In 2021, when Netflix dropped the three-part movie event that was the Fear Street films, I was delightfully surprised with how fantastic they ended up being. Full of style and lore, they were a fantastic homage to slasher movies from different eras while carving out its own style and identity. When the streamer announced that there would be more Fear Street films I was beyond excited to dive back into this world…Then I watched Prom Queen and any excitement I had for this franchise was slashed faster than most of the nonexistent characters.
The story of the film is simple: Shadyside High’s 1988 prom queen election becomes deadly for underdog Lori as candidates are targeted by a masked killer. Yes, Fear Street: Prom Queen is an inbetweenquel taking place between Fear Street: 1978 and Fear Street: 1994. However, the film does little to add really anything of significance to the amazing lore of the first three films.
This movie is decidedly worse in every way imaginable: the kills are over the top and shot with zero style, the characters are severely underbaked, and the story is overly simplistic and predictable.
While the original fear street films lovingly paid homage to past slashers, Prom Queen feels like a cheap knock-off of everything it is trying to emulate. A modern film trying to put it’s own spin on a classic 80s slasher with nothing to say and no style to offer. The direction is the scariest part of this movie. It’s just dull, uninspired and boring.
The first three movies had some of the most gruesome and visually unique kills in a slasher movie paired with fantastic tension to keep you engaged in the moments. The kills here just happen, choosing to focus on shock over substance but when you quickly dispatch characters, we have no care or concern and everything just falls flat.
I want to talk about how weak the character work is but I am honestly struggling to remember anything of significance from any character other than the film’s lead. These are less characters and more like living props being maneuvered through scenes. I don’t think there is a performance that is offensively bad but there isn’t one that is particularly good either. There is nothing here to work with.
Fear Street: Prom Queen feels like one of those classic situations where they took a script and slapped a franchise name on it just to profit off the IP. This feels so far removed from everything that came before and I am worried with the direction these movies are heading in.
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