Fear Street: Prom Queen (dir. Matt Palmer)

By: Dave Hughes

Fear Street returned to the horror scene on Netflix in 2021 with a trilogy set over three different time periods. With memorable kills and an even more memorable soundtrack, the horror community rallied around a trilogy that surpassed anyone’s expectations. Those that grew up in the time when RL Stine and Christopher Pike dominated the young adult bookshelves loved the nostalgia and the newer fans found a gateway into horror. Fear Street returns to Netflix this May with their latest release, Prom Queen, directed by Matt Palmer (Calibre), which takes us back to Shadyside but this time in a much more contained release that takes place in one time period(1988). The results are unfortunately not as memorable this time around. 

Right from opening notes of the soundtrack, Prom Queen is a movie that knows its audience. The soundtrack's needle drop brings the same excitement as the original trilogy. The kills are equally gruesome, if not more so this time around. The concerns with this movie are that some of the original nostalgia from the first three Fear Street movies have worn off. Audiences know exactly what they’re getting this time around, a synth heavy soundtrack, cheesy dialogue and characters that one wishes are more memorable. An early scene quickly introduces all the Prom Queen contenders, but it moves too fast to make any of them stick. This rushed feel continues throughout the movie as the characters are killed off one by one. The kills are great but it seems like the shallow characters make them less impactful. One longs for Sadie Sink’s amazing performance and character development in Fear Street: 1978. 

One of the enjoyable aspects of the first Fear Street trilogy is its close ties to the lore of these towns in which our story takes place. Prom Queen unfortunately does not dig deep into that mythos. There are some Easter eggs that nod to the larger universe, but they feel surface-level—more like throwaway moments than meaningful ties. This choice could potentially turn away older audiences who have grown up on these novels and know Shadyside/Sunnyvale like they know their own neighborhood. 

This movie will find its audience on Netflix while they are browsing for something ‘spooky’ to watch. It has the retro charm and the feel of the 70’s/80’s campy horror. However, it is often forgotten how cringe some of those movies can be without a memorable antagonist like Jason Vorhees or Freddy Krueger. The antagonist present in Prom Queen cannot hold a candle to those that came before. At times, Palmer’s film feels like a Scooby-Doo whodunnit and not like the movies of the 70’s and 80’s that birthed its inspiration. 

Target Score: 3/10 Netflix has the absolute ability to turn out quality if they dig deep into the Fear Street catalogue. There are so many rich stories available and the ability to explore those stories is an exciting opportunity for them. Prom Queen feels like a rushed follow-up to the original trilogy, lacking the depth and care that made the earlier entries resonate with longtime fans.