by Austen Terry, Contributing Writer
In 2021, Netflix released three Fear Street movies, a trilogy based on the R.L. Stine book series of the same name. The movies are set around the murderous events taking place in and around Shadyville. Now, four years later, Netflix decided to return to this well to see if there was any water left. Their newest movie, Fear Street: Prom Queen, has us return to Shadyville in a loosely connected sequel, but mostly a spinoff.
The film follows Lori Granger (India Fowler), who has grown up with the stigma that her mother, Rose Granger (Joanne Bowland), killed her father before prom. Lori decides to run for prom queen to finally clear the Granger name, despite Rose not being found guilty of the murder in the first place. Lori faces off against bad girls Christy (Ariana Greenblatt) and Tiffany (Fina Strazza), and Tiffany’s “Wolfpack,” to decide who will be Prom Queen 1988. When the candidates from Prom Queen begin to go missing, only Megan Rogers (Suzanna Son) notices, and tries to convince Lori that something sinister is happening.
Matt Palmer is in the director’s chair, and wrote the adapted screenplay alongside Donald McLeary. Though the tone is sets early that the film is its own thing, and not really connected to the others. The movie, though, is trying too hard to be Carrie crossed with Scream. Being set at prom and having a killer loose, the only twist is how long it takes people to realize there is a killer running around. The story has decent bones, but falls flat in building a connection. I had to actually look up the names of two girls from the Wolfpack because of how forgettable they are. A slasher in this degree has to have the big reveal as to who the killer is, and even that reveal isn’t all that shocking. The movie does have a few decent kills, but slashers can’t rely on good kills alone.
Thankfully, the leads work with what they have. Fowler and Son’s characters are friends, and they have pretty decent chemistry. Though it seems Strazza was told to crank up being a bully to an 11. There are too many awkward moments and dialogue pauses not to point out. The adult characters don’t even act like they are real people, just stereotypes of adults from slashers. Even the motivation of the killers is weak when put into perspective. At the end, the surprise isn’t all that shocking. Even the two dance numbers we see are forced.
Prom Queen doesn’t have enough redeemable moments to make it necessary. We have a sequel or spinoff, and despite being set in the same area, there are there callbacks. The original Fear Street didn’t break the mold on me, but I liked them well enough. Prom Queen just feels like the writers took several other better stories, cut out things that worked, and left out all the reasons why they worked. I know these movies are based on young adult novels, but you took four years to make this one, and there’s nothing great about it. There are better slashers from the past and modern day to check out. Fear Street: Prom Queen brings nothing new.
Rating: Didn’t Like It
Fear Street: Prom Queen is currently streaming on Netflix
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