Movie Info
Movie Name: Prom Night III: The Last Kiss
Studio: Image Entertainment
Genre(s): Horror/Comedy/B-Movie
Release Date(s): March 30, 1990 (Canada)/June 28, 1990 (US)
MPAA Rating: R
Wait…this isn’t the “Total Eclipse of the Heart” video? My bad…
Mary Lou Maloney (Courtney Taylor) is back and this time she has her sights set on Alexander Grey (Tim Conlon)! When Alex’s grades begin slipping, Mary Lou steps in to guarantee him an A even if it means murder. Now, Alex is on the fast track to success and the bodies are piling up. When Alex decides he’s had enough of Mary Lou, Mary Lou reminds Alex that in regards to prom, it isn’t who you come with, it is who takes you home.
Directed by Ron Oliver, Prom Night III: The Last Kiss is a horror comedy. The film is a follow-up to 1987’s Prom Night II: Hello Mary Lou and the only film in the franchise to feature returning characters. The movie received a brief theatrical release before being issued on video.
Prom Night III shows a departure from the Prom Night format of the previous two entries in that this Prom Night plays up the comedy. The horror isn’t very horrific and the comedy isn’t very funny…leading to a rather bland, dull sequel.
Next on Double Dare…Battery Acid!!!
Prom Night wasn’t a bad thriller and Prom Night II was a big downgrade from Prom Night. This movie’s lighter approach feels like a direct reaction to the Nightmare on Elm Street films that were popular at the time, but the Mary Lou character isn’t a Freddy Krueger and the movie doesn’t have the “class” of a Nightmare on Elm St. entry.
It is a pretty telling sign when you can’t even get your lead back. In Prom Night II, Mary Lou was played by Lisa Schrage. Here, she is replaced by Courtney Taylor who also struggles with acting. The movie bogs itself down by dropping out of Alex’s story and going with Alex’s girlfriend Sarah (Cynthia Preston) and the nerd plot involving Leonard Welsh (Jeremy Ratchford) on occasion, and Preston isn’t a very dynamic female lead.
I’m tougher dressed as a football player than the football player I killed!
The movie also looks very cheap. An edit version minus a lot of the sex is floating around, and the sex is probably the only thing that livened up the movie. I particularly like the “big” football game. It is on a field with no lines with about ten people watching it and the least threatening jock quarterback I’ve seen played by Dylan Neal…it would be ok if the horror was gripping, but with nothing going for the film, at least the football could be real.
Prom Night III: The Last Kiss is a pretty weak film. It isn’t very funny, and it isn’t scary. The movie series again switched pace for the fourth entry which returned to horror but virtually ditched the prom theme for a standard slasher. Prom Night III: The Last Kiss was followed by Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil in 1992.
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Related Links:
Prom Night II: Hello Mary Lou (1987)
