One step at a time … goes the “Fear Street” reviews. The first installment of the trilogy, “Fear Street Part One: 1994,” sets up a horror mythos that clearly winks and nods to the slashers that came before: in this case “Scream,” with elements of “Friday the 13th,” tossed in.
Based on RL Stein’s work and partially written by him, “Fear Street Part One: 1994” is a teenage slasher film that screams to the teen horror lover in my soul.
The summer after sixth grade, my friend, Travis, had a birthday party in which his dad let all us 12-year-olds watch the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” then sleep outside in a tent on their farm. At midnight, his dad fired up a chainsaw then burst through our tent sending us in to near spastic, pubescent convulsions. It was glorious and memory I will cherish forever.
“Fear Street Part One: 1994” is reminiscent of that time. It is technically inappropriate for 12-year-olds, I suppose, with curse words and a little implied sex, plenty of blood, and slasher craziness, but it is exactly what preteens and teens need in their lives to usher in that sense of grown-up-ness.
I am hooked on “Fear Street” and cannot wait to watch the next two installments. It’s clever, acknowledges those that came before, connects to the nostalgia of the 1990s, all while giving moviegoers something new and interesting and exhilarating.
Clearly, the trilogy will continue the nods and buckets of blood and bits of sex and other teen-ness by referencing “Friday the 13th in the next film. Surely some girl will fall in the woods and be hacked to death. I should laugh or smile but I will knowing exactly what the creators are doing.
If you hate horror—slasher to be specific—the skip this. But if you dig the slasher genre and especially one that nods to those that came before, the “Fear Street” is right up your alley.
Available on Netflix
(By Chris Wilson)
