'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.
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