Oh, oh my. Well, this went in a completely different direction than I expected.
Prom Night III is effectively a remake of Prom Night II, only now as a horror comedy and starring a bunch of Canadians. Mary Lou Malone still died on her prom night in 1957, but she manages to escape Hell and return to Earth in the year 1990, where she possesses an average slacker named Alexander Grey. Alex has been having a bit of an identity crisis, juggling his rocky relationship with his girlfriend Sarah, his friendship with Shane, his academics, and his attempts to prove himself on the gridiron. Mary Lou helps by forcing herself into things, but the results usually lead to Alex disposing of the corpses and dealing with Mary Lou’s literal possessive nature. Ultimately Mary Lou just wants Alex all to herself, to be her prom king in Hell.
This movie is odd. It’s gory at times, sexy at others, and even turns briefly into a zombie flick near the end. But it never really hits the right notes for the comedy and feels like it tries too hard for much of its jokes, some of which are just flat out bizarre. There is at least one moment of Sarah quipping, “I don’t get mad, I bake” while armed with a flamethrower as the finale in a running motif about her cooking skills, as well as several jokes about women being demons, but that’s really it for the high points. Yep, we got some good old fashioned Canadian sexism humor.
At the same time, I don’t dislike the film; there is still a certain amount of plucky charm to it, a weirdness that makes you keep watching as well as a lead hero who is at times really dumb and unlikable and yet still someone you find yourself rooting for in the end. Also, it has a surprisingly dark ending. Like, really dark. Oh, and Maestro Fresh-Wes did part of the soundtrack. Respect.
I think I like Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II the most of the series, but they’re all so different that it’s tough to say. Prom Night IV goes in yet another weird direction with a religious slasher approach, so…not gonna lie, think I’m taking a break from these films before I have to touch that.
Movie Reviews by a Mook 