MovieChat Forums > Prom Night (1980) Discussion > Wow did anyone else notice Mr. Sykes hid...

Wow did anyone else notice Mr. Sykes hiding in the closet!?!?


I must have seen this film over a 100 times and finally noticed him hiding in the closet during the Wendy chase. If you look closely you can see the outline of his body in the darkness. That explains why later he's babbling about there's a killer on the loose and whatnot.

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Yeah, they filmed a scene - which didn't even make it to the extended TV version - where Sykes, after being dragged out of the prom, babbles incoherently to Lt. McBride how he saw Wendy being killed while hiding in the storage room with her. Guess they weren't done with having him be the red herring.

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[deleted]

Yes it does, but I can sure you 100% of the moviegoers who saw it in its original release did not notice anyone in the closet with Wendy. Apparently, there was a cut that made it clear that Sykes witnesses Wendy's death, but this was left out.

Thus, it is left to our imagination why Sykes is babbling 'There's a killer on the loose'. It's obvious he's seen one of the killings, but it is never clear which one.

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I saw a figure - only later figured it must have been Sykes - in the closet with Wendy in the DVD version. It wasn't obvious at all - to me, anyway! - who it was, and I thought I'd been mistaken about seeing *anyone* until his pronouncement.

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When I saw the figure behind the shelf I thought the killer had beaten Wendy to the storage room. I was surprised to see him roaming the halls instead. The victims in this film could take a lesson from that dude in hiding. He's stealth as *beep*. Even the killer doesn't notice him.

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Wow, that's insane! I've also seen this movie literally a hundred times and never noticed Sykes hiding in the closet. Once I went back and re-watched the scene, of course it seemed so obvious that he was there . . . how on earth did we miss this for so long? Lol.

I always thought that when Sykes was babbling about a killer on the loose, he was referring to Jude and Slick. I thought he had somehow witnessed their murders while prowling around outside. Now, after all these years, it finally all makes sense. Thank you!

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I am starting to feel dumb that I didn't notice so many of these extra details. The missing lipstick, Mr. Sykes in the closet. But then I remember most of my viewings of it were on VHS.  And in that format, you literally can't see anything at all in non-sunny scenes. During the Wendy chase scene you can't see anything, you can just hear Wendy's high heels running around. You know she's in a closet towards the end of the chase, but you can't see crap.

Doesn't she also discover a dead body in this closet? So there's a dead body AND Mr. Sykes in this closet? What a mess this production was.  I still love the movie though.

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Tyler, it's true all you could hear on the VHS were her high heels running around. The school dance looked so dark and drab too, like the school fell on hard times.

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