I didn't hate it. It's the kind of movie you watch on a Sunday in bed. However, the main character is insufferable, very annoying. I wish she had been the first one to be slayed. Full of clichés but still watchable, in my opinion.
Fear Street: Part One - 1994
2021
Action / Drama / Horror / Mystery
Fear Street: Part One - 1994
2021
Action / Drama / Horror / Mystery
Plot summary
After a series of brutal slayings, a teen and her friends take on an evil force that's plagued their notorious town for centuries.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
July 02, 2021 at 10:58 AM
Director
Top cast
Movie Reviews
Main character is very dislikable
If "1994" is in the title of your movie...
If "1994" is in the title of your movie, don't open with a song from 1995. (They also play Firestarter by Prodigy a spin which was released in '96.) But musical anachronisms aside, this is the laziest soundtrack in movie history. It's like they grabbed a "90s Hits" playlist off Spotify and cranked it up every five minutes just to let us know that it was the 90s. Because it sure didn't LOOK like the 90s, except for an AOL chat room and the 4,000 posters on the main character's bedroom walls.
Speaking of the main character... she should be LIKEABLE if she's fighting evil. Nobody wants to cheer for a jerk. Her brother is basically the only likeable character in the whole movie.
And speaking of characters... did they run out of budget before they could hire extras? The towns were nearly empty.
And speaking of empty... the plot holes (and the plot itself) make for a very bumpy ride. **SLIGHT SPOILER follows** That thing with the X's at the end didn't make sense to me. Why not just put them on a rag you can toss away in case you find yourself cornered?
All in all, it's not terrible if you want something you don't need to pay much attention to while eating some pizza on movie night.
The definition of a mixed bag
I didn't read the Fear Street books growing up, although I did read Goosebumps. Considering this was an R rated adaptation, I was cautiously optimistic.
I loved the opening scene. It felt like a nice call back to Scream. It wasn't nearly as iconic, but it did enough right to set my expectations high. Then the plot starts developing, and it goes downhill fast.
The characters are mostly annoying. I could argue I mildly liked two of them, but that's it. The protagonist is incredibly self absorbed, and treats her ex horribly. We've got the nerdy kid who knows literally everything. The comic relief who has maybe two lines in the movie that aren't jokes. Etc.
Then there's the tone. The best way I could describe it is the kid friendly feel of the Goosebumps movie mixed with a slasher film. Anytime someone isn't being murdered, it's really light in tone and kinda jarring. The profanity and innuendos are present during these scenes, but they still feel very kiddish, for lack of a better word. The closest example I could think of for a movie like this is "Summer of '84", but that wasn't nearly as light, and it was far more consistent.
The 90's music, while good, is heavily overused. The early parts of the film feel like someone turned on a malfunctioning jukebox that switches songs every ten seconds. Sometimes less is more.
The horror scenes are actually really good. The opening scene and climax are my favorites, but I enjoyed the rest as well. If the entire film was as good as the horror, I'd honestly consider giving this a 9/10, but I kept getting taken out of the film when there was downtime. There was very little tension or decent drama, just an overly quick pace with humor and exposition to bridge the scares.
It's on Netflix, so if you're interested I guess it's worth a shot. I'm disappointed, as it could've been an absolute classic, but if it sounds like your kinda thing you might like it.