FEAR STREET a Review of the entire horror trilogy on Netflix

Three horror films, three timelines intertwined, united by violence and curse by Sarah Fier.

Plot:

Three films on three different timelines, the story begins in 1994 and then goes to 1978 and finally discovering where it all began with part 3 of the saga in 1966; All three films are united by a curse that afflicts a ‘ entire town, that of Shadyside Ohio, famous for being the place with the most serial killers in America.

Cast:

• Kiana Madeira as Deena Johnson
• Olivia Scott Welch as Samantha “Sam” Fraser
• Benjamin Flores Jr. as Josh Johnson
• Julia Rehwald as Kate Schmidt
• Fred Hechinger as Simon Kalivoda
• Ashley Zukerman as Nick Goode
• Darrell Britt-Gibson as Martin P. Franklin
• Maya Hawke as Heather Watkins
• Jordana Spiro as Mrs. Lane
• Jordyn DiNatale as Ruby Lane
• Charlene Amoia as Rachel Thompson
• David W. Thompson as Ryan Torres / Skull Mask
• Jeremy Ford as Peter
• Matthew Zuk as Mayor Will Goode
• Elizabeth Scopel as Sarah Fier
• Gillian Jacobs as C. Berman

Fear Street Parte 1: 1994

The story opens in 1994. The town of Shadyside seems to be cursed: periodically some of its inhabitants lose their minds and unleash an unexpected murderous fury on their fellow citizens. Even the most honest and quiet of them could suddenly turn out to be new serial killers: the origin of their change could have roots as far back as the seventeenth century, from the death of a witch thirsty for revenge, Sarah Fier. The first glimpse of how dangerous life in Shadyside is since the opening sequence of the film, in which a killer disguised as a skeleton wreaks havoc in the small town mall, a tribute to the cult in which Maya Hawke resumes what was once the role of a young Drew Barrymore.

We meet the day after the massacre: Deena (Kiana Madeira), desperate for the breakup with her girlfriend Sam (Olivia Welch), who has moved to Sunnyvale, a rival town where the quality of life is much higher than in Shadyside; her brother Josh (Benjamin Christopher Flores Jr.), a nerd passionate about cursed history; and Kate and Simon (Julia Rehwald, Fred Hechinge), a couple of friends who have decided to save up some extra cash by selling drugs to their schoolmates.

During the vigil for the victims, which also includes students from Sunnyvale, a fight breaks out between the two rival schools, which later degenerates into a car accident in which Sam is injured.

Before being rescued, the girl has a vision: the witch Sarah Fier is back and there will be new victims. Shortly after, in fact, she, Deena, Josh and the others are attacked by the same masked killer who had massacred their peers in the mall, but it is a pity that he had been killed by the police.

But not only him, other killers also return from the past, a girl who had exterminated her friends of hers and then had cut her veins and the camping maniac. How is it possible that they can still sow death and destruction and what is their purpose? Deena and i are friends will have to do everything to survive the incursions of these supernatural presences, and figure out how to eliminate them and what they have against them?

The soundtrack, then, it is the icing on the cake because it doesn’t serve to externalize the inner feelings of the protagonists, but to arouse goosebumps in the viewer. Marco Beltrami does a job of the highest level.

Fear Street Part 1: 1994 and The brilliant idea of the weekly release. Leigh Janiak, demonstrates an excellent hand and a solid knowledge, uses those well-coded mechanisms to tell a different story and involve, through the characterization of the characters. This first chapter rides the wave of nostalgia but at the same time manages, all in all, to be a contemporary and intergenerational product. It is, of course, a work of pure entertainment that does not claim to innovate the trend, but which perhaps could lead it into this decade.

Fear Street Part Two: 1978

We will avoid every possible spoiler that could invalidate the intelligent final twist of Fear Street: 1994. Suffice it to say that we will be dragged into the past with a great flashback that will clarify some points left open in the first film. Clearly opening new doors.

