Continuing October with some more horror-based reviews, and this week I am tacking the Fear Street (2021) trilogy that Netflix released this year. I knew very little about these films going in but I had some decent things, so I was a little excited. But I have been stung by Netflix before so there was also a little apprehension there. But let’s not waste time and we will just get into it. The film follows a group of teenagers from Shadyside, a town that seems to be cursed while their neighbours, Sunnyvale, thrive. The reason for the curse? A witch who was hanged 300 years earlier. When the group of teens accidentally disturb the grave of the witch, they are forced to discover the secret and stop the curse.
Fear Street Part One: 1994
I wasn’t a big fan of this. I don’t think it is bad per se, but it really wasn’t for me. It definitely has its moments. After all, at its heart, it is a slasher film and I do have a soft spot for those, especially when they give you creative kills. And I would be lying if I said this didn’t have one of the better slasher kills I have seen in a long time. It is properly gruesome, but it was a genuine moment of shock, and it was a pleasant surprise within a film with a lack of surprises or thrills. It is a fun premise, but it takes on a tone of more of an adventure film than a horror. Maybe it is just me, but it had a Goonies (1985) vibe to it which didn’t settle with me. And that is very much a personal thing, and I can see why people would like it. But the slick, Netflix style of filmmaking and shooting is just something I am not entirely sold on, and to be honest I find myself finding it all a little dull at times. Not a great start for the trilogy
Fear Street Part 2: 1978
Now, this was much more my speed. And I will admit that in narrative terms there is a lot less going on here than in the first film. That isn’t to say it doesn’t build on and progress the overall narrative of the trilogy, but it doesn’t have to get bogged down in as much expositional mush as it was all set up in the last film. As the middle film, it also doesn’t have to conclude anything, and so it ushes the narrative forward as much as it needs to and then becomes a bit more of a bog-standard slasher. This may sound like a negative, but I bloody love me a generic slasher film. You give me a voiceless masked man slaughtering people and I am all in, and this film delivers on that. It also has the balls to kill kids. It is very rare to see kids being killed in horror films, they are usually off-limits, but this film goes for it. It doesn’t go so far as to show these kills in as graphic a fashion as when the adult characters are being killed, in fact, they are all done out of view of the audience, but it is still shocking, and I was taken aback by it. But yeah. A much more fun film for me than the first one and that allowed me to buy into the narrative of the trilogy a little more.
Fear Street Part 3: 1666
The final film of this trilogy, and although I can’t say I was completely gripped by either of the prior two films I still feel like this gave a satisfactory conclusion. This may be different for people completely hooked into the trilogy, but for me, I was left feeling like it wrapped itself up well and I liked the direction it took narratively. This film feels more like two short films in one than a feature-length film. The first of these films is where we are in the year 1666 and the second is when we jump back to 1994 to conclude the narrative. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I was much more on board with the former of these two sections. The stuff this film does when in 1666 is fun and has strong vibes of The VVitch (2015) which I am more than on board with. The accents are pretty dodgy, but the whole feel of this section is great especially with the visuals and tone. When the film goes back to 1994 it reverts back to the style of that first film, which I felt was the weakest section of the trilogy, it loses me a little bit, but there are enough fun moments and a satisfying narrative closure that I was more bought in than in that first film.
Overall, as a trilogy, Fear Street is very much just fine. The weakest part is the first part, which doesn’t set the trilogy in good stead, but I would be lying if I said that by the end, I wasn’t at least a little hooked into the narrative. For me, the trilogy is at its strongest when it becomes a bit more of a general slasher film as there are some very fun kills throughout the three films. But the overall visual style and Netflix shine didn’t help me in my enjoyment, but I can admit that that issue is very much based on personal preference. It is a light recommendation from me, but who knows, it may be a huge winner for you.
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