'Fear Street: 1666' is a Satisfying Enough Finale (Minor Spoilers)

 

And so we've arrived at the final chapter of the Netflix 'Fear Street' trilogy and arguably the most important to the story's overall arc. '1978' ended on a cliffhanger where our main protagonist Deena thinking she finally figured out how to solve the curse of Sarah Feir only to find herself back in time as Sarah herself. This is where the first half of the film lies, with Deena seeing the events that led to the town of Shadyside becoming cursed, however things aren't as black & white as you'd imagine. To be honest, this was a twist that many will see coming and yet again it compares the 'Fear Street' trilogy unfavorably to 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark' just with a harder edge to it than that film.

We then finish off the last hour or so back in 1994 which I can't go into too much detail without fully spoiling the twist but I will say that it more or less ends the trilogy in a satisfying if predictable way and even leaves you on yet another cliffhanger if you watch the end credits. Overall, I don't have as much to say about '1666' as the others, mainly due to feeling like a big step down from the previous entry. I do love the final confrontation back in 1994 during the second half but the flashback sequence aside from a notably gruesome moment you can see briefly in the photo above just felt like a chore to sit through.

As a whole, the 'Fear Street Trilogy' was a fun homage to horror films of the 80s and 90s while keeping the spirit of R.L. Stine's work in there as well as some great practical gore and visual effects. I do recommend you watch even if it overall has some problems I'm sure most can overlook for some cheap fun.

'1666': C

Trilogy: B+

'Fear Street: 1978' is a merciless and brutal slasher throwback

 

 Now were onto part 2 of the 'Fear Street' trilogy, this time taking place at a summer camp in the late 70's where the curse of Sarah Feir is further fleshed out. Whereas the first entry was an homage to 'Scream', this one is a throwback to the classic slasher era films such as 'Friday the 13th' and 'Sleepaway Camp'. Even with the film owing a lot to those cult classics, it manages to stand on its own as a brutal modern slasher with a mean streak. Kudos to the filmmakers for pulling no punches and giving us some truly nasty kills and a lot of them involving children which takes some balls.

But the carnage candy isn't the only thing that '1978' improves on from the last film, but it also a lot of issues I had with the story, pacing, and characters. We are given a much more fleshed out world that makes '1994' easier to piece together almost to the point where I feel that maybe they should've shown this one first? But the problem there comes from the opening and ending scenes which continue from where the first film left off which would confuse you if you hadn't seen it. The story so far works better if you were to see the 1978 flashback scenes and then the 1994 scenes so maybe a fan edit will show up out there at some point.

Last time I made a point to criticize the choice of using music throughout, with a lot of it not even being accurate to the time the story took place. Here we have a bit of an improvement with a lot of the music shown to be a part of the story's world such as on 8-Track and Cassette players so it didn't quite annoy me as much. Marco Beltrami returns to score again and like before it's that classic style if you're a fan of 'Scream' like me so no problems there. 

Overall, I'm genuinely surprised how much I've been hooked to this trilogy so far and cannot wait for next week's finale. Don't let R.L. Stine's name fool you these are classic slasher flicks and ones I think most horror fans will get at least a fun afternoon out of them. '1978' amps up the gore, the fun, and the overall story of the Shadyside curse that could become a franchise in the making if this level of quality keeps up.

A

 

To read my review of part 1 click HERE.

'Fear Street: 1994' is a Fun Homage to 90's Horror

 

'Fear Street: 1994' is part one in a trilogy of films from Netflix, with each new entry arriving one week at a time. This first entry is a loving homage to not only Stine's style of horror but it's filled with blood-soaked kills and fun throwbacks to slasher classics such as 'Scream'. Don't let the author's name fool you: this is NOT a film for the younger crowd, it's a hard-R horror film with some brutal kills and a real nasty dire tone throughout.

The film's love of 'Scream' is most obvious in its opening moments, which apes the infamous Drew Barrymore opening and even some exact camera angles. It's clear from this opening that mid-western director Leigh Janiak has an obvious love for the genre and seems to be quite knowledgeable with even some obscure horror references being thrown in here. If you're a fan of slasher films, this is a decent addition with some amazing gore and even more surprising, the majority of it is practical making them much more effective (one standing out in particular which I won't spoil here).

There are issues I have here however starting with the music. A personal pet peeve of mine is when a film is a period piece and they mostly remind us of it by playing music from that era on a constant loop. It was one of my main criticisms with 'Cruella' as well as I feel it doesn't immerse the viewer into the world but is just distracting and in the case of 'Fear Street' it's annoying because the first half of the movie just doesn't stop with it until the killers show up. Not only that, but most of the discography didn't come out until after 1994 which is something I figured out with a simple Google search and it feels a bit lazy.

The biggest issue I have here is that it feels a bit too similar to the 2019 adaptation of 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark' which also featured a supernatural force using various entities to take revenge on a town that has dark secrets. I will say that if you felt that film didn't push the envelope enough you'd probably enjoy 'Fear Street' more as it doesn't pull any punches and while that does make it stand on its own along with some other obvious differences, I can't ignore the similarities that are there.

'Fear Street: 1994' is not a bad movie but it's somewhat difficult to review it on its own as it's a clear setup for the other two films and leaves some questions and holes that normally would be negatives as they seem to go nowhere. However without seeing the whole trilogy, it's unfair to really consider these factors against it as of now. As a standalone slasher throwback, it's fun, gruesome, and has some really colorful characters and the screenplay is very well done especially for a slasher even if it takes a bit much from more popular fare. 

B

The 'Fear Street Trilogy' is available only on Netflix. Part 2 arrives tomorrow, July 9th and Part 3 on July 16th. The films are directed by Leigh Janiak and are based upon the novels by R.L. Stine.