Toronto85 Prom Night IV is a refreshing new story added to the horror franchise. We completely ignore Mary Lou in this one and shift gears to a killer priest named Father Jonas who loves killing teenagers he calls "sluts and whores". It begins in 1957 at Hamilton High, the same night Mary Lou died, with a couple making out in a car. The priest kills the two of them and then sets the car on fire. Other priests discover what he's done and lock him up down in the basement of a Church. 35 years later, Father Jonas is unleashed by a young unsuspecting priest. We also meet a group of teenagers. Meagan the virgin, Mark who is Meagen's boyfriend, Laura the bad girl, and Jeff who is Laura's boyfriend. They decide to ditch prom and go to an old house in the country for the weekend. Of course, Father Jonas has made his way there to hide out. Can the couples survive or will Jonas kill them all for being "unholy" in his eyes.There are a few people killed in gruesome ways in Prom Night 4. There is a also a big chase scene at the end which is fun and exciting. I like the fact they brought the series to it's original sub genre - slasher. Mary Lou was fun for two sequels, but this one is a lot more dark and actually scary just like the first. It also has a real Canadian feel to it like the first one. The old churches we see are in Downtown Toronto. The music done by Paul Zaza is awesome as usual. We get a score used from the first Prom Night as well as My Bloody Valentine, both were scored by Zaza.I know this fourth one gets a lot of flack from critics, but I don't know why. It's a pretty good early 90's slasher, which is rare to find during those years. There are some scares and definitely gore. The acting isn't very good, but I've seen much worse (check out Prom Night 3). The ending left open room for another sequel involving Father Jonas, but unfortunately they never explored it. If you like horror films, in particular slasher movies, check out Prom Night IV. Much better than the third.Also check out the cameo by Brock Simpson! He stared in each of the original Prom films. He played young Nick in the first one, Josh in the second, a cop in the third, and a young priest in this one.7/10

Mr_Censored "Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil" marks yet another turn in the "Prom Night" franchise, ditching the supernatural elements of the previous two entries in exchange for a more back-to-basics slasher formula that is not unlike the original. This time, however, it's a Catholic priest gone mad, with a sharpened crucifix in hand, who unleashes his wrath against a group of fornicators...err...high school kids who ditch their prom in lieu of a remote cabin where they can get down and dirty without anyone around to hear their screaming -- whether that's a good thing or not.Another direct-to-video installment, the fourth "Prom Night" is not of the highest quality, but at least delivers the goods on the most basic level. Slasher fans will appreciate its dead-pan approach, which is in stark contrast to the goofiness on hand in "Prom Night III: The Last Kiss." Father Jonas, the Catholic priest in question, is played stone-faced by James Carver and makes for an effectively brutal killer, even if he is overexposed by the film which doesn't allow him to lurk or stalk very much. The cast of teens, meanwhile, are just begging to be killed by Father Jonas, and with lines like "Shut up and take your pants off" who can say they didn't see it coming? Sure, it's a low-rent, dirty little horror movie, but at least it tries, and even when it doesn't succeed, "Prom Night IV" doesn't exactly suck, either. At the very least, this last entry in the series is more entertaining and exciting than the remake that would follow 17 years later.

PoisonKeyblade 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!

Zalman666 Out of all the horror movie series I've seen, the Prom Night series takes the cake for maintaining almost no continuity in its films. The first of which was a simple tale of revenge; the following two contained none of the original characters and revolved around the ghost of Mary Lou Maloney: a wicked prom queen who'll stop at nothing to get her crown and the man she desires. While I enjoyed the first of these two films, it's hardly surprising that movie-goers have written them off as laughable and pathetic. Although Prom Night 4 bears no relevance to its predecessors, it gets its scariness from having a very dark villain who pulls no punches whatsoever even if the entire film is loaded with the most predictable horror movie clichés and contains no originality. When we first meet Father Jonas, he's praying fervently about his hatred for sluts and whores. Unsurprisingly, this hatred is what motivates him to kill two high school students making out in a car on the night of their prom. Fast forward 33 years later, Father Jonas isn't in jail but confined to small room beneath his church where his keepers rely on heavy sedatives to keep his evil at bay. Luckily for Father Jonas, a new priest has been assigned to look after him and he escapes by nightfall to return to countryside seminary he remembers from his younger days except now it's a summer home in which four thrill-seeking teenagers are indulging in sex and alcohol. Why not? It's their prom night! It's here that the horror-movie clichés are ubiquitous: for instance, upon their arrival the teens learn that the very secluded house has been burgled, but they choose not to call the police since they're not supposed to be there. The rest of the film features the murders of the two most promiscuous teens, calls to the police that are ineffective, and a lengthy game of cat and mouse in which Father Jonas chases Megan-the most innocent of the teens. Throughout it all, the priest maintains the same dark facial expression and goes about his rampage undeterred. If the effect isn't chilling than it's certainly gruesome, especially since the most undeterred villains in previous horror films couldn't have been human and either wore white masks and shredded coveralls or stalked their victims in their dreams. The fans of the Prom Night series who wrote off the Mary Lou storyline as crap will enjoy this film for being a simple slasher featuring rage-filled murderer, but so will all horror movie fans looking for a creepy and cliché-ridden thrill.