When a prank gone wrong unleashes a witch’s wrath, a group of teenagers look for a way to put her soul to rest.
**CONTENT WARNING: Violence, murder, suicide**
Synopsis
Deena (Kiana Madeira) lives in Shadyside, a town haunted by the curse of a long dead witch that no one really believes in – except Deena’s brother, Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.). Every few years, someone gets possessed by the witch and goes on a killing spree. When Deena and her friends Kate (Julia Rehwald) and Simon (Fred Hechinger) try to prank Deena’s ex-girlfriend, Sam (Olivia Scott Welsh), they inadvertently cause Sam to be targeted as the witch’s next victim. The group must team up to protect Sam from the witch’s wrath.
*Spoilers ahead*
Fear Street is a Netflix trilogy based on books by R.L. Stine (as of the writing of this review, I have only seen the first one). Each of the three parts is set in a different time period, in reverse chronological order. All three movies are directed by Leigh Janiak, a budding director who debuted with Honeymoon (2014)—an underrated horror film that I, personally, loved. I’m pleased to report that Janiak kept up a solid horror atmosphere with this first part. I was a bit worried it was going to turn out to be cheesy. Instead, I found myself thoroughly engaged and even shocked at a few moments.
As a whole, this is a fairly standard supernatural slasher, a subgenre that has never been particularly high on my list when it comes to horror. However, I found the execution of this movie to elevate it beyond most other slashers I’ve seen. Not to say that this is a perfect film, because there are a few frustrating or uncomfortable moments, but they are few and far between.
What Worked
There are a few things in particular that I enjoyed about this movie. Once they figure out that the witch isn’t sending her undead murder lackeys out arbitrarily but is specifically targeting Sam, I found it intriguing that it is the group’s outcast who they end up having to protect. I feel like in circumstances like this, it’s usually a beloved friend who no one wants to lose. Since Sam is Deena’s ex, Deena starts out the movie mad at Sam, and Deena’s two best friends of course support their bestie over Sam. There’s even a moment where Kate convinces Sam to try to sacrifice herself to save the others. This makes it all the more brutal when Kate and Simon end up being the only two in the group who actually die after they all agree to try to save Sam.
Speaking of their deaths, Kate’s is pretty graphic. Given that this is a slasher, I should have expected more main character deaths, but they all manage to survive almost the entire movie so I had gotten to a point where I thought this was the type of movie that might actually let them live. After all, there are still plenty of kills and near-deaths throughout the movie, so it’s not like it lacks horror before this point. But then it finally goes through with it and kills Kate in a gnarly way. I definitely appreciate the ramp up of horror here.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a character agree to die with the expectation of being revived afterwards (looking at you, AHS: Asylum). But I never would have expected a controlled overdose as a temporary suicide method. The clinical way Kate and Simon lay out the order, dosage, and timing to best ensure Sam dies without causing too much damage is really interesting. Of course, this doesn’t go as planned, because that’s just what happens in movie finales, but the alternative is more personal. Deena actually has to hold her reconciled love underwater until she dies. Yikes! Even knowing she’s going to do everything she can to bring Sam back after, that can’t be an easy thing to do.
While probably not the most original aspect, I like the three murder lackeys. They are all distinct, and the original reveal of who is under the skull mask is a shocking moment, even if it’s explained later.
The twist at the end is nice. If this wasn’t the final era, I might have expected it, but as it is the latest timeline, I assumed this was going to end the witch’s curse, at least for this group. While the other two installments of Fear Street will look back in time, it feels as though this portion is unfinished and may be brought back around before the series is over.
I’ve seen a lot of horror movies, but this is one of the first to have a LGBTQ+ main character. And they didn’t even fall into the kill-your-gays trope! (Well, unless you count killing Sam, but they did bring her back.)
What Didn’t
By far my least favorite part of the movie is the prepping for battle scene. They all know that they could be attacked literally any time, but feel zero sense of urgency. More than that, though, what the heck is up with featuring a budding romance between a high school senior and a middle schooler (or at best, freshman)? So creepy. Plus it didn’t really fit with Kate’s personality at all.
On one hand, I love the concept of telling the three stories in reverse. The references to past events I know will be covered in the other movies gives me something to look forward to. However, I’m now also concerned that they spoiled too much. We basically know now how both movies are going to end. Unless that’s what they want us to think, and we’ll find it turns out some other way altogether. Of course, there’s a ton of details we don’t know, so at least there is still much to discover. I guess I’ll have to find out for myself whether this one spoils too much.
Other Notes
I didn’t trust Sheriff Goode (Ashley Zukerman) from the moment he showed up. I can’t really explain why, but that distrust only grew when he also was related to the mayor, as well as the person on the scene after the car accident. He clearly does know more than he’s letting on, because late in the movie he leaves a note for someone (but who?) about this situation. Yet we still don’t know much about him or what he truly knows. Maybe he’ll be in 1978?
Conclusion
I had a good time with this one, better than I expected. While I’m a little nervous about some of the spoilers for the next two, I’m optimistic that they will maintain the strong horror and narrative moments that this one had.
Score: 8/10
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