Such a frustrating disappointment

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The title pretty much sums up the whole problem with this film. For the third instalment in the series the producers decided to go with a mix of comedy and horror films popular in the early nineties (which involved hell, demons, the dead,etc, just think of Pinhead or a film like 976-Evil and you get the idea). In my opinion, this was not a very lucky move. The comedy elements aren't funny and don't produce even a giggle yet alone a real laughter. This also limits the effect of the scares which are too few and too childish. I liked the fact that they continued the Mary Lou story arc from the previous film, but they left the ending open and didn't follow with it any further. Also the fact that Mary Lou is played by a different actress doesn't help at all. I was bored by the film and couldn't wait for it to wend. This one is really not recommended.

Let me open by saying this review is in regards to the edited DVD that Artisan released as a double bill with Prom Night IV. I've not seen the film in all it's uncut glory, but I can't imagine gore and nudity changing my opinion about anything. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm sure it makes the film at least watchable. As it stands, Prom Night III: The Last Kiss is a pretty abysmal horror/comedy. However, this is the only film in the series that tries its hand at continuity. It actually picks up from the events of the last film and has Mary Lou Maloney as the antagonist once again (played by a different actress natch). Where Prom Night II was a Nightmare on Elm Street rip-off, this film feels more like the later Elm Street sequels. It trades scares for laughs, most of which don't work. I rented this disc because I'd rather go back and watch these crappy sequels than the new remake. And as bad as this was, I know I made the right decision. I'm actually going into Prom Night IV with higher expectations since they couldn't possibly make a film worse than this one. We'll see.

Prom Night III: The Last Kiss is one of those movies I'd been wanting to see for years, but could never seem to get a hold of. Now that I finally have it, I feel somehow cheated--apparently, the two-in-one DVD of Prom Night III and IV features the TV-edited version of Prom Night III! All of the nudity, gore, and curse words have been rudely cut out, and the DVD transfer looks sloppy and terrible. Tim Conlon's nude scene, Courtney Taylor's nude scenes, and many of the deaths have been very rudely trimmed down! Judging from the movie alone, however, I thoroughly enjoyed myself… maybe even more so than the second film. It's been so long since I've seen the second film, however, that I can't really be sure until I pick up a copy of it sometime. Prom Night III: The Last Kiss stars Tim Conlon (Starship Troopers 2, Revenge of the Nerds III), Courtney Taylor, Cynthia Preston, Dylan Neal, David Stratton, and Jeremy Ratchford (Angel Eyes).After being burned to death during prom night in 1957 (from Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II), Mary Lou Maloney (Courtney Taylor) is back with a vengeance at Hamilton High School. This time around, Mary sets her sights on a young student, Alex (Tim Conlon), who dreams of becoming a doctor. Alex is just your average ordinary high school guy in every way imaginable. After she seduces Alex, he gets drawn into her world as the body count rises. As things spin hopelessly out of control, Alex's girlfriend, Sarah (Cynthia Preston), and his best friend, Shane (David Stratton) try to save Alex from the seductive powers of Mary Lou.The acting in Prom Night III is some of the best in the series. Tim Conlon plays Alex with such emotion and overacting that it perfectly fits the comedic overtones of the film. Courtney Taylor plays Mary Lou almost as if she were Lucy from "I Love Lucy", and I would have loved to see her naked! Much like the second film, Prom Night III is a horror/comedy, but much more lenient on the comedy. One of my favorite scenes is where Alex is talking to his parents on the phone and they're speaking some sort of gibberish and he plays like they're having a real conversation. No other film you ever see will have death by jukebox, hair dryer, or projection reel film. The characters are all so stupid and stereotypical that it's hard not to laugh.As for the gore and kills, they were all unique and over-the-top. Since most of the gore was cut out in the version I saw, I didn't enjoy the deaths as much as I could have, but they were all hysterically funny.Overall, Prom Night III: The Last Kiss was a raunchy, hysterical horror/comedy that is not to be missed. Although I didn't particularly care for the ending and concluding fifteen minutes, I did enjoy the rest of the movie, and I would recommend it if you're looking for a good time. However, make sure you skip the horrible edited DVD; just buy the VHS instead.

I'm a bit surprised by all of the negative reviews of this film ...it's got more wit and grue than 90% of the films of its genre and era, yet it's called "crap" (which says little for everything else). Yes, PN3 is very juvenile, but so is the intended audience - the evil heroes of horror of the late 80s and early 90s generally play to such tastes. The male lead is easy to like (the chemistry between he and his girlfriend reminds me of that of the lead guy and his girlfriend in "Fright Night"), as is the actress portraying Mary Lou. The film doesn't pretend to be anything more than a "USA Up All Night" flick, but the dialog, style and gore of the movie are all above average (I think of "Girlfriend From Hell" as the prototypical decent "USA Up All Night" film, and this one is definitely in a class above). The horror just erupts from nowhere in this film, like the scene in which the principal cuts off his finger and wind starts blowing all over, slamming doors shut ...my reaction to this was a big laugh: what a great, madcap way to foreshadow. I love films in which the hell just starts right away and keeps going until the end (Evil Dead 2 is probably the best example of that). And I laughed a lot while watching PN3, but perhaps one needs a rather free - and yet very juvenile - sense of humor to get the most out of it. If you ever snickered at the humor and one-liners of Freddy Krueger, Angela Baker, or even the Wishmaster, you'll probably like this incarnation of Mary Lou. In any case, this film is very representative of its time and genre, in good ways and bad, depending on your take.