Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil

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+

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.

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).

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.