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Fear Street Part 1: 1994 Movie Review: A Tribute To 90s Slasher Films With Modern YA Twist
Fear Street Part 1: 1994 is a simple edge-of-the-seat fun horror that picked the best parts from the 90s and added a modern twist to make it relevant even for today's time.
Available
On:
Netflix
Duration:
107
minutes
Language:
English
Story: The film takes place in Shadyside, Ohio which is terrorized by an ancient evil responsible for a series of brutal murders that have plagued the town for centuries. After a series of brutal unexplained slayings in 1994, a group of teenagers take on an evil force to save one of their own.
Review: The film follows a group of teens in Shadyside, a town with a dark past, that most believe to be a fictional legend. Fear Street trilogy is set to be a tribute to the post Scream era that gave birth to the slasher genre, but in a YA space. The film reinvents the slasher concept with a gory script and teenage angst, similar to Stranger Things.
By the end, it is almost unbelievable that the makers turned the RL Stine inspired goofy murder mystery story aimed at younger teens, into an R-rated scary, and violent story that can be taken seriously by audience of a wider range.
FS94 begins with the tale of two cities, Sunnyvale and Shadyside. Sunnyvale is prosperous and flourishing, Shadyside is on the skids and going nowhere particularly good because of its dark past. The latter is a cursed city thanks to a witch called Sarah Frier, who is believed only to be a myth by many. Every few decades, someone from the Shadyside town, just snaps and turns on their family and friends attacking them to death, which has always been the official story. This is now the FS94 also begins, we meet a girl (Maya Hawke), among the last employed at the desolate Shadyside mall who gets killed by a man wearing a mask.
After a dozen similar slayings in the town, there are a few who suspect the town's dark past is to be blamed. One of them is Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr), a nerd who spends his time researching how the town's curse manifested over the years, exchanging instant messages over AOL. We are then introduced to other main characters of the film, Deena (Kiana Madeira), an angsty high school student who just split from girlfriend Sam. Meanwhile, Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) has moved to Sunnyvale and moved on with the school's jock.
The only people supporting Deena and her love-hate relationship towards Sam are her best friend Kathy (Julia Rehwald), a cheerleader with a side hustle in dealing drugs and Simon (Fred Hechinger), who is a good-humoured buddy who believes in having fun at all times.
The rest of the film follows the group as their get past their emotional wounds while pursued by supernatural killers, masked men and adults who fail to believe their story. One of the worst and the best part is, the members getting picked off one by one. While it was a common fate in the 90s horror and slasher films, it comes more as a shock in FS94.
Janiak and Phil Graziadei's script stays true to the pop culture influence of the time, and it also gives each character a rounded emotional dynamics to fall back on. It also has a well-balanced mix of paranormal mystery, queer romance and a talented cast that adds weight to the drama. The film is also refreshing because of its pure storyline without any social injustice at play, with a curse equal for all.
Overall, Fear Street Part 1: 1994 is a simple edge-of-the-seat fun horror that picked the best parts from the 90s and added a modern twist to make it relevant even for today's time.
