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Higher education professional by day, writer and pop culture enthusiast by night. When he isn't writing for The Cinema Spot, Tristian can be found creating content for his YouTube and TikTok pages, or working on the young adult novel he has been trying to finish for the last three years.
Netflix’s Fear Street franchise took the streamer by storm in the summer of 2021. Based on R.L. Stine’s beloved young adult horror novels, Leigh Janiak et al’s original Fear Street trilogy unraveled a decades-old curse across three highly entertaining films that were praised for their sharp writing and breakout performances. Unfortunately for fans, Matt Palmer and co-screenwriter Donald McLeary’s newest installment in the franchise is a lackluster heir that fails to recapture the magic of its predecessors.
Fear Street: Prom Queen opens at Shadyside High School just days before the class of ’88 heads to prom. Our heroine, Lori Granger (India Fowler), sets the stage with a quick narration, catching the audience up to the cutthroat race for prom queen. At the center of the chaos is a vicious clique of queen bees determined to ensure the crown never reaches her head. Leading the charge is Lori’s childhood rival, Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza), and her snarling enforcers, Debbie (Rebecca Ablack), Melissa (Ella Rubin), and Linda (Ilan O’Driscoll).
The foursome is notoriously known as the Wolfpack among their peers. The fifth nominee, Christy Renault (Ariana Greenblatt), is a rebel known for selling drugs and dating older men. It’s arguably Christy’s disappearance that kicks the story into high gear from the audience’s point of view, and when prom night finally arrives, a blood bath ensues. Lucky for Lori, her horror genre-loving best friend, Megan Rogers (Suzanna Son), is by her side to help her fight for survival.
Discussion
Fear Street: Prom Queen is a slasher film that, unlike its predecessors, doesn’t subvert genre tropes or take any chances. This is extremely disappointing considering that its source material had a more original take. In the novel, Fear Street: The Prom Queen, a group of popular frenemies find themselves targeted by a knife-wielding maniac wearing a baseball team letterman jacket. When the novel opens, the narrator, Elizabeth, and her clique theorize about a recent murder that has occurred and wonder who will be next. In the midst of the murders, there are also backstabbing, infidelity, and hurtful rumors. Basically, if the Netflix adaptation had remained true to the book, the Wolfpack would have been the main characters, which would have been infinitely more interesting. Watching a clique of mean girls fall apart as a killer slays them one by one is a slam-dunk premise. However, the movie wastes the opportunity.
The Protagonist
Fowler seems like a fine actress, but audiences will struggle to tell given how flat her character is. While her book counterpart, Elizabeth, is resourceful, hyper-vigilant, and immediately falls into the role of girl detective when the attacks begin, Fowler’s Lori doesn’t display any of the inner strength or resourcefulness of this counterpart or the final girls who have come before her in the genre. It would seem the only direction she was provided was to always look downtrodden, but to smile occasionally.
As a character, Lori has goals and a tragic backstory, but the audience only learns that because other characters tell us. Her best friend, Megan, tells the audience Lori wants to be a writer. Her bully, Tiffany, takes every chance to remind Lori that her mother killed her father, allegedly. We don’t get scenes of Lori writing in her notebook or walking into a bedroom with a bookshelf crammed full of novels or staring wistfully at pictures of her deceased father. These scenarios would center the character and give audiences an opportunity to figure out her backstory and ambitions for themselves. Every detail about her is revealed by others, and thus, the character is robbed of her agency to truly act as the film’s lead.
Prom Queen‘s Supporting Characters
There are several characters among the larger ensemble who are much more compelling. For example, Lori’s horror-loving bestie, Megan, has a talent for drawing and horror movie special effects. It’s Megan who notices that something is amiss during prom night and begins the investigation that leads to the horrific truth that someone is dispatching the prom queen nominees one by one. Son brings an amazing amount of depth, wit, and vulnerability to the role. She makes Megan instantly likeable. While the film doesn’t flat-out say it, Megan’s feelings for Lori clearly extend past friendship, yet the film wastes several opportunities to have the two address this. Consequently, the Netflix adaptation is robbed of some much-needed complexity and tension.
Strazza’s Tiffany, the ultimate mean girl, proves to be more compelling during the film as well. The emotional and mental manipulation she uses to control her friends and her boyfriend, Tyler Torres (David Iacono), is compelling due to the fact that she sees nothing wrong with it. Even amid murder and madness, she expects those around her to stay in line. Strazza is as captivating as she is menacing in the role, and again, the film would have been infinitely better had the Wolfpack clique been at its center.
The Adults
The film makes decent use of the adult characters, even if some of them don’t quite live up to their potential. Lili Taylor is the stoic, but sincere, Principal Dolores Breckenridge. She is a former nun who has become a principal in the cursed Shadyside to save the souls of the wayward youth. Disappointingly, the film doesn’t even try to paint the character as a red herring. Taylor does well enough in the role, but ultimately, she’s wasted.
Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice, the Fantastic Beasts series, Alien: Covenant, Logan Lucky, Mid90s, Babylon, Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald’s Perry Mason Season 2) and Chris Klein (the American Pie franchise, The CW’s The Flash Season 5, Sweet Magnolias) as Tiffany’s parents, Nancy and Dan, respectively, are utilized a lot better. Waterston gives an intense but entertaining performance. She wants the best for her daughter and expects the best from her as well. Nancy is a mother whose encouraging words almost always carry an underlying threat. Waterston is bitchy, campy, and menacing all at once and it’s fun to watch. Given the absence of any meaningful adult characters in the source material, they fare a lot better in the movie.
Final Thoughts on Fear Street: Prom Queen
To reiterate, the movie would have benefited from sticking closer to its source material. The film drops audiences into prom night immediately, whereas the book explores the murder and madness in the weeks leading up to the event. The novel gave itself time to build tension, doubt, and misdirect readers several times before the climax. The book’s heroine, Elizabeth, also fits the final girl archetype much more than her film counterpart. She pushed past fear to run headfirst into danger if it meant protecting her friends and loved ones. Without spoiling too much, the only way in which the film is slightly superior