The structure that makes up this trilogy therefore appears immediately interesting. The space-time linearity is broken down and mixed according to the story. A story that sees a second film as a sequel but also as a prequel.
The present of 1994 thus becomes a real curtain that opens and closes Fear Street: 1978. This time, everything revolves around the most classic of summer camps, made up of teenagers struggling with their first jobs and children to manage. A radical change from the first film.

No monster that “resurrects” from the lake, don’t worry. It is always the underground to be cursed and haunted, to bring up the anger and the clash. And in fact the clash is repeated, again a “war” is underway between the children of and those of . A war that, however, sometimes goes far beyond the rules of fun. In Fear Street: 1978 the adolescent clash takes on more precise characteristics, looking at bullying and abuse, the use of psychedelic drugs. And then, to punishment.

The difference from Fear Street: 1994 is very visible, the violence acquires even more ferocity and brutality. While not lingering in the sequences of the murders, the dark tones that characterize Fear Street: 1978 leave very little room for the imagination. Sex and violence are therefore explained in their entirety, showing a lot of blood and some sex scenes explicit enough for the context.

A soundtrack in line with the times, it is a real journey into a filmic past that is accentuated by the direction of Leigh Janiak, between typical zoom shots of the 70s genre films.

Needless to say that as soon as Feat Street part 2 1978 is finished with that twist you will be forced to immediately press play to see how this wonderful saga ends and to finally understand all the sense (and you are lucky that it is already available).

Fear Street Part Three: 1666

From the seventies we fly back in time once again, this time by a few centuries. Finally, the truth about what happened in the town with the most serial killers in the world will be discovered. A shocking truth to say the least and that we will not reveal don’t worry we let you fully enjoy it.

The entire first part of Fear Street: 1666 takes up most of the actors seen to date in the first film but in other characters. Without going into detail, the story focuses mainly on the concept of superstition and ignorance. And homosexuality seen as an absolute evil.

The blood shed will be a lot, hand in hand with the unexpected twists to say the least. There are many sequences not suitable for the weak. The atmosphere is charged to the maximum, and then leads to ferocious violence, with a morbid restlessness beyond belief, as in the scene of the minister without eyes.

Basically the seventeenth-century and rural setting works. They also convince the most disturbing secondary characters, starting with the widow Mary, up to the boorish Thomas. There is a series of known figures in these contexts and predictable, which however manage to be convincing and functional for the development of the narrative.

In this last chapter, several actors from the first film return, starting with Kiana Madeira and Olivia Scott Welch, who turn out to be more than convincing also in this case, dressed in costume, and capable of transmitting harmony and feeling in a completely different context than the nineties in which they had starred in the first film.

Fear Street is a circular trilogy that concludes everything as it began, which respects the basics of the slasher without trying to overdo it, even if at times it moves to the limits of the schematic. This last chapter cannot be exalted with music, also because the seventeenth-century setting limits its use, but the final part seems to redeem everything.

Fear Street Part 3: 1666 the staging is mostly believable, even if in some moments they falter a little. In this she is influenced by a photograph that is at times too televised, and which at times makes her lose the proper atmosphere.

Thoughts:

The three films are inspired to a series of novels for teenagers written by the hugely popular author of horror novels for children, RL Stine, (the prolific Goosebumps saga). The Fear Street novels are set in a scary town Shadyside, Ohio, where a series of terrifying supernatural events disrupt the lives of its inhabitants, especially the younger ones.

One of the messages of Fear Street can be just this: love and sexual belonging are not a sentence, indeed, the misfortunes arise from the rejection and suppression of healthy feelings.

Directed by Leigh Janiak, director who has been entrusted with the task of telling a story capable of oscillating between horror and teen movie, as slasher wants. Certainly not an easy task given that it takes very little to expire in the already seen, especially in 2021. And it succeeds in full.

I loved this saga, I highly recommend it

Vote 9

Stream it now on Netflix

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Thank you for reading.