FEAR STREET: PROM NIGHT

Fear Street: Prom Queen is a simple yet effective slasher featuring gruesome kills, a killer soundtrack and lots of thrills that creates a stylistic and entertaining throwback to the slasher films of the 1980s.

R. L. Stine has been terrifying audiences for years, largely in the written form with his ever popular Goosebumps and Fear Street novel series. With the great success of these books, they have naturally become a desirable property for Hollywood to adapt. While the younger, more family friendly Goosebumps has seen great success on both the big and small screen, Chernin Entertainment and Netflix have been behind the best Stine adaptation to date with the Fear Street film series. Starting off as an ambitious film trilogy telling one story over three films, with each film set in a different time period and emulating a different style of horror film, it became an instant hit for the streamer back in the summer of 2021. Naturally, this led to more Fear Street films set within the fictional town of Shadyside being ordered, with the first of multiple future entries in the series being based on Stine’s The Prom Queen. Paying homage to the slashers such as Prom Night, Halloween and the most infamous prom centric film in the horror genre Carrie, writer and director Matt Palmer creates a fun, gory and quickly paced slasher in Fear Street: Prom Queen that not only captures the 1980s aesthetic with ease, but delivers countless entertaining kill sequences that are bound to delight slasher fans.

Given the time setting of the film, the design of the movie plays an important part in telling the story, and between the costuming, set design and music, there is not an element of the atmosphere of the film that does not fully transport audiences back to the 1980s. From the set decoration that brings to life the high school prom in the gymnasium and captures the student driven decoration that is appropriate to the time era, great costuming and hair and makeup work that captures styles of 1988, and the synthesizer musical score from The Newton Brothers that evokes a haunting retro feeling in every scene, everything comes together to create an immersive world for the killer to stalk and murder prom attendees. Energized by a killer soundtrack featuring classic hits such as “Gloria”, “Never Gonna Give You Up”, “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”, with one of these songs giving way to a fun dance off number, Palmer and his team are firing on all creative cylinders which makes watching Fear Street: Prom Queen feels like you have unearthed a time capsule.

Echoing the slasher films of the 1980s, there is a simplicity to the story of Fear Street: Prom Queen that works in the film’s favour. We meet our five potential prom queens days before the prom, given just enough back story to understand the dynamic amongst them as they each fall into a standard high school clique, before quickly moving into the fateful night of the prom. There is little to no background given about the killer themself, creating an unpredictable chaos as aside from knowing that their targets are the prom queens and their dates, you and the characters don’t know why they are being targeted or have any idea who is behind the mask. The screenplay throws in multiple potential subjects, such as the religious vice principal and her son who are not pleased with the behaviour at prom or the creepy janitor who always seems to be lurking around the corner among many others, keeping the audience on their toes as to the killer’s identity. When it comes to the reveal, it seems a little out of left field, but once firmly within the third act and the motive is revealed, everything falls into place and gives a truly exciting showdown to close out the film. In relation to the larger Fear Street universe, Palmer and his co-writer Dan McLeary sprinkle enough references to the preceding trilogy with Sarah Fier’s presence looming over the film at times, while the characterization of Shadyside and its neighbouring town Sunnyvale continue to keep the central ideas of the series alive. These references are never overpowering, but are used to remind audiences of the events of the other films just enough to situate this story within that same world at the same time as letting it stand on its own two feet.

Being a slasher film, the focus of the film are the kill sequences, and Palmer more than delivers. After the first kill which feels a little tame, Palmer quickly earns the film’s R rating with the madness he unleashes on the characters. Gory, brutal and sometimes shocking, the kills ingeniously use the school’s surroundings to create some truly terrifying moments that will have slasher fans giddy with glee as the killer picks off the It Girls one by one, most notably the classroom kill which goes from zero to one hundred so fast that your jaw will hit the floor with the gore and know that the rest of the film is going to be a blast from there on out. There is an emphasis on practical and makeup effects to bring to life the kills, creating a real sense of danger within the film and only relying on visual effects work when absolutely required, which once again echoes the slasher films Palmer is emulating in his film. It is these sequences that are without question the highlight of the film and are alone worth checking out, and everything else that Palmer and his team accomplish on top is just a bonus.

With the film being a slasher, many of the cast members are expendable bait for the killer, and while those cast members do their job perfectly, those bestowed with a larger role help to create a memorable watch. India Fowler makes for a strong final girl as Lori Granger, doing her best to channel her inner Jamie Lee Curtis to instill a strength within her character to lead the film. Fina Strazza captures the mean streak of Tiffany Falconer, the school’s queen bee who will stop at nothing to become prom queen as well as her insecurities, making for a fun antagonist for the high school drama plots when the film is not focusing on the masked killer, while Suzanna Son does a great job of capturing that best friend energy for Lori as Megan. But, it is the adult cast who stand out amongst the cast. Katherine Waterston is delightfully zany and over the top as Nancy Falconer, the mother trying to live the prom glory she missed through her daughter, creating some truly hilarious moments throughout the film. Lili Taylor relishes in the religious and traditional ways of Vice Principal Dolores Breckenridge, wearing her character’s judgemental stance like a badge of honour, which is a fun addition to the film. And you can never go wrong with Chris Klein, who captures the essence of the high school teacher not wanting to deal with these hooligans, while also wanting to enjoy the bad streak all the teenagers are wanting.

Solidifying itself as a strong horror franchise that not only knows how to entertain, but as a series that creatively embraces the various horror subgenres with a reverence for the films that have built the genre, Fear Street: Prom Queen is great entertainment from start to finish. While it does not reach the heights of the preceding trilogy of films, director Matt Palmer has crafted a film that pays homage to the slasher films of the 1980s with gloriously bloody kills and a stellar design that transports viewers back to 1988. Never for a second taking itself too seriously and instead focusing on recreating the 1980s and delivering shocking, bloody and wild kills, Fear Street: Prom Queen is true horror fun from start to finish that offers effective production design and costuming, a good cast with a scene stealing turn from Katherine Waterston and all the slasher madness that fans could want from such a film.