Greetings, and welcome back to October Horror Fest! Today, I watched a movie that has become an instant classic for me. It, and its trilogy, are widely beloved, and have one of the best horror stories I’ve ever seen. It’s funny, scary, and overall, absolutely amazing! It has references to so many other horror movies, and has everything to make a good horror movie inside of it. Just bear with me everyone. It’s SO good. Without further ado, sit back, relax, turn off the lights, grab some Candy and Popcorn, and let’s review…
Fear Street Part 1: 1994
Our film begins inside of the Rockin’ 90s-tastic Shadyside mall. If you guys want a comparison, compare it to Starcourt Mall from Stranger Things. AND SPEAKING OF STRANGER THINGS, we meet Heather, played by Maya Hawke. Heather finishes up her shift at her book store, and is met by her friend/romantic interest, Ryan Torres. The two goof off for a little while, until Heather goes to close up. Inside the bookstore, we see a dark shape bolt past her. Heather is concerned, although she tries to just yell at the person. SUDDENLY, a man in a cloaked skeleton costume stabs Heather in the stomach. She runs and runs, but it isn’t enough. The Cloaked Skeleton appears behind her, and stabs her over and over in the back. This entire moment is meant to be a homage to Scream, with a huge star (Maya Hawke, Drew Barrymore) as a fake-out final girl killed in the first few minutes. As Heather dies, she rips the skeleton mask off. It’s Ryan. Before she passes, Sheriff Nick Goode shoots him in the head. Both of the teens die, as we cut to our opening credits.
I know I always make a big deal of opening credits in horror movies, but guys, these ones were actually INSANE. Like, SO GOOD. They tell the entire story of the trilogy, and I beg you to watch them. In these opening credits, some exposition is revealed. Let’s get into it quick, shall we? Shadyside is considered by many to be cured, being named the Murder Capital of the United States. Tragedies are commonplace. However, the sister town of Shadyside, Sunnyvale, is the polar opposite. It’s safe, prosperous, successful, and literally everything Shadyside isn’t. The teens of Shadyside believe their town is cursed due to a witch named Sarah Fier, who cursed the town in 1666 before she was executed.
With all that juicy lore out of the way, let’s begin. Our film truly begins with a young girl writing a breakup letter. She keeps crossing out all the ways she wants to say she hates her girlfriend, but she can’t find the words. Her name is Deena Johnson, and she is our main character. On the T.V., we see a news report on yesterday’s killings. We cut downstairs, where we meet Josh, Deena’s brother. He’s ADDICTED to finding out the history of his town, and trying to find out the mysteries of Sarah Fier. He’s on the early internet chat room called Shadyside killers, where he talks about the past murders in the town. He swears that Sarah Fier took over another Shadysider.
Our pair heads to school, where they walk through the hallways. Josh listens to some hard 90s rock, as he sees Kate, his crush and a friend of Deena’s. Deena, on the other hand, sees couples literally everywhere. Kate, Deena, and Simon (her friends), all go to the bathroom later in the day. Written on all the stalls in red paint is Sarah Fier’s curse. “She reaches from beyond the grave to make good men her wicked slaves. She’ll take your blood, she’ll take your hand, she’ll follow you until you’re dead…”
The friends basically have fun with the poem, and talk to Deena about it. They laugh about the murder of Heather, but Deena doesn’t. Sam and Kate sell drugs in hopes of making enough money to leave the town forever. That night, Deena and Kate have to go to Sunnyvale for the band, as they have a football game against Sunnyvale. Deena, however, is nervous to see Sam. She’s the ex-girlfriend from the beginning, and never told anyone about them dating. She moved to Sunnyvale, and that was a betrayal. Before the two girls set out to Sunnyvale, a student drags a mock dead Heather doll across the floor in a direct reference to Scream once again. I LOVED IT.
At Shadyside High, a vigil takes place for Heather, and all those who died in the mall killings. While driving into Shadyside, the rotten nature of Shadyside turns into the prosperity of Sunnyvale. As Will Goode, Nick Goode’s brother and Mayor of Sunnyvale, talks at the vigil, Sam comes into contact with Deena once again. The two stare at each other, really not knowing what to say. This is, until, they begin to fight about their breakup. It gets ugly, until one of the Sunnyvale football players makes an insult about Shadyside’s constant tragedies. One of Shadyside’s players hears it, and it gets aggressive.
