Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (1990)

Written by Charles Tatum on July 15, 2023

In the third, but not the last, entry in the series, the horror is played for laughs. Alex (Tim Conlon) is an average high school student, and he is tired of it. His height is average, his shoe size is average, his grades are average, there is nothing special about him except his relationships with his girlfriend Sarah (Cyndy Preston) and best friend Shane (David Stratton). Luckily, Mary Lou Maloney (Courtney Taylor) has escaped from hell and is headed back to her old high school. Mary Lou was wronged in the past and decides to help Alex. He is soon the star of the football team, making the honor roll, and has the love of Mary Lou to thank for it all. The problem is Mary Lou is killing those who have hindered Alex in the past, and Alex is burying the bodies in the school's football field. Alex's parents celebrate their son's newfound popularity and scholastic abilities by giving him a motorcycle, but Sarah and Shane have cut themselves off from him, not knowing who he is anymore. The school's prom is fast approaching, and the bodies start turning up.

When a horror comedy works, it can really work. Some of Stuart Gordon's films come to mind, or Tobe Hooper's. "Ghostbusters" wasn't perfect, but it had laughs. This film has the distinction of failing as both a comedy and a horror film. While two people are credited with directing, some of the camera angles do not work. The physical placement of the camera is wrong for many scenes, like when shoved in the face of actor Conlon. One time is enough, but the film makers revert back to this angle often. The script has few funny scenes, and the gallows humor never works. The actors are okay, but they are five to ten years too old for their parts. The special effects are shoddy. Cheap glowing animation punctuates cheap gore effects. I can see that this started as a really bizarre bloodbath, but it is trapped by its sequel origins, and never gets going. The finale is predictable and dopey. "Prom Night III: The Last Kiss" sucks. Hello Mary Lou, goodbye an hour and a half of my life.