‘Fear Street Part One: 1994’ Review: A Flawed but Fun Throwback
In the world of throwback movies, the 90s hasn’t really been touched all that much. With the 80s done to death at this point, films need to start looking at other periods. That’s why Netflix’s Fear Street Part One: 1994 was an interesting idea. Based on the stories from R.L. Stine, Netflix has decided to produce a trilogy of films around the Fear Street Series. Part one takes place in 1994, part two in 1978 and part three in 1666.
If part one was a disaster, that wouldn’t be great for Netflix as all three movies are already done with production. In fact, part two is already out as of the writing of this review. Fortunately, the first film in the trilogy is mostly successful.
The film is about a group of teenagers in a small town that disturbs a witch’s grave and now she’s sending her evil minions to kill the main girl who was responsible. Without getting into too many plot details, the cast of characters is pretty lackluster. The lead girl Deena played by Kiana Madeira doesn’t come off as particularly likable. She’s in a lesbian relationship with Sam Fraser played by Olivia Scott. Much of the film is about their relationship drama but it’s not particularly interesting. There are plenty of characters who come and go but none of them stand out much.
Where the fun comes from in this film is the horror set-pieces. There are some good gore scenes and genuinely surprising deaths that happen along the way. The plot gets pretty silly towards the end but it works with the tone set early on in the movie.
The one thing I really hated was how they set up part two in the end. It was really strangely done and made the movie end on a sour note. With all that said, Fear Street Part One: 1994 is a solid little horror film from Netflix. Is it the best horror movie of the year? Absolutely not, but it’s a successful attempt at a throwback slasher movie.
