Movie Info
Movie Name: Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil
Studio: Alliance Atlantis
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): February 14, 1992
MPAA Rating: R
So in 1957 on the night Mary Lou fried, these guys were killed too? Bad night for Hamilton High
A murderous priest named Father Jonas (James Carver) is out to purify those who sin…leading to a bloody prom night. Hidden by the church, Father Jonas has been kept sedated for years…but Father Jonas is back and looking to pick up his old ways. Mark (J.H. Wyman), Meagan (Nicole de Boer), Laura (Joy Tanner), and Jeff (Alle Ghadban) have opted to skip the senior prom for a countryside home which happens to be Jonas’ old seminary. Jonas is out for blood and this prom night is one that no one will forget!
Directed by Clay Borris, Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil is a low-budget horror slasher. Following the horror-comedy Prom Night III: The Last Kiss from 1990, this sequel returned to its horror roots. The film received a limited release before being released on video.
Let’s throw in a random almost lesbian scene in since nothing else is happening…
This entry of Prom Night makes the other Prom Night films look like gold. I didn’t feel the horror-comedy of Prom Night III worked, but a return to horror for this movie was pretty weak. The film is loaded with basic horror clichés and little scares…Prom Night IV is a dull lifeless film.
There are worse movies than Prom Night IV, but a horror film without scares isn’t really a horror film at all. The movie is a Prom Night film in title only…almost. Yes, the night is prom night, but the characters don’t go. The only ties to the other films is that the movie references Hamilton High from the previous two entries. The killer priest aspect of the film really just feels like the movie was written for another film but reworked into a Prom Night story.
Please God, deliver me from this horrible movie!
Like many horror films, the cast is rather bland. No one really jumps out in the movie and despite being the slasher, James Carver isn’t very inspiring or scary. I don’t really understand how he remained trapped by the church for 30+ years and didn’t really age…but that is beside the point.
The movie looks like a movie from the mid-’80s. If it had been from the ’80s, I might have forgiven it, but it was made in 1992 which makes it even worse. I do have to say that I like the killer’s sword/cross combo. It is just too bad that the movie is such a clunker.
Prom Night is a rather miserable franchise and it isn’t very surprising that it died out. The film didn’t have enough horror and it didn’t have enough likable “monsters” to get a franchise going like Friday the 13th, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, or A Nightmare on Elm Street. Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil killed the franchise, but the film was “reimagined” in 2008 in a remake.
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Related Links:
Prom Night II: Hello Mary Lou (1987)
