I think they still got shown in a cinema because back then there was no other way to watch a movie. I remember listening to Eli Roth on a podcast saying the quality of slashers really dipped in the 80s because of direct to VHS.
Before then, studios had to consider schlock real movies because they'd get shown in cinemas and the people making the movie tried to do their best with the resources they had. Perceptions changed and budgets were slashed with vhs and you had so fewer resources to work with
The dialogue between characters after the dances gets me. It could be fun banter and Statler and Waldorf style quips but they just go nowhere.
That's why I could see a modern version working so well, but a bit of that magic would be lost