Fear Street Parts 1 (1994) & 2 (1978) - Netflix (2021).
These are Netflix movies released one week apart with the final to arrive on Friday 16th. Maybe I should have waited until then and I'd watched all three, but oh well. They are adapted (I think very loosely) from some YA horror books by the author R.L. Stine, although interestingly, the movies are "upgraded" and rated adults only. There are still YA elements to them, but they broadly succeed as being adult fare.
The years are well chosen. 1994, of course, is the self-aware slasher horror reboot era. 1978 is the original slasher horror era. And so it is that Part 1 is very much in the mould of Scream, and Part 2 in the mould of Friday 13th. However, both movies manage to add their own modern take on them, and the end result is pretty positive. The basic idea is that there are two towns, Sunnyside and Shadyville. Sunnyville is rich and happy; Shadyville is a pverty-stricken dump, believed afflicted by a curse by a 17th century witch Sarah Fier: and indeed every generation or so, someone goes on a murderous rampage there. The movie starts with the obligatory random murdered teen, like any horror. From that point, our heroine Deena is fretting over her collapsed relationship with Sam, and is gradually drawn into another mass murder. She is ably assisted by her brother Josh, meets back up with her girlfriend Sam, and various other teens - all of whom may or may not survive but I wouldn't want to spoil that for you.
I am likewise going to skip carefully into Part 2 hopefully without giving too much away, where our (surviving) heroes from Part 1 find out the history of the last mass slaughter, all very homagey to Friday 13th, as mentioned, as a crazed killer cuts loose at a Summer holiday camp in the woods. Again, a healthy supply of teens to kill. And in fact also children - although the film decides to protect our sensibilities by having them murdered off-camera, and we'll only see the remains. I'm not toally sure how I feel about that: I understand why it was done, but it was perhaps a lack of boldness.
I don't think Part 2 is quite as good as Part 1, but they are both good movies. Unlike the generally interchangeable and unexceptional victims of most horror movies who are really little more than walking sacks of flesh to be messily disposed of, I think you are invited to care about and like many of them, and it makes it a little bit more wrenchingly sad when some of them die. And that also perhaps makes for a better horror movie.
So good work, looking forward to part 3 (1666). That that will be I suspect in the style of a sort of old style witch horror.
These are Netflix movies released one week apart with the final to arrive on Friday 16th. Maybe I should have waited until then and I'd watched all three, but oh well. They are adapted (I think very loosely) from some YA horror books by the author R.L. Stine, although interestingly, the movies are "upgraded" and rated adults only. There are still YA elements to them, but they broadly succeed as being adult fare.
The years are well chosen. 1994, of course, is the self-aware slasher horror reboot era. 1978 is the original slasher horror era. And so it is that Part 1 is very much in the mould of Scream, and Part 2 in the mould of Friday 13th. However, both movies manage to add their own modern take on them, and the end result is pretty positive. The basic idea is that there are two towns, Sunnyside and Shadyville. Sunnyville is rich and happy; Shadyville is a pverty-stricken dump, believed afflicted by a curse by a 17th century witch Sarah Fier: and indeed every generation or so, someone goes on a murderous rampage there. The movie starts with the obligatory random murdered teen, like any horror. From that point, our heroine Deena is fretting over her collapsed relationship with Sam, and is gradually drawn into another mass murder. She is ably assisted by her brother Josh, meets back up with her girlfriend Sam, and various other teens - all of whom may or may not survive but I wouldn't want to spoil that for you.
I am likewise going to skip carefully into Part 2 hopefully without giving too much away, where our (surviving) heroes from Part 1 find out the history of the last mass slaughter, all very homagey to Friday 13th, as mentioned, as a crazed killer cuts loose at a Summer holiday camp in the woods. Again, a healthy supply of teens to kill. And in fact also children - although the film decides to protect our sensibilities by having them murdered off-camera, and we'll only see the remains. I'm not toally sure how I feel about that: I understand why it was done, but it was perhaps a lack of boldness.
I don't think Part 2 is quite as good as Part 1, but they are both good movies. Unlike the generally interchangeable and unexceptional victims of most horror movies who are really little more than walking sacks of flesh to be messily disposed of, I think you are invited to care about and like many of them, and it makes it a little bit more wrenchingly sad when some of them die. And that also perhaps makes for a better horror movie.
So good work, looking forward to part 3 (1666). That that will be I suspect in the style of a sort of old style witch horror.
