Prom Night 4 - Das Böse aus dem Dunkeln

"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.

While I have said and I stand by it, that there are worse horror movies, there is a time when you can say: Enough. This is closer to part 2 and 3, with another Mary Lou story coming your way. Slasher fiends will get something from it, no matter the bad acting and story behind it.

After a fourth Prom night, hopefully all have graduated to other (better) things alltogether. No pun intended, effects are still ok, considering the budget. But let's finally be delivered from evil ...

Released in early 1992, "Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil" is a slasher about a psycho priest who manifests stigmata and has a penchant for slaying fornicating teens. He escapes diocese custody in 1991 and returns to St. Basil Seminar, which has been converted into a vacation home. The only problem is that two teen couples have decided to have an alternative-to-the-prom celebration there.

The only two installments from the Prom Night series that are directly related are parts II and III, both of which involve the malevolent spirit of Mary Lou Maloney. Part I features a masked assailant and this one a crazy priest, who's reminiscent of Marvel's Foolkiller, which debuted some 18-19 years earlier. In any case, all four films (not including 2008's "Prom Night") are connected in that they begin with the 1957 prom at Hamilton High School, near Cleveland, Ohio (this location is clearly established in the original film, for anyone who cares).

The first half hour of "Prom Night IV" focuses on the local diocese and their problems with the cracked priest whom they secretly hold captive in the creepy cellar of a chapel or whatever. I thought this section of the movie was kind of boring but, at the same time, it was a nice change of pace. I liked how this installment returned to the more realistic tone of part I. The story perks up with the two girls, Meagan and Laura, played by brunette cutie Nicole de Boer and blonde tart Joy Tanner, as they prepare to sneak off to the remote summer house of one of their beau's parents.

As you can see, the plot revolves around the conventional horror staple of the cabin-in-the-woods. The good news, however, is that this "cabin" used to be a monastery and so it's a more interesting setting for the ensuing thrills than a rinky-dink cabin.

There are a couple of plot issues though. For instance, the priest doesn't age a bit in 33 years. Even if he's possessed by some supernatural force, this wouldn't stop the normal aging process of the man's body. I'm assuming that the producers simply didn't have the funds for the make-up necessary to convincingly make him look like he was in his late-50s. So they said, "Who cares? It's a friggin' slasher flick." Secondly, there's a crank call that's stereotypical in this genre and Meagan nonchalantly answers the phone even though the teens aren't supposed to be at the house in the first place; and her boyfriend, whose parents own it, doesn't object at all when he later finds out (maybe because he was focused on the matter at hand, lol).

The film runs 1 hour, 32 minutes and was shot in the Toronto area.

GRADE: B-/C+

This is a slasher that plays it by the rules, so if I'm spoiling anything for you, it's because you've never seen a slasher movie before.

Prom Night IV gives us the gift of slashing in a film that is lit with decent effectiveness, not shot notably poorly, with sub-par to decent acting and some moderately suspenseful scenes. The prom thing is more or less done in the intro, where we get to see a couple slashed in a prom in 1957. Our mad killer here is a Catholic priest gone horribly wrong--he kills with a cross where the long end has a blade.

Our victims, two teenaged couples, are headed down to a retreat that used to be an old monastery for a weekend of debauchery. Meanwhile, a young priest newly charged with watching over the insane priest (who's been kept underground by the Church) is developed for a bit, but manages to slip in his duties. (Prom Night IV is very good at giving "bonus slashes" before it gets around to killing the teenagers.)

The highlight of Prom Night IV is Nicole de Boer, who you might remember from The Cube or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (she was Ezri Dax). Her acting, which is pretty good, manages to elevate the rest of the movie (since she is the film's heroine). The rest of the cast is pretty small-time, though, and doesn't live up to Nicole.

It does have the requisite T&A shots (and a really poor sex scene), to be certain, and it manages to fit 8 deaths into a film that only focuses on those 4 teens. All are pretty freaky and well done, too. Once the suspense starts, it's pretty good at not letting up, despite following the rules strongly. The extended scenes before the slasher starts on the teens build everything up quite well.

This is a slasher movie, and you will enjoy it only if you're in the mood for one. However, it does what it does well, and as such is worth picking up if you are.

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.