Year of Release: 2021
Director: Leigh Janiak
Starring: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Julia Rehwald, Gillian Jacobs, Ashley Zukerman, Randy Havens, Fred Hechinger, Matthew Zuk, Michael Chandler, Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Lacy Camp, McCabe Slye, Jordana Spiro, Elizabeth Scopel, Jeremy Ford, Patrick Roper, Todd Allen Durkin, Kevin Waterman, Ryan Simpkins, Ted Sutherland, Lloyd Pitts, Emily Probst, Noah Garrett
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
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Synopsis and Review:
The "Fear Street" trilogy comes to its closure with the chapter taking place in 1666. The focus of the narrative on this chapter is Sarah Fier, and how she found herself with the reputation of witchcraft. Deena who is trying desperately to save her girlfriend from the legacy of the curse, views all the events which occurred to Sarah Fier through her own perspective. She comes to realize that Sarah, who lives with her father and younger brother in the small community of Union, is a hardworking sweet girl, who is in love with the daughter of the pastor. As events take place, the suspicion of witchcraft occur in the small town, and Sarah and Hannah are appointed as the guilty parties, because they thwarted some romantic advances from one of the men in town. Sarah tries to use a forbidden book from a widow in town, long rumored to have a connection to the dark forces, only to realize she's been murdered, and the book has been taken. She eventually finds solace in the good Solomon's house, only to realize he's the instigator behind all the events, and he himself has carved a deadly arrangement with the dark forces. Back in 1994, Deanna realizes Solomon and his family, which includes the current sheriff, have been carrying out this type of arrangement for centuries, making Sunnyvale prosper, while Shadyside constantly struggles. She, Josh, Ziggy and a few other friends, set out a plan in order to break the curse, save Sam and restore some normalcy to both cities.
The closing chapter of this trilogy, takes the action to the 17th century, and tries to demonstrate how ignorance and religious self righteousness can wreak havoc and destruction in communities. The director tries to capture elements from M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village", but also Nicholas Hytner's "The Crucible", in order to portray the dynamics of the small community, but for the most part, this part of the film feels somewhat insipid, lacking both a grittier perspective, but also some of the humor which peppered the second chapter and made it work so well. Where this part of the narrative could have dealt, both with the gothic aspect of the story, and the paranoia surrounding false accusations brought against young women, it mostly bypasses all that, and attempts to clarify the fate of Sarah's life, by uncovering the villainous figure behind it all. It is somewhat of a simplification of Sarah's journey, but the trilogy wraps itself up, inexplicably setting the ground up for subsequent films. Most of the issues which can be pointed out with the previous films, namely the fact they lack a more defined point of view, more character development, and generally speaking look somewhat generic, remain. While not by any means terrible features, they're ultimately forgettable.
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