Prom Night 4 - Das Böse aus dem Dunkeln

After the stupid Prom Night 2 and the dire Prom Night 3 comes this gem of a slasher flick. You all know what to expect from the films. But whereas 2 and 3 just downright sucked, this one actually delivers.

The killer in this film has to be the most original and downright scary one of many horror flicks. I mean can you imagine your local priest (or monk) donning a sharpened crucifix and going out to 'purify' the world of wrong-doers? If the idea for Jonas had come to fruition before the silly Mary Lou then maybe the sequels to Prom Night would have been better.

Nikkie de Boer gives us a good performance and really is too good for a film of this quality. The rest of the actors....well we all know what happens to extras and no-named actors in movies like this!

Some gore in this........not too bad a body count. Haunting music. Some scares here and there. Overall not a bad film and certainly the best Prom Night sequel, although maybe that is not saying much. Ideal for a popcorn night in with the lads (or lasses).

The fourth and final entry in the original PROM NIGHT series. Sadly, it didn't take me long to realize that this is the weakest of the group.

Right during the credit sequence we are introduced to a serial killer priest (a hammy portrayal by James Carver). We are thrown back to 1957 once again for the prom at Hamilton High. The very prom where Mary Lou Maloney burned to death. Yet, there is no mention of her, but we do see this Father Jonas killing a couple. He is caught and fast forward to 1991 he is locked up in the church. To keep the evil at bay I guess. To me a very strange direction for the film to go and really did not need to go that way. Father Jonas escapes so he can carve up a few more horny teenagers.

We follow four teenagers including the main character Meagan played by Nikki de Boer who does put in a good performance. Instead of going to the prom they go to her boyfriend Mark's (J.H. Wyman) summer home. One thing that I didn't like was Mark has a brother named Jonathan (Fab Fillipo). He is super-pervy and that is all we are introduced about his character. To me very low and very shallow writing. What was an interesting premise sadly becomes quickly muddled. For those though who did not like parts 2 & 3 and the direction the series went, perhaps this is more up your alley as this returns to the slasher genre.

"Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil" is a serious (as in: no comedy touches) slasher that falls short in thrills & tension. Too bad, because it had a lot of potential. It's well-made, but severely dull in places. This time we have yet another stand-alone, unrelated sequel about a killer-priest (who is "evil beyond imagination") stalking & killing two couples in an isolated mansion. There are some supernatural undertones in the plot, but they are never explored. The budget on this production even seemed reasonably comfortable, as the cinematography isn't bad at all, often showing us some decent camera-movements on rails & even crane-shots. The acting is passable and the film opens really interesting. But then things fizzle quickly and the whole movie becomes uneventful. If they had simply amped up the body count & bloodshed, this sure could have turned into one of the unsung slasher gems from the early '90s. Now it just remains a curiosity for those interested in the "Prom Night" series. It's a strange franchise, to say the least, with this 4th installment presenting us yet again a different storyline. Interesting, but a failed effort altogether.

"Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil" was the last installment in the hodgepodge "Prom Night" series. This film shifts gears considerably, moving to the story of a psychotic priest who was sexually abused by clergy during his youth. As a result, he has a preoccupation with punishing unruly and oversexed teenagers (and is potentially possessed). When he escapes from the church's basement, where he's secretly been kept sedated for years, he returns to a former monastery-turned-house where teenagers have planned a prom-night rendezvous.

While this slasher is in some ways as "by the book" as they come, it distinguishes itself rather nicely with a macabre religious angle and a kind of neo-Gothic atmosphere that is both effective and at times even somewhat creepy. The film cuts ties with the plot line from the former two sequels, though it does make reference to the Mary Lou Maloney story line, as well as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the first film's star, Jamie Lee Curtis.

The killer in the film spins some hokey one-liners throughout which dampens the fear factor, but moody cinematography and some well-staged appearances manage to give the villain a bit of an edge. Once the teenagers get to the remote monastery-turned-private home, the real fun begins. Clever plot set-ups and a great final chase scene help lift the film even a bit further. The performances are mixed, but Nicole de Boer makes a formidable final girl.

Overall, "Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil" caught me off guard, in a good way. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does spin it with style, and is also closer to the 1980 film in spirit than the former two sequels—and possibly better in some ways. For an early-nineties slasher entry, this one is wildly amusing and at times even effectively moody. 7/10.

If your looking for a bloody slasher flick with a somewhat supernatural & possessed Catholic priest killing kids,this is your movie! Surprisingly well acted & theres a supercool double burning cross scene that alone was worth the watch. 3/5.