The beautiful candle-lit vigil descends into chaos, as a huge fight breaks out. Sam and Deena’s argument concludes, when in a hilarious moment, Kate gets punched in the face, and we immediately cut to her in the bus with an ice pack. She rallies the Shadysiders on the bus, insulting Sunnyvale. It gets more aggressive with the patriotic High Schoolers, until Deena notices a car outside. It’s Peter, Sam’s new boyfriend, and Sam is inside with him. He’s tailgating the bus, and is throwing bottles at it. The car keeps getting closer, until Deena goes to pour a large cooler of fruit punch onto it. The plan is going fine, until Deena’s nose suddenly begins to bleed. The entire cooler falls out onto the car, and it goes careening into the woods. All the teens live, but are injured. Sarah crawls out of the car, and into a patch of red plants inside the forest. What is this place???
Sarah stands up, when blood from her nose falls onto the plants. Suddenly, she sees a vision of Sarah Fier. It’s horrifying. Deena gets out of the bus to get Sarah, and it’s obvious she still cares for her. The teens all get out of the ditch and head home, ignoring the questioning from Sheriff Goode. Peter sizes up Deena, saying she’s dead. The following night arrives, and Deena’s been in her bed basically the entire day. This is until she goes downstairs, and sees the news. Ryan has been identified as the killer of the mall massacre, and was just a normal guy until he seemed to “snap”. The door rings, and Deena screams for Josh to get it. However, he doesn’t. Deena calls Sam to check on her, but her mother picks up, insulting her. Deena’s MAD. She goes outside, and no one runs the doorbell. However, she sees the Cloaked Skeleton in the yard. Deena immediately thinks it’s Peter, but he bolts, and begins stalking her, holding a knife. The Cloaked Skeleton (let’s call him by his official name of Skull Mask, it’s easier but slightly less cool), leaves.
We cut to Simon and Kate, babysitting. They hear a noise, and go into the living room. Skull Mask is there, and he’s digging through the clothes. The teens are obviously terrified, as Simon tries to cover his shirt which is still covered in Sam’s blood from the night before. The Group all convene at Deena’s house, where they try to find out why Skull Mask “visited” them all. The group heads to the hospital, where they try to just ask Sam herself why “Peter” was stalking them. Deena gets in, and sees Sam. She’s still in bed, when Peter walks in. Deena still thinks he’s Skull Mask, and they argue.
Downstairs, Josh has his moment in the spotlight, using his hacking skills to make a vending machine spit out all of its snacks for free. AND KATE THINKS IT’S COOL AND CUTE. YEAH JOSH! Back with Deena, the scene is much more tense. The girls argue and argue, and say some horrible things to each other, until Peter is stabbed right in front of them. It’s Skull Mask. The girls bolt, and he chases. The group runs, and in a struggle, Skull Mask’s mask falls off. In an absolute shock, it’s Ryan Torres, still with the bullet hole in his head. The group jumps into the ambulance, and hits the gas. The girls go to Sheriff Goode, and of course, he doesn’t believe a word they say. At the same time. Simon hops out of the car, and walks through the street. He hears singing, and sees a very pretty girl with a beautiful voice. He walks toward her, but the girl lifts her head, revealing a NASTY scar. She attacks Simon with a Razorblade, and they struggle. Ryan is almost killed, until Deena lights up the girl with bullets. HOWEVER, just a few seconds later, she stands back up. HOW!?!?!
The group reconvenes at Deenas, where tThey begin to discuss everything that happened. Simon basically breaks down, saying that the girl was HOT, and that she was normal until he got attacked with the razorblade. It was OLD. But, Josh’s knowledge activates. He asks if she was singing…
Josh runs to his board of all the past killers, and reveals Ruby Lane. She killed her boyfriend and friends in 1965, and then killed herself. She was the same girl that attacked Simon. Skull Mask is the same way. Josh keeps going back and back, talking about all the Shadyside killers over the years, and how they all relate back to Sarah Fier. Normal people turn into psychopaths. In the kitchen, Sarah and Deena begin to make up. But Josh doesn’t stop. He says how Sarah Fier cursed the town. “Before the witch’s final breath, she found a way to cheat her death. By cutting off her cursed hand, she kept her grip upon our land. She reaches beyond the grave, to make good men her wicked slaves…”
It’s true. Shadyside is connected to Sarah Fier, and all the killers are connected. And then, we come to a shocking revelation. It’s Sam. She saw the witch, remember? The group all heads back out into the woods, where the red plants are. Sarah retraces her steps, and finds exactly where her blood touched. It’s Sarah Fier’s bones. YEAH. The group panics, and tries to rebury the bones. But, we now know why the killers are after the group. They want Sarah. They want her blood. Her blood is the most important thing. Remember when Skull Mask went after the group? It’s because they all had Sarah’s blood on them. That’s why all the killers are back. Three were resurrected. Ruby Lane, The Camp Nightwing Killer (who wields an axe), and Skull Mask…
