The fourth and final Prom Night sequel deals with some claptrap about a priest who thinks it is his duty to kill all of those who sin, particularly those who practice sex before marriage or at the very least, is a girl.  The priest meanwhile, named Father Jonas, started killing in 1957 during the same period when Mary Lou burned to death, but was captured by the church and put into a forced coma.  Come thirty-odd years later, he awakens, still looking pretty svelte and decides to pick right up from where he left off.  Original?  A little, but not enough to save the movie.

Funny enough, this film has nothing to do with the first film or anything to do with the Mary Lou films, instead being its own beast and riding the success(?) of the Prom Night franchise.  Also funny is the fact that even though it is the fourth film, it is slightly better than number three, but nowhere near as good as the first or second film.  So… yay?

The acting is all right and not as atrocious as the previous film, and what avid Star Trek fans will notice is that it stars Nicole de Boer, who would end up on Deep Space Nine many years later as the replacement and inferior, Dax.  That is an entirely different story though.  The rest of the cast including J.H. Wyman, Joy Tanner, Alle Ghadban, Kenneth McGregor, Brock Simpson and James Carver were all a bunch of unknowns who were simply middle of the road in their performances.  This could be one reason why these films did not perform as good as they could have, because the cast was usually made up of people that had no real experience.  Granted, this bunch was better than the last, but what if some of that budget was spent on a cast of B stars instead of Z stars?  Could have been a whole different story.

Directed by Clay Borris and written by Richard Beattie, the film would actually feature a somewhat ridiculous, yet compelling story.  It even had a little suspense with some good horror moments.  As a slasher, it worked better than the last film which had tried to go the comedic route and failed.  This movie decided to stay true to its horror roots and it worked better for it, but everything about it could have been far better from the script on up.  The film, even though it would remain true to the genre, could not save it from being as forgettable as it is.  Could it have been better?  Absolutely, but thanks be to whomever it was that said no to a proposal for a fifth film.

2 out of 5