Old horror sequels, save for a special selection, tend to be regarded as bad films. They usually aren't good, in the traditional sense, but any horror classic or lovable slasher that spawned sequels has enough fans to come to the defense of mediocre "2s," "3s", and beyond. In the early to mid 80s slasher heyday, flicks like Halloween and Friday The 13th led to profitable sequels, which quickly turned to profitable franchises, so lower tier slashers oh so ambitiously hoped to do the same.

You know, many faulty follow-ups to less renowned slashers have their place. The Sleepaway Camp movies all have a unique, ridiculous appeal. I'm a sucker for any Slumber Party Massacre. These days I'll look into any sequel to a slasher I may have missed just in case it has anything fun to offer. Seeing "2" next to hardly classic horror titles, in combination with frequently absurd, sloppy cover art, makes sleepers easy to overlook.

One sequel that might escape people and shouldn't any longer is Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, a 1987 follow-up to the Jamie Lee Curtis number Prom Night, which is widely regarded as one of better slashers that isn't Halloween, etc. While the original Canadian slasher from director Paul Lynch is a straightforward slice 'n' dice romp, Prom Night II takes a very different angle from its predecessor, serving a fresh new story of vengeance, straying from the standard slasher routine, and becoming something fantastical and supernatural.

It's a surprise; a visually fun one with original exciting scares, well-crafted characters to actually enjoy following, and a stockpile of funny lines. A ghastly possession tale in slasher clothing, Prom Night II isn't just great for a horror sequel, it's a damn good horror movie.

Following the slasher framework, director Bruce Pittman takes a young social group in a quaint small town school setting and descends things into a surprisingly ethereal, sexually charged nightmare world in glossy late 80s packaging, where the scares are bad dream material, kills are inventive, and the laughs and weird situations keep rolling.

The film opens in 1957. We meet a foul-mouthed, sex-hungry degenerate teen lady named Mary Lou Maloney (Lisa Schrage,) who walks into a big intimidating church and confesses her sins proudly to a priest in the booth beside her. She admits to sinful relations with "many of the boys in the school," and she claims to have "loved every minute of it." Mary Lou writes a "for a good time call..." message in lipstick in the church confessional and leaves.

We cut to the Hamilton High prom, where Mary Lou's in attendance with her boyfriend. He gives her a cross necklace as a loving gift and leaves to grab her punch. She sneaks off with another guy to drink booze and have sex behind a curtain. The boyfriend angrily confronts them, but Mary Lou sees no issue with her unfaithful ways and tells him off: "It's not who you come with, it's who takes you home."

She ends up winning prom queen. During her acceptance speech the disgruntled boyfriend throws a firecracker on stage and sets her on fire.

What I've just detailed is an almost unmatched opening few minutes, from Mary Lou rubbing her skankiness in a priest's face, to her openly cheating on her boyfriend at prom, to her being set on fire. Just minutes in it's hard to deny Prom Night II rocks.

It transitions to the present day. We're introduced to Vicki Carpenter (Wendy Lyon,) a pretty high school girl and only child in a strict religious home. She's dating motorcycle-riding Craig Nordham (Louis Ferreira,) who's the son of the high school principal, Bill (Michael Ironside.)

Prom is approaching and Vicki is a shoe-in for prom queen, according to boyfriend Craig. Her only competition is Kelly (Terri Hawkes,) a stuck-up fashionista who seems to be widely hated. Vicki's friend Jess (Beth Gondek) is a lonely artist; her other good friend is a wise-cracking dork.

Vicki wanders down into the school basement to a theater prop room, and for some reason busts open a trunk. As she does, an old class photo from Mary Lou's 1957 class that hangs in Principal Nordham's office cracks. He thinks back to that horrid evening.

Vicki's pal Jess is alone in the school art studio when the ghost of Mary Lou makes her first appearance: A radio turns on playing an old tune with 'Mary Lou' in the lyrics, and an unseen force drags Kelly across the floor, wraps a curtain around her neck and hangs her, then tosses her body out of a window.

