[Review] Fear Street Part 1: 1994 is a Joyous and Infectious Ode to the 90s Teen Slasher

Well this was certainly a surprise. When it was announced that Netflix was creating a trilogy of films taking their cues from R.L. Stine’s series of teen-skewing novels Fear Street, I was more apprehensive than excited. Teen horror hasn’t been at the forefront of the current horrorscape and attempts to wrangle that market recently haven’t been incredibly successful (though Freaky seemed to suggest we might be on the upswing). Additionally, nostalgia for this series never really hit me because, while I do attribute Goosebumps with my introduction to horror literature, I’ve never read a Fear Street novel in my life.

On paper, Fear Street Part 1: 1994 shouldn’t work.

It needs to juggle a bunch of different disparate ideas while also telling a compelling and concise story. With a story by Kyle Killen, Phil Graziadei and Leigh Janiak (the latter two also the screenwriters), 1994 not only has to craft a suspenseful slasher, but also introduce the viewer to the towns of Shadyside and Sunnyvale, create a grand mythology of the world and establish story beats that will continue the narrative in the next two films. Set in a mall complete with a B. Dalton’s (yes, the 90s nostalgia is through the roof with this one), 1994 opens with a Scream homage that manages to still surprise with a smart inversion. 

From here, the opening credits establish the sister city vibes of Shadyside and Sunnyvale, two towns who life up to their names. Sunnyvale’s motto is “the sun always shines...even when it’s cloudy!” while Shadyside is the “killer capital of the USA!” The setting brings to mind Riverdale to the point that I was left wondering if Riverdale was, itself, an homage to the original Fear Street.

Here we meet the group of friends who will be stalked by a killer known as Skull Mask, including Deena (Kiana Madeira), who pines after her ex-girlfriend (!!) Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) who left Shadyside when her parents divorced and is now dating a jock from Sunnyvale. Deena’s brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.), meanwhile, chats in an AOL chat room with fellow supernatural enthusiasts and pines after Deena’s best friend Kate (Julia Rehwald). Rounding out the small group is Simon (Fred Hechinger), an adorable and lovable goofball who is delightfully confident in himself and his pudgy belly. In a world of CW fitness models, Simon stands king. 

At a memorial dedicated to the people lost in the cold open, a fight erupts between the Sunnyvale rich and the less affluent Shadyside teenagers and ends with a car in the ditch, Sam in the hospital and our group of intrepid heroes under the threat of the Skull Mask killer. But not everything is as it seems as Josh lays out the town’s troubled history of mass murderers (Milkman in ‘53, Ruby Lane in ‘65, the 78 Camp Nightwing Massacre) and how they all might have something to do with the witch Sarah Fier all the way back in 1666. 

Fear Street Part 1: 1994 takes its time winding up. After the bloody cold open, the first act is spent establishing a sense of location, historical feuds and allowing the viewer time to get to know the main characters. It isn’t until about forty minutes in (of an almost 110 minute film) that the slasher aspect really begins to shine. But it’s never a boring watch and instead has an infectious sense of energy thanks, in part, to the fantastic cast. More refreshingly, coming out of a decade so obsessed with 80s music and culture, 1994 leans hard into the 90s nostalgia, dropping alt rock tracks like it’s going out of business. From Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” to White Zombie’s “More Human than Human” and Garbage’s “Only Happy When it Rains” to Black Hole Sun and The Pixies...1994’s alt rock soundtrack absolutely kills. 

Even as it leans harder into the adult part of young adult (expect curse words and some surprisingly brutal kills), it also feels indebted to Netflix’s Stranger Things with the cast of kids and teens coming together to fight supernatural oddities. But director Leigh Janiak’s ability to wrangle the disparate needs of mythology building and concise storytelling coupled with a slick and stylish sheen makes this one of the better horror films I’ve seen this year.