Year of Release: 2025
Director: Matt Palmer
Starring: India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, Katherine Waterston, Lili Taylor, Chris Klein, Ariana Greenblatt, David Iacono, Darrin Baker, Ella Rubin, Rebecca Ablack, Ilan O'Driscoll, Ryan Rosery, Damian Romeo, Dakota Taylor, Luke Kimball
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2
Watch it on Netflix
Synopsis and Review
Following the successful three first films from the "Fear Street" series, originally authored by R.L. Stine, and adapted to film by Leigh Janiak (and her co-writers), Netflix has released another installment, with a few more apparently in the pipeline for development and production. The narrative which takes place in 1988, follows a series of high school seniors who are about to celebrate their prom. The main character is Lori Granger, who is a bit of an outcast, due to rumors about her mother murdering her own father. The popular girls, aptly titled the "Wolfpack", consisting of Tiffany Falconer, Melissa Mckendrick, Debbie Winters, and Linda Harper, are all vying for the crown and title of Prom Queen. Things start taking a dark turn when Christy Renault, one of the seniors who is also a pot dealer, is stabbed and killed by a mysterious assassin. The following evening as the prom celebration begins, and as Lori stars to feel more confident in her chances, Tiffany tries to sabotage her, while the pile of corpses star increasing, as the killer is in the premises, and is killing the students vying for the crown.
Co-writer and director Matt Palmer's prior directorial endeavor, "Calibre", gave him enough creed to tackle this episode of "Fear Street", however and unlike the prior films of the series, this one has very meager results, and to add insult to injury, it also feels amateurishly developed, and strangely underdeveloped. The creative team took cues from well known slasher films of the 80s such as Paul Lynch's "Prom Night" and even George Mihalka's "My Bloody Valentine", to name but a few, however and unlike these films, this episode of "Fear Street" seems to believe that relying on the grotesqueness of the death scenes, and their considerable gore, it provides for entertainment and for character establishment (as it turns out, it doesn't). The film attempts to be a cross between "Heathers" and "Halloween", however it never manages to retain the spirit of either one, since all the girls are strangely even more inert and lack any dimension when compared to what any of the characters of those films even minimally was able to establish. Sadly for this creative team, they failed to realize that giving some of these characters a different hairstyle, or a certain costume, doesn't render them more interesting or make them more compelling. It's a film that doesn't have any pretension, but one that could capitalize on having at least a sense of crescendo and momentum (they could have taken a cue and a few hints from Brian De Palma's classic "Carrie"). As is, the more established supporting actors such as the wonderful Lili Taylor and the fantastic Katherine Waterston, feel underused, whereas in the case of Chris Klein, if you blink, you'll literally forget he was in this film. The material is there to make a good homage to the slasher genre, in this case, it just needed a stronger point of view, and a deeper conviction from the creative team. It's ultimately a gore filled and rather humorless take on a genre that feels somewhat forgotten by all.
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