Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil (1992)

Memorable, crazy movie

Crappy film

Absolutely the worst movie.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

"Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil" is a serious (as in: no comedy touches) slasher that falls short in thrills & tension. Too bad, because it had a lot of potential. It's well-made, but severely dull in places. This time we have yet another stand-alone, unrelated sequel about a killer-priest (who is "evil beyond imagination") stalking & killing two couples in an isolated mansion. There are some supernatural undertones in the plot, but they are never explored. The budget on this production even seemed reasonably comfortable, as the cinematography isn't bad at all, often showing us some decent camera-movements on rails & even crane-shots. The acting is passable and the film opens really interesting. But then things fizzle quickly and the whole movie becomes uneventful. If they had simply amped up the body count & bloodshed, this sure could have turned into one of the unsung slasher gems from the early '90s. Now it just remains a curiosity for those interested in the "Prom Night" series. It's a strange franchise, to say the least, with this 4th installment presenting us yet again a different storyline. Interesting, but a failed effort altogether.

Prom Night 4 (1992) ** (out of 4) Prom Night 4 tries to mix the slasher genre with a bit of The Exorcist, although in the end it seems more like a death threat to the Catholic Church than anything else.The Killer: In 1957 Father Jonas (James Carver) suffers a nervous breakdown and begins speaking to God. He asks God for the strength to kill all the bad kids out there sinning by having sex before marriage. Father Jonas then picks up a knife and heads for Hamilton High School where the prom is being held. He finds two bad kids in the back of a car having sex so he slices their throats. When the Church finds out they lock Father Jonas in the basement where he stays for the next thirty years.The Kids: Let's see if you've ever seen these type of characters in a horror film. Meagan (Nicole de Boer) is a Catholic girl saving herself for marriage but she's starting to think that maybe sex isn't a bad thing after all. Her best friend Laura (Joy Tanner) is a slut who tries to sleep with anyone she can. Meagan's boyfriend is a good guy who's willing to wait until she's ready to have sex. Laura's boyfriend is a dumb jock too stupid to know anything.Thirty years after Father Jonas slaughtered the two sexual teens he escapes from the basement and heads out to finish God's work by killing any teens having sex. Our group of friends go to the prom, have a good time but then lie to their parents about where they're going afterwards and sneaks off to a house to party. Before long they are drinking alcohol and having sex, which means Father Jonas is there to make them pay for their sins.Prom Night 4 is actually a decent little slasher that doesn't try to be anything more than a film full of gore, violence and sex. The one strange thing however is that it seems the director holds a personal grudge against the Catholic Church and at every other corner he is bashing them for something. You've got a conspiracy of hiding the killer who just happened to have been molested as a child. You've got the Cardinal covering up other murders by making them look like suicides. Why all of this is going on in a mindless slasher is beyond me.Outside of the constant bashing we've got a decent little movie, which is better than the first and third films. It's full of your typical cliché characters, which have appeared in hundreds of these types of films. You've got the typical bad acting, bad script and bad direction, which makes some of these films so entertaining. The four characters are all silly enough to keep the viewer interested until their number is brought upon by the killer. The death scenes aren't too original but gore fans should be pleased with them. Overall, Prom Night 4 isn't anything original but it's bad enough to be slightly entertaining.

Prom Night IV: Initiation is a surprisingly underrated horror gem that is a great find. This fourth installment in the Prom Night series is often overlooked because of just that; it's the fourth installment. No one ever expects much from the Prom Night films, but most of them, excluding the first, are excellent movies, and this installment is, just barely, the best of them all. Prom Night IV should be looked upon as a masterpiece of the genre; it had a few similarities to the original Black Christmas, but I actually liked this movie way more.It's prom night in 1957, only this time, there's no Mary Lou. Father Jonas, molested by a priest as a child, has only one thing on his mind this prom night; ridding the world of sluts and sinners. After killing a young couple in their car at the prom, the other priests find out about Father Jonas's dastardly deeds and lock him up in the monastery for thirty-three years. Now, it's prom night in 1991. Four young students looking to have a good time consisting of sex and alcohol go away to a secluded house for the weekend, skipping the prom at their school and deciding to throw a party of their own. Father Jonas escapes in a series of unfortunate events, and happens upon the locale that the four students are staying at. Still desperate to stop sinners, Father Jonas lurks around the house and begins to kill the group off one by one in an increasingly disturbing fashion.Prom Night IV is very creepy and atmospheric, and the soundtrack adds to the element immensely. The most interesting part is how both religious elements and slasher elements are combined for a perfect combination. This Prom Night is actually SCARY! Father Jonas is extremely frightening, and the way he kills each of the teens is both shocking and disturbing. The acting is great, probably the most believable in the entire series.In terms of death and gore, this installment holds nothing back whatsoever. There's plenty of blood, and there's gross out scenes to boot. The "final girl" is interesting, and you're rooting for her the entire time. I actually liked most of the characters.Prom Night IV was a perfect slasher film and one of the best in its genre. A horror/slasher film that is not to be missed!

Routine sequel finds two teenage couples renting a vacation home for the weekend to hold their own private prom, but of course a priest has awakened from a coma and is out to kill the sexually active kids. No relation at all to the first three, it is better made then expected, but still this is no better then all the hundreds of slasher films out there. Rated R; Nudity, Sexual Situations, Violence, and Profanity.