Vicki's starts seeing haunting visions - Blackboards turning into pools, a corpse surfacing from a vat of liquid behind the lunch counter, and her rocking horse coming to life. Her behavior shifts - She's growing colder, angrier, hornier. She starts seducing her friends. Tortures a local priest. The icing on the cake, she makes out with her father.

Bodies pile as Vicki goes weirder. The priest, Father Cooper (Richard Monette,) suffers from nightmares and decides to take action. Principal Nordham also experiences visions and takes on a heroic role, sensing very well Mary Lou's spirit is making a return. All of the killing and debauchery and Vicki's regression leads up to the finale at prom, an electrifying evening where violence heightens and practical effects go haywire.

Prom Night II is an absurd late 80s ride into possession that has the right nasty slasher elements to fit the genre and a wild sensibility all its own, with imaginative scares and neat practical effects. As Vicki is overtaken by the spirit of promiscuous, disrespectful old Mary Lou, we reap all the fun benefits and visual thrill. First Vicki's friends get picked off in hands-off ways. Then Vicki, AKA Mary Lou, starts wreaking havoc more directly, through telekinesis. She burns a teacher's dick with a Bunsen burner, and crushes a locker in which her friend is hiding from her. To my surprise and anybody's, Prom Night II has a few great original bits of horror, of the fantastical sort, that feel inspired by Nightmare On Elm Street but have an authentic place in such a vehicle.

In one of Principal Nordham's terrifying visions, he watches as a dark vehicle drives through the school hallway; figures in the backseat stare at him, and blood gushes from his forehead.

The scene when Vicki's rocking horse first comes to life is a great practical effect display and rich piece of horror. Her bedsheets constrict around her, the horse's eyes glow red, it grits its teeth, and it's brought to life. Bruce Pittman didn't have a deep history in horror prior to directing this strangely late supernatural slasher sequel, but he serves a hearty helping of shocks, including several nightmare bits and crafty kills that will have you smiling with impressed delight.

What's just as vital as the horror knack is Pittman has a handle on tongue-in-cheeky funny. Prom Night II is as funny a comedy as it is an entertaining horror. The film kicks off with a hysterical bang, and the laugh-worthy lines and strange situations don't stop coming.

Maybe a nude girl chasing her friend around the school locker room in attempt to have sex isn't your brand of humor. Perhaps that same girl seducing her father isn't your cup of tea either. If that's the case, Prom Night II might just be trash to you, but it's funny for the rest of us sickos.

I can't call this a horror classic, nor can I make some remark of high horror praise like, "Prom Night II is nightmare fuel!" Pittman and cast aren't working to scare the pants off you, but you'll be marveling at much of the horror. You'll have fun getting sucked into this innocent teen world that quickly becomes a hallucinatory nightmare, where the vengeful ghost of a sex-crazed, narcissist maniac is trying to have sex with and kill everybody. Prom Night II is entertaining as a crazed killer flick, but it's fun fantasy horror on top of that. Its anti-religious themes are enjoyably exploitative, and aptly tasteless. There's no gruesome slashing going on, but Pittman gives us new kinds of kills, and visuals galore. On top of that, he maintains a strong inclination towards jokes while inventive terror is at play.

Ultimately, Prom Night II is a super creative gem of a follow-up to what was a standard slasher. Sure, Jamie Lee Curtis may have solidified herself as the "Scream Queen" in Prom Night, and strictly as a slasher the original film is a fine flick. Prom Night II, though, goes where so few sequels go. It throws out its predecessor's stock elements, takes a new path, cranks up the insanity, and has a lot of fun with itself. This just may be one of best sequels in horror; surely one of the best sequels to a slasher. It's time we stop treating it like it's a film called Prom Night II. You can check out Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, and the original Prom Night on Peacock.