Fear Street is a trilogy of films, released weekly by Netflix, that tell the history of a deep seeded rivalry between two towns, Sunnyvale and Shadyside, brought about from a centuries-spanning curse.  Legend has it that a young woman, Sarah Fier, was tried and hung as a witch, but before she died, she cursed the town and all its residents.  Taking place across three distinct periods: 1994, 1978, and 1666, Fear Street is full of gore and lore as all the dark secrets about the two towns bloody pasts are exhumed. 

Based off selections from the like-named book series by Goosebumps author R. L. Stine, the film trilogy ventures into far bolder territory than the young adult novellas ever dared.  It is what made these films such a surprising delight and so much fun to watch.  Leigh Janiak, with her history in television, does have one previous feature to her name, but she is no stranger to the horror genre.  Her work in television also came into play given the episodic release schedule of the three films and the interconnectedness of the stories. 

The first film, “1994” is a neon-soaked homage to the iconic slasher films of the decade.  It does a great job at setting the stage for the films to follow but can easily stand on its own merits – the only of the three that can say that, but it is due more to the structure of “1978” and “1666” and not a knock on the quality of those films.   

“1994” has the unenviable task of introducing us not only to the complicated world of Fear Street, but the large ensemble cast as well.  It does so with relative ease and never falls into the trap of being an exhibition dump.  Later, the scripts do find themselves taking the “Let me tell you what really happened” approach, however given the nature of the overarching story which Fear Street is seeking to tell, it does not feel out of place and these breaks are crafted in such a way that the action is never drawn to a halt. 

The series starts of at a breakneck pace and does not slow until the second act when the curse starts to show itself more directly to the teens.  As they begin their investigation, one of the most surprising things about “1994” begins to make itself clear to the audience; this will be brutal.  It is not so much the high body count that is shocking, but how Janiak and her production designers created a series of settings that are at once familiar, but also incredibly inventive in how they serve to provide the nightmarish mise en scene for some truly stomach-turning kills. 

For as well as “1994” begins, “1978” stumbles through a laborious first act.  This time, we are breaking down the classic summer camp slasher genre at the ominously named Camp Nightwing.  It has all the trappings of the genre that make it fun, but it is the most weighed down of the three films with its place in the greater narrative.  It not only needs to introduce us to the younger version of some of the adult characters from “1994,” but it also must work itself into the larger Sarah Fier narrative.   

Once it gets moving, it does have its enjoyable moments, and as it barrels into the third act it never lets up on the tension.  The final moments we spend in “1978,” similar to some of the final kills in “1994” are incredibly upsetting.  Despite all of this, “1978” runs just entirely too long and suffers the all-too-familiar fate that most traditionally released second installments do of having to connect to what came before while setting the stage for what comes next.   

The third installment brings us all the way back to 1666, and my favorite genre, folk horror.  We see many familiar faces as the cast from both “1994” and “1978” return to play the massive ensemble of puritan villagers.  This is a neat casting trick that admittedly works better on some of the characters than others, but it is never distracting.  It just helps to add some layers to the story and connect the past to the present. 

Folk horror is such a pleasure of mine, and “1666” really delivers on it.  While it is probably the least inventive of the three in so far as its reflection of genre and how it plays with our expectations, it absolutely excels at hitting the tonal timbre you want from these kinds of films.  While we do find out the truth of Sarah Fier, the standout moment to me was the gruesome reveal surrounding the sins of Pastor Miller, which up until this point, we only saw split-second flashes of his shadowy hulking frame standing at the pulpit. 

With the truth of Sarah Fier now known, we cut back to 1994 to try and end the curse.  Again, to the film’s credit, it uses the established lore and settings to create a climatic finale that feels fresh even through it is surrounded by a who’s who of horror movie slasher tropes.  Like “1978,” however, the finale runs a little too long because while the setup is incredibly fun to watch as the plan comes together, the law of diminishing returns rings true as we see the plan executed time and time again with little variation.   

Despite the gallons of blood the prop department undoubtedly went through, Fear Street ends very narratively clean with care taken to tie up any potential loose end.  Some of its monsters are underutilized, but I don’t think that the Fier arc could support a fourth film as the length of the trilogy had already stretched it quite thin. It was an incredibly unique trilogy in its week-to-week-to-week release pattern, and it worked.  It is not without its faults, but there is plenty to latch on to for fans of horror and it does an excellent job of putting its own signature on the familiar genres which it borrows heavily from.