There ought to be a rule, stashed in the Screen Actor's Guild bylaws, that every actor cast as a villain in a slasher film has to watch "Psycho" and write a paper on Anthony Perkins.

"Psycho Killers with Character: The Tony Perkins Way."

Johnathan Schaech could have used a few Perkins pointers. He makes the blandest slasher in years in a desultory remake of "Prom Night," that 1980 dead-teen pic about corsages, cummerbunds and cutlery. Schaech, who hit his career high with Tom Hanks' "That Thing You Do" in the last millennium, plays Fenton, the obsessed, psychotic teacher pursuing his dream girl-student in this slow, obvious and pulse-deadening thriller.

Brittany Snow is Donna, the girl who survived the day the teacher went nuts three years before. He killed her family. She hid under the bed and watched her mother's death throes.

And now, on her prom night, Fenton has busted out of prison. He's made his way to Bridgeport High's prom at the Pacific Grand Hotel. And he's patient enough to work his way through Donna's pals and assorted hotel employees until he gets his chance with the girl who didn't fight back. Last time.

Prom night is a night you're supposed to treasure, or at least remember "forever." This one is forgotten by the time you throw your empty popcorn bucket into the trash cans conveniently located near the exits on your way out.