I previously reviewed the three entries in the ‘Fear Street‘ Netflix horror film individually, but I thought I would tackle them individually since they all share the same plot. Directed by Leigh Janiak, they are based on a series of stories by R.L. Stine.

In 1994, Deena Johnson (Kiana Madeira) is having drama with her ex Sam (Olivia Scott Welch). She, her friends Kate (Julia Rehwald), and Simon (Fred Hechinger) are also discussing a murder that they think is the work of local urban legend Sarah Fier, a witch. Deena intentionally causes an accident that lands Sam in the hospital and soon, more bodies pile up with Sarah getting blamed. With the help of Deena’s brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.), they figure out that there is a connection with Christine Berman (Gillian Jacobs). She tells of the story of a 1978 massacre at a summer camp and eventually, the true story of Sarah from 1666. Deena works with her friends to stop the murders but avoids Sheriff Nick Goode (Ashley Zukerman), who has a mysterious agenda.

My complaint about this film is pretty straightforward. The characters are incredibly unlikeable and do little to gain my sympathy. In fact, the background characters garnered more empathy since I did not know them more so than the protagonists. All of the main characters are stupid teenagers who are kind of terrible people. Perverts, thieves, drug dealers, and jerks round out this cast, same as its predecessor. In fact, if Deena had not have pulled the prank that landed Sam in the hospital, the entire incident could have been avoided.

Now, the first film did have a solid plot, but it got lazier with each entry with the final film being especially lazy. The first two parts had such a big deal out of Fier’s severed hand only for it to be completely forgotten about in the conclusion. It had one cameo in the beginning and then it is never mentioned again. It was like the writers just forgot about it. Of course, they also shoe-horned in this twist that fell back on the typical “straight white guy” is mean instead of having something meaningful to have in the conclusion.

That is not to say that the acting is bad. Everyone does a good job with their respective roles, but you can tell they are just trying to work with what they have. Sadie Sink was the best actress in the cast and she does a better job than the actress portraying the adult version of the character. I have a feeling we will be hearing more from her.

One caveat to that is the double casting in 1666 was a little off-putting. While I know the reason is they did not have a good enough budget to make it worthwhile, they should have done a better job at making the cast look like the two different characters they were portraying and stop them from having very bad British accents.

Bottom line, it is best to skip the Fear Street trilogy. It is a lesson in lazy casting, lazy storytelling, and while the first film had a decent plot, the unlikeable characters make it a turn-off.

PARENTAL CONCERNS: Strong gory violence, Disturbing images, Sexual content

FAVORITE QUOTE: It began as a prank… and ended in murder.

Check out the trailer below:

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Tell me if there is a comic book, movie, or novel you would like me to review. While you are at it, check out my reviews of Crawl and the classic horror flick Night of the Living Dead. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more posts like this one.

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