Fear Street: All you need to know about the Netflix trilogy

The Fear Street trilogy is a series of movies to be released on July 2, July 9 and July 16 on Netflix.

The films are based on the Fear Street teen-horror novels written by RL Stine, who has written other popular horror novels like Goosebumps. While Goosebumps was targeted for a younger audience with themes that stayed away from death and violence, the Fear Street series, however, was aimed at more mature readers, in fact, the movies are confirmed to be R-rated.

The series which began in 1989, with its first book The New Girl went on to have nearly 100 books released. It became one of the most popular book series in the 90s, with its fame attaining the heights of Enid Blyton’s works like The Famous Five, Secret Seven or Malory Towers.

Translating all of the books into a live-action adaptation would have been an impossible task. Even an episodic TV series would not have been able to guarantee it. Instead, Netflix decided to use various plot points and themes and sprinkle them across three movies. They have put more emphasis on Easter eggs for viewers to discover across multiple viewings.

All of this hinges on the idea that movies become runaway hits. It is not always wise to assume that the movies would be a hit based on the trailer, however, the high production value of the visuals and sound in the trailer suggests that the movies might become the unexpected hits of the summer.

Leigh Janiak, renowned for directing horror TV shows, has helmed this project. The production of the whole project is similar to how Game of Thrones was filmed across multiple locations. She was attached to the project in 2017, even before Netflix bought the rights for the movies from 20th Century Studios/Disney.

Gillian Jacobs from Community is arguably the biggest name on the cast list, and her character, Ziggy Berman, could be played by multiple actors for multiple time periods. Sadie Sink, previously seen on Stranger Things plays a younger version of the character set in 1978. Another Stranger Things star, Maya Hawke also features in the trilogy.

The first story is set in 1994 as a group of teenagers attempt to uncover the mysterious murders in their town of Shadyside. It leads them to Ziggy Berman who was the lone survivor of the 1978 spree of murders in Camp Nightwing. The second movie is set in 1978 at Camp Nightwing. The third and final movie is set in 1666 as the story traces back to the origins of this evil plaguing Shadyside.

The trailer makes it evident that the first movie, Fear Street Part 1- 1994 is reminiscent of a neighbourhood-slasher film like Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street. The second movie, Fear Street Part 2: 1978, is a camp-horror film like Friday the 13th. While the third film, Fear Street Part 3: 1666 is a period-horror film that deals with witch-hunts and witch trials in the place which would eventually be called Shadyside.

Looks like Netflix is stacking up titles in the horror genre with the fourth season of Stranger Things set to be released soon, and well in time for the Halloween season.

Share