Suddenly, Nightwing comes running out of the forest, but bolts RIGHT PAST Josh and runs at Sam, where she gets another vision of Sarah. They bolt into the ambulance, where the revelation of Sam’s blood is revealed to the entire group. In a last ditch effort to get the killers away, they all head to the school, and get all of Sam’s blood off of them. And, a very “interesting” scene happens. Sam and Deena go to the bathroom, and fully make up, kissing and breaking Rule #1. But wait, there’s more Josh and Kate head into the bathroom as well, and make out. Yup! Eventually, after this, the true plan starts. Sam cuts her hand, and the group uses her blood to lure all the killers into the bathroom. It works!!! Ruby Lane, Nightwing, and Skull Mask end up following the blood trails. They get locked in the bathroom, and Josh rigged it up to set on fire. He activates the trap, and the killers burn…
Does it work? You probably know the answer. The group head inside, and in a scene just like Stranger Things, the killers build themselves back up from goo. It didn’t work, and Kate comes up with a cold, but effective idea. Sam has to die. She’s the target. Deena immediately protests, but Sam actually accepts her fate. She doesn’t want the group to die for her. She’s ready to sacrifice herself. She runs outside, and waits for the killers. They all begin running out to her, until she is pulled back into the room. Josh, the absolute goat, has an idea. There’s another way. Outside, the Camp Nightwing Killer beats at the door with his axe, as we learn about C. Berman. She’s the key. She was at Camp Nightwing in 1978, and she survived. She claims she saw the witch, and she TECHNICALLY died at the massacre, but she was resuscitated. She lived due to this. Remember… “She’ll take your blood, she’ll take your head. She’ll follow you… until you’re dead.” That’s the plan. Deena tries to make a call to C. Berman, and leaves a message. She isn’t there. Nightwing eventually gets in, as the group bolts out the window.
The NEW plan is made, and it involves doing the same thing to Sam. Kate and Simon, who are experienced with drugs, plan to have Sam have a controlled overdose. The group ends up at the pharmacy in the supermarket, and the climax and plan begin. But, before this happens, Nick Goode goes to his brother’s house, dropping a note inside. “It’s happening again.”
At the supermarket, the plan happens. Sam has to take three piles of pills, but HAS to take a five minute interval between pile two and three, or else she will die completely. After she is safely killed, the group will use Epipens to pump adrenaline into Sam, reviving her. The plan is ready, as Josh, Kate, and Simon paint their shirts with Sam’s blood. It’s a-go. As a good luck moment, Simon and Josh have a heart to heart, which is really, really touching. And, Kate kisses him. The plan begins, as Sam takes the first group of pills. The killers begin their attack, as Sam takes the second group of pills. But, it gets bad. Skull Mask appears behind the girls, and the third group of pills gets completely spilled everywhere. Kate appears, and uses fire to burn Skull Mask, as Deena decides on Plan B. Drowning in a lobster tank.
Skull mask begins to attack Kate, and it’s bad, really bad. He gets the upper hand, and in a heartbreaking and gut wrenching moment, Kate’s head is shredded, and she is killed. Deena begins to drown Sam, as Simon is also killed right in front of Josh. It’s horrible. All the killers begin to run toward Sam, and Skull Mask gets ready to kill Simon, until Sam has one more vision of the witch. She dies, and all the killers disappear. Josh runs to grab the pens, and after a VERY intense scene, she is brought back to life.
Our epilogue begins, with the kids being interrogated. Nick Goode decides to put all the blame on Simon and Kate, but all of the surviving teens say how amazing they actually were. Later that night, our story comes to a close, or does it? Deena and Sam get home, and Josh orders pizza, finally getting the door for himself. Deena is extremely proud, and gives her brother a kiss. She heads back to meet Sam, but suddenly, C. Barnum calls back…
It’s intense. She says how you will never truly escape the witch, as we see Sam’s name carved onto a rock somewhere deep underground. Deena looks down, and Sam has stabbed her. The two fight, and Deena is able to subdue the possessed Sam. Josh and her head upstairs, as Deena promises she’ll save Sam. She convulses, and screams, as we cut to black…
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING! Fear Street is truly one of my favorite horror movie franchises of recent years, and it literally does everything right. It has it all, and I LOVE IT! Thank you all for reading, and HALLOWEEN IS COMING!!! And Remember, She’s coming for you. She put her curse upon you. Watch out…
