Ever since R.L. Stein and Netflix announced they would be partnering for a horror trilogy based on Stein’s Teen Horror Fear Street series, I have been incredibly excited and immensely weary. So, how do you take a book series with one-off storylines and turn it into a fun, nostalgic horror movie trilogy? Well, Netflix is here to show you how it’s done.

WHAT IS FEAR STREET?

While some may only know R.L. Stein for his Goosebumps book series, the Fear Street series is aimed at older teens. Fear Street takes place in the cursed town of Shadyside. It takes the local teens on horrifying journey’s of the paranormal and murder mystery. After publishing over 150 Fear Street books and selling over 80 million copies, it would seem a TV or movie series was inevitable. It just came down to which story(s) they wanted to tell. The movie trilogy is mixing both the Fear Street Series and the successful Fear Street Saga spin-off. Which tells the origin story of the curse of Shadyside and the Fier family who brought it upon its inhabitants. 

FEAR STREET 1994

The Fear Street Trilogy on Netflix is starting from the end and going backwards, beginning with 1994. The saga begins with the murder of a local student at the Shadyside mall. After the news hits the town, the students of local rival high schools seem to be forced into angry patterns and no one understands why…except for Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.), the city’s dark web nerd who knows everything and anything about the town’s curse. The witch is back! But why? How? Josh, his sister Kate (Julia Rehwald), Deena (Kiana Madeira), and Simon (Fred Hechinger) set out to figure out what is going on in their town, why the witch and her monsters are after Kate’s ex-gf Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), how to stop the curse, and most importantly…STAY ALIVE!

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

I absolutely enjoyed Fear Street 1994 from beginning to end. The movie had fun, creative kills that are super bloody, with great villains, a killer soundtrack that made me nostalgic for my middle school dance, and good acting. I also appreciate how the main characters of this film are typically those who get killed off almost immediately in typical horror films, but get to take down the baddy this time around.

However, with all of that…the film was slightly confusing. The story starts at 100 and never slows down, and never really explains anything very clearly. On top of that, the film desperately needs some form of character development so I can care a little bit about any of the people in the story. Yet, somehow, despite all of that, it still works! I can’t explain it. I loved it and I hope that you do too!

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