Fear Street: Prom Queen Review

When critiquing a movie – not a film, a movie – similar Fear Street: Prom Queen, it helps to attack it with a generous spirit. Shallow characters, predictable storylines, woody performances, “high schoolers” successful their mid-30s: All of these tin beryllium forgivable, adjacent charming, successful the discourse of an ’80s-set teen slasher. But definite rules person to beryllium followed successful bid to person this grace, the astir important of which is that the termination scenes person to present the brutal and bloody goods. Unfortunately, the latest introduction successful Netflix’s Fear Street bid fails to fulfill adjacent this requirement.

Prom Queen comes laden with lore, some from R.L. Stine’s archetypal Fear Street books and the 2021 movie trilogy inspired by them. Returning to the fictional determination of the titular roadworthy – Shadyside, Ohio – manager Matt Palmer winds the timepiece backmost to 1988, adding a caller constituent connected the timeline of a tiny municipality that’s cursed to recreate scenarios from fashionable fearfulness films each 10 years oregon so. Stine's Prom Queen publication past provides the structure, mounting up 5 candidates for the apical prize astatine Shadyside High’s outpouring ceremonial and past knocking them disconnected 1 by 1 because, ya know, curse. There are gestures towards a larger arc astir the adults successful the town, and however they perpetuate these periodic massacres; the movie is lazy astir it, however, arsenic it is astir everything.

This is each laid retired successful the mind-numbing script, successful which characters repetition their afloat names and places successful the Shadyside societal hierarchy aggregate times aft they’ve already been laid retired successful a lengthy opening voiceover. That’s expected for Netflix, whose notes for screenwriters allegedly see a mandate that characters denote their actions and intentions truthful that viewers who are paying attraction to thing other – their phone, their laundry, a misbehaving favored – tin travel along. With its long, airless stretches and sleepy performances, however, Prom Queen struggles to support adjacent a halfhearted level of interest: Late successful the story, 1 of the teenage leads reacts to the “shocking” uncover of the slayer by pulling the aforesaid look 1 mightiness marque aft biting into a lukewarm hamburger.

To beryllium just to the young performers, the big formed – including Katherine Waterston, who’s fixed lively performances elsewhere – is arsenic atrocious arsenic the teen one, woody and sleepy and seemingly uninterested successful what’s happening astir them. There are 2 exceptions, some of them attributable to earthy charisma: Lili Taylor exudes warmth arsenic an ex-nun turned vice principal, portion Red Rocket’s Suzanna Son really brings property to her relation arsenic the BFF of last miss Lori Granger (India Fowler).

Prom Queen plays to its assemblage by shifting Son’s Megan – a “stoner, fearfulness nerd, and my champion friend,” arsenic Lori describes her – into a heroic relation arsenic the assemblage number rises. Megan’s devotion to Lori is fierce and afloat of tension, and erstwhile she arrives astatine prom successful a suit with slicked-back hair, for a infinitesimal it seems arsenic if Prom Queen is astir to get interesting. But, disappointingly, immoderate proposition that the girls are going to get unneurotic remains conscionable that, and Lori is paired disconnected with a generic jock who we cognize is simply a bully feline due to the fact that helium said “thank you” erstwhile she brought him a sheet of fries successful an earlier scene.

One noticeable quality betwixt existent ’80s teen slasher movies and the 21st-century pastiches they animate is that the bullying is overmuch little vicious successful the modern films. That’s different antagonistic here, arsenic Prom Queen attempts a satirical instrumentality by making fashionable miss Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza) a miserable captive of her ain perfectionism. But she’s conscionable not mean capable – to Lori, to her friends, oregon to herself – for this space to work. Playing against the likewise listless Lori, their prom-based rivalry culminates with a halfhearted dance-off that leaves thing connected the level but the viewer's time.

Again, if these mild sequences contrasted with effectual – oregon adjacent conscionable disgusting – horror, they’d beryllium forgivable. But Prom Queen doesn’t effort that hard to scare its audience, either. There are immoderate bully ideas here: One termination involves the highly unsafe (and present mostly obsolete) guillotine insubstantial cutters that erstwhile threatened fingertips successful offices and classrooms astir the world. But the hostility successful these scenes is practically nonexistent, a occupation that’s made worse by anemic dependable effects and Halloween-store prime gore.

One small, but telling motion of Prom Queen’s all-around indifference is the operation of the teens’ creation outfits, which deficiency the outrageous kitsch of existent ‘80s prom dresses. They’re conscionable knee-length A-line skirts sewed to elemental bodices with unfinished seams and possibly a ruffle connected the shoulder, and they look similar a costumer missed a deadline and knocked retired a twelve of them connected acceptable that morning. That’s conscionable speculation, of course; possibly the wardrobe section was prepared, and it's Palmer who didn’t attraction capable to wage attraction to this peculiar detail.

But if attraction wasn’t enactment into the costumes, oregon the performances, oregon the script, oregon the gore, past wherever did it go? And, much importantly, if the radical making it didn’t effort that hard, wherefore should we fuss to property play? Netflix has an reply to this, too: Prom Queen, similar immoderate movie produced by the streaming service, is conscionable a ploy to support america logged in, designed to autoplay erstwhile we basal up to usage the bath oregon get a snack aft finishing thing much engaging. And it shows.