Streets ahead
Anytime a film franchise announces it’s pre-filming multiple entries, I get suspicious. Alarm bells go off. Is this TV? Why commit to two or three movies at once, especially in a compressed time frame? Why not get one just right? It has the stink of quantity over quality, as if we should be pleased with the mere existence of lots of a movie. Take your time and get one thing right. Don’t make something just to make it. (Uh, don’t read too far into this regarding my daily streak of reviews in April-May.)
Thus, I stayed away from the trilogy of Fear Street movies (originally planned for theatrical release, but dumped to streaming due to COVID), even with encouraging reviews. I didn’t trust them. It had “cinematic universe” musk to it, an aim explicitly confirmed by producers. Per director Leigh Janiak: The Fear Street films, loosely adapted from the R.L. Stine teen horror book series, are a “hybrid of traditional television content and movies.” Yawn. But with a fourth Fear Street hitting streaming this year and a deeper appreciation for frothy slashers than I had in 2021, I figured now was the time take the plunge.
Lo and behold, Fear Street: 1994, the first in the trilogy (with 1978 and 1666 to follow), is actually quite solid. Janiak executes the nuts and bolts of slasher movies and thrillers better than plenty of others who give the genre a try. The stalking is excellent and decently suspenseful, the plotting and characterization remarkably strong for a genre known for keeping its teens as personality-free sacks of flesh to be stabbed. Heck, by the end of the film I could list at least a couple of character traits and flaws for all six teens in the ensemble, a rare feat.
Now that I’ve seen the first entry, I better understand the value proposition of having each entry set in a different time period — the period flavor. Fear Street: 1994 drowns the presentation in mid-90s production details: fashion, haircuts, color schemes, lighting choices, slang, soundtrack, etc. It’s all window dressing, but it’s satisfying window dressing. The music, in particular, calls attention to itself: I tend to love over-the-top needle drops, so I got a major kick out of the soundtrack. (The “Creep” marching band bus ride – chef’s kiss.) I acknowledge, and also reject, the idea that the needle drops might be too tacky — for me, that’s the fun. If I had to call out one aspect of the story that did not feel organic to the ‘90s, it would be the central queer romance: The ‘90s I lived through had a lot more negative stereotypes and normalized slurs against queer couples, but nobody here seems to think twice about it.
(Quick sidebar regarding coverage of this film: Several reviews I’ve read complain that the film doesn’t feel like a movie from the ‘90s, which, I agree with… But was that ever the goal? This is not a tribute trying to pass as a film from its title era the way X tries to be a ’70s B-movie; it’s a stylized period piece, but in 2020’s cinematic framework. So, no, it doesn’t recreate the storytelling and tone of, like, Jason Goes to Hell, but why would you want it to? Also, given that Part Three is set in the 1600s, I’m not sure historical genre mimicry is the trilogy’s organizing principle.)
In proper slasher tradition, Fear Street: 1994 opens with a standalone murder sequence as Shadyside mall bookstore clerk (Maya Hawke) gets sliced up by a masked co-worker before he’s gunned down by the local sheriff (Ashley Zukerman). This is just another day in Shadyside, the cursed murder capital of America, in contrast with its eerily perfect neighbor town, Sunnyvale. (Think horrorfied Pawnee vs. Eagleton from Parks and Rec.)
Enter Deena (Kiana Madeira), a grumpy Shadyside teen nursing a breakup with her ex Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), who recently moved across the border to live a more hetero-friendly, upsacle existence in Sunnyvale. After a brawl at a high school football game and a subsequent car chase and accident, Deena, Sam, and their friends — including Deena’s conspiracy-minded brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.), druggy comic relief Simon (Fred Hechinger), and snarky cheerleader Kate (Julia Rehwald) — realize they’ve stumbled into the middle of an undead murder spree linked to a centuries-old witch legend that might explain Shadyside’s bad luck.
Given the percentage of recent slashers that are high-concept (too many to list, including Freaky and Totally Killer) in some regard or else overtly comedic (Hell of a Summer), Fear Street: 1994 is refreshing in its simplicity. It’s merely a competent supernatural teen slasher. No meta sleights of hand, no loopy plots transplanted from other famous movies, no genre subversions, no grief-tinted subtext. Just a cursed town, a pile of bodies, a teen ensemble, and some gnarly kills. (Watch out for that bread slicer.) That the film delivers all of this with decent style and effective writing, without feeling like it’s pandering or bored with itself, is an achievement.
The one big flaw here is the runtime. The film clocks in at 108 minutes, which is outrageous for a light slasher. This should cap out at 85 minutes, maybe 91 if you’re really cooking. The expected peek-a-boo scare in the film’s final scene turns into a bonus act that serves as a sequel hook. The flabbiest parts come in the middle act and just before the climax, when the characters slow things down to talk through their feelings and lore-dump about the witch. And yet, the writing is sharp enough to keep it from grinding to a halt. I was pretty hooked; the slow pace is not a movie-ruining flaw by any stretch.
The cast is solid throughout. Kiana Madeira and Olivia Scott Welch are winsome scream queens in the lead, with Welch offering a wounded, coiled performance as the cursed Samantha. Maya Hawke leaves a fun impression in her Drew Barrymore–style cold open death. But by far the best in show is Fred Hechinger, who is absolutely hysterical as a self-absorbed teen boy with a few sensational line readings. Hechinger has been the minor breakout from this cast (in fact, starring in a slasher from this year, Hell of a Summer), and it’s not hard to see why.
Fear Street: 1994 ultimately a fun film and a satisfying one, with a lot more in its favor than working against it. That does not automatically make the film earn a recommendation, of course; a movie is more than just a ledger of its strengths and weaknesses. And if you zoom out, Fear Street: 1994 never really finds a major reason for existence… other than, I suppose, its role in launching a series. So the film has a whiff of obligation to its construction, like the pilot of a TV show holding back its best ideas. But it works, you know? It’s one the better slashers I’ve seen from the past five years, so it’s a success, just a modest one. A pleasant surprise, but not a hidden classic.
That said, if the goal was to get me intrigued enough to click “next episode,” then mission accomplished. Janiak’s confident staging and writing are enough to earn my buy-in. Fear Street: 1994 is a throwback slasher, light on sexual fear or frenzy, that reminds you of how fun the formula can be when it doesn’t try to outsmart the tropes.
Is It Good?
Good (5/8)
Dan is the founder and head critic of The Goods. Follow Dan on Letterboxd. Join the Discord for updates and discussion.