Prom Night III: The Last Kiss

Just how silly does tongue-in-cheek horror Prom Night III get? Well, ghostly antagonist Mary Lou pins a mans hands to a counter-top with ice-cream cornets and pushes a whisk through his skull, That stupid enough for you? Or howsabout the scene in which she throws a football, the ball turning into a drill that screws her victim to the goalposts? The Last Kiss is full of such nonsense, making it a mindless way to pass the time, but not a scary one, nor a particularly funny one.

Courtney Taylor plays malevolent spirit Mary Lou Maloney, who falls for high school jock Alex Grey (Tim Conlon), killing anyone who upsets her beau or threatens to get in the way of their relationship. Alex takes to burying the bodies under the football field, but is soon found out and arrested for murder. Alex's girlfriend Sarah believes that he is innocent and tries to free him from the sexy ghost's grasp.

Directors Ron Oliver and Peter R. Simpson keep a brisk pace and manage a few impressive shots (I love the camera careening down corridors), but they're unable to get the balance of horror and comedy right, with the gags falling flat (the announcements over the school tannoy are cringeworthy) and the supposed scares too comical to ever be disturbing. It all flashes past the eyes easy enough, but the film's frivolous nature and an ending that feels like an afterthought leaves one wondering 'what was the point?'.

Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (1989)

This movie, was strangely funny and cheezy, but had some horror elements thrown into it. It is about Alex, who has a great girlfriend, and their relationship begins to crumble as Alex begins having visions and experiences with Mary Lou Maloney, who was killed in a fire at the school 33 years ago. Mary Lou begins to give Alex anything he's ever wished for, but in the process, she begins killing people in Alex's way, and the police come after Alex! There were many gorey but funny scenes in the movie, like when Mary Lou appears at the ice cream stand in the classroom. It tried to be scary, but turned out more funny and entertaining. I give Prom Night III a 6/10.

"Prom Night III: The Last Kiss" is the third installment of the series, following Part II, which was virtually unrelated to Part I. Mary Lou continues her rampage again at Hamilton High School. This time, Mary Lou's ghost falls for a teenage football player named Alex. She begins appearing to him, and she seems to be able to give Alex what ever he wants, when he wants it. But what he isn't aware of is that Mary Lou is an evil spirit, and she begins killing off all of his enemies and rivals, and he ends up losing his girlfriend too. Since Mary Lou is a ghost and nobody can see her, Alex is the only link to the murders and he becomes the prime suspect.

I'm not sure if this sequel was intended to be scary or funny, because to me it was a heck of a lot funnier than it was scary. The whole setup of the movie is a bit random, and there are some genuinely funny scenes. Cheesy, but funny. Prime examples of this campy humor are when when Mary Lou appears to Alex at an ice cream stand in the biology classroom, and when Alex wakes up naked in the school and has to wrap himself in a flag. There are lots of gory scenes throughout the movie, but none of it is really taken seriously and the special effects aren't great. The acting was alright, and the plot was unrealistic. But it's what you would expect from a movie of this type.

Overall, "Prom Night III: The Last Kiss" is a campy but funny horror flick. It's not scary at all, it turned out to be much more funny than terrifying. It's an okay way to pass an hour and a half. 5/10.

"Prom Night II: Hello Mary Lou" is one of my absolute favorite guilty pleasure slashers of the 80s, and my nostalgic love for that film undoubtedly contributed to me being a lot more tolerant and forgiving towards part III. "The Last Kiss" is a much worse film, but still vastly enjoyable and recommended to fans of late 80s/early 90s slashers.

"Hello Mary Lou" was a genuine slasher with a couple of comical touches. "The Last Kiss" is an out-and-out comedy with a handful of noteworthy slasher moments. Mary Lou resurrects again in the dungeons of Hamilton High, although this time in the luscious body of Courtney Taylor. Taylor is a prettier actress than Lisa Schrage - in my humble opinion, at least - but the latter had a lot more evil-witch charisma. Mary Lou takes control over the average-on-all-levels student Alex Grey, and her influence promptly turns him into a grade-A student and the best quarterback in the football team. Whoever questions Alex sudden progress, teacher or student, dies in horrible freak-accidents.

The kills in "Prom Night III" are gory, juicy, and sardonic, but not the least bit shocking. There's a teacher who gets impaled by ice cream cones (!) and a mixer shoved through the head, someone receives a battery acid shower ("Oh, she wasn't a person. She was a guidance counselor"), and there's a nice showcasing of a deadly touchdown. There's also straightforward slapstick, like when the principal cuts off his own finger during the festive opening of the gym, or through the announcements via the hallway intercoms ("Today's chess tournament is cancelled. All participants are requested to go to the library and play with themselves").

It's all good and cheesy fun for an hour or so, but after that "Prom Night III" quickly becomes dull and repetitive. The actual prom should be the high point of the film, but instead it feels like the longest and most redundant twenty minutes of the film, with Mary Lou dragging Alex into hell of some sort, and it looks a lot like the Hamilton High Prom of 1957.

PS: tip for all bachelors out there - find yourself a partner who starts baking cooking whenever she's upset or angry!

When I first watched Prom Night III: The Last Kiss, I thought it was a load of rubbish. Recently, though, I re - watched the film again and really loved it. I liked the humour in this film and found it to be entertaining. I take back what I said about it in my user comment on Prom Night IV: Deliver us From Evil. Actually, I like it more than Prom Night IV. The acting was okay also, as were the gore effects!