From the minute I learned that Val would be reviewing Prom Night III: The Last Kiss, I knew that I simply had to rewatch and a post a review of Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil.  I mean, considering that I had already reviewed the original Prom Night on this site, it only made sense.  Now, I just have to convince Leonard to review Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II and Leon The Duke to review the Prom Night remake and we’ll have the whole series covered!

Anyway, most reviews of Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil will tell you that it has absolutely nothing to do with any of the other Prom Night films but that’s not quite true.  For one thing, all five of these films take place on Prom Night!  Also, they all deal with students who go to Hamilton High School.  Now, seriously — considering how many proms at Hamilton have ended in death and disaster, you would think that the school would just stop having a prom.  Obviously, that wouldn’t be a popular decision but lives are at stake!

Like Hello Mary Lou and Prom Night III, Prom Night IV also opens with the 1957 prom.  Now, of course, the 1957 prom was famous for the fiery death of Mary Lou Maloney but apparently, that wasn’t the only death that occurred that night.  While Mary Lou was getting ready to be named prom queen, two other students (one of whom is named Lisa — agck, it always freaks me out when a slasher movie victim has the same name as me!) were making out in the parking lot.  When a homicidal priest named Father Jonas came across them, he stabbed them to death a sharpened crucifix.

35 years later, Father Jonas is hidden away in a church basement.  He’s kept in a drug-induced coma.  Father Jaeger (Kenneth McGregor) is his guardian but when the Jaeger passes away, the young Father Colin (Brock Simpson) takes his place.  Foolishly, Colin decides not to give Jonas his daily injection.  Jonas wakes up, murders Colin, and then sets off for his old church.  While Jonas is out murdering sinners, the Cardinal tries to cover up any evidence of his existence.

(In case you hadn’t guessed, Prom Night IV is probably one of the most anti-Catholic films ever made.  That said, speaking as someone who was raised Catholic, I was never really offended by the movie.  I mean, it featured a killer priest and a sinister Cardinal but it would still be wrong to mistake Prom Night IV for a Luis Bunuel film.)

What Jonas doesn’t know is that the old church is now a summer home.  Four teenagers — virginal Meagan (Nikki de Boer), her boyfriend Mark (J.H. Wyman), his best friend Jeff (Alle Ghadaban), and his girlfriend, the adventurous Laura (Joy Tanner, who later played Fiona and Declan’s mom on Degrassi) — are spending the night at the house.  After all, who wants to waste prom night by actually going to the prom?  Mark’s younger brother, Jonathan, is also hanging around outside the house, secretly filming everything that happens inside.  Or, at least he is until Jonas shows up and kills him.

There really aren’t any big surprises to be found in Prom Night IV but the film is still a step above the average slasher film.  Director Clay Borris keeps the action moving and does a good job maintaining a properly evil atmosphere.  Some of the shots of the snow falling over the isolated house are actually quite stunning.  As played by James Carver, Jonas is a truly menacing and ruthless villain.  Seriously, Jonas is so mean!  Even the fact that he utters a few regrettable one liners does nothing to diminish Jonas as a threat.

Prom Night IV may be missing both Jamie Lee Curtis and Mary Lou Maloney but it’s still a surprisingly effective little horror film.  And remember —

It’s not who you come with … it’s who takes you home.

Prom Night … everything is alright…