoes some nasty HauntedHeroine and BreakTheCutie experiences. At the start of the movie, she has to deal with an overbearing mother, but things really go downhill for her once Mary Lou returns. Her best friend brutally dies in an apparent suicide. She is plagued by creepy visions and nightmares before being possessed by Mary Lou, who uses her body to attack Vicky's parents, boyfriend, and friends. She gets shot while she's possessed, and even after surviving and getting back to normal, she gets dragged off to an uncertain fate by Mary Lou's next possession victim.
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Context YMMV / HelloMaryLouPromNightII