For those of us who grew up reading R. L. Stine, the Fear Street name does bring back good (or nightmarish) memories. It reminds us of a simpler time where all the evil and monsters we knew about were in books, fast forward twenty odd years and we know that’s far from the truth.
The trilogy kicks off with Fear Street Part One: 1994. When a teenager working in the local mall goes on a killing spree, that should trigger alarm bells in the town, if not the state. But at Shadyside–also dubbed the murder capital of the United States–this is apparently a normal day.
The teenagers at Shadyside however believe that the recent murders of their fellow students, and the fact that the crimes were committed by one of their peers, could be attributed to the curse of the witch, Sarah Fier, placed on the town in 1666 before she was executed for witchcraft. Tough luck being a woman back in the day…
The movie follows a core group of teenagers who take it upon themselves to explore the evil plot against their town only to realise that they’ve dug too deep, thus putting themselves in danger. They do their best and fight to live another day, whilst some of them unfortunately do not make it out of the witch’s stranglehold. As similar events have been occurring regularly in their town, they look to the past and find someone who has gone through these horrors in hopes of finding out the secret to survival.
Fear Street Part Two: 1978, gives us a throwback to an all-American summer camp, a place where things aren’t always what they seem. Sadie Sink (Max from Stranger Things) leads the show as Ziggy Berman, a character who is constantly vilified by Sunnyvale campers (Sunnyvale is the polar opposite town of their neighbours, Shadyside) throughout the movie. She’s accused of being a witch and so much more, it’s hard not to feel for the character.
The story focuses on Ziggy and her fellow campers, mainly a commentary on how society can be unfair to people simply based on where they’re from. This in turn forces certain groups of people down paths which they would rather not take, but that’s just sometimes the hand they are dealt with.
Similarly, another Shadyside teenager, this time a camp counsellor, goes American Psycho and starts a killing spree in the camp. The core group of campers and counsellors who were looking into the case of the witch, Sarah Fiers, get entangled in this mess and the movie concludes with the sole survivor of ‘78 sharing her account to the teenagers of ‘94.
The last and most thrilling part of the trilogy, Fear Street Part Three: 1666, brings us back to the 17th century where women can be easily accused of witchcraft should a pigeon drop dead in the middle of the town square. We finally get to see the infamous Sarah Fiers, the witch that cursed the town, as a regular person before she gets caught up in the dark secrets that will continue to haunt the land for centuries to come.
Turns out that the kids in the 17th century aren’t that different from kids these days, sneaking out late at night to gather for parties, getting high, drunk and their general freak on. When unexplainable things in the town start happening and when the pastor murders a bunch of kids, the townsfolk easily are spooked and go on a literal witch hunt. Circumstances surrounding the events then lead to the condemnation of Sarah Fiers and we finally learn the truth behind the witch’s curse!
The movies have a good amount of thrills, twists, gore and a sprinkle of sex, thus the R21 rating. The plot itself is not too intense, so it’s an easy and casual night time watch (or day, if you’re my wife). The movies do explore broader themes in general, which I personally liked, after all these were originally books which always fed us with an eventual “Moral of the Story.”
I would definitely recommend for folks who enjoy the gore/ murder genre, as there’s something in it for horror fans of all types as the movies blends genres well together.
Fear Street Parts One, Two, and Three are all available on Netflix now!