Le bal de l'horreur 3: Dernier baiser avant l'enfer

"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!

This is very much a horror/comedy mixture (both genres being equally present this time, taking it a couple comedic steps further than the previous installment in the "Prom Night" series, "Hello Mary Lou"), and as such it's pretty entertaining. Our beloved Mary Lou character returns from hell, though played by a different actress (Courtney Tayler) in this sequel. She falls in love with average student Alex Grey and immediately goes on a killing spree for him, disposing of all the competition (like irritating jocks) and annoying high school teachers. A few amusing kills - not unlike the inventive ways of killing Freddy Krueger started to portray in the later "A Nightmare On Elm Street" sequels - and a funny ending make this one an okay, albeit silly 90 minutes time-waster.

Now I know I am likely in the minority here (based on ratings of each individual Prom Night movies), but I think this is the best and my personal favourite of the series. A sequel really to HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT II and not the original as Mary Lou Maloney returns for new blood at Hamilton High. Ron Oliver penned this script as he did in part 2 and co-directs with Peter Simpson who produced each Prom Night movie. Mary Lou is played by Courtney Taylor this time and is more angry, more violent and sexier than ever. This time she is after 'Average Joe' Alex Grey (Tim Conlon), who she starts setting his life up pretty well as long as he can just return it with love. Problem is she leaves corpses in her wake. Interesting, clever and original deaths along with a great sense of humor make this one I really have enjoyed over the years. It is more of a comedy-horror film. Also starring Canadian and former boxing great George Chuvalo as Alex's teacher Mr. Walker. Give it a chance and maybe you will enjoy it, too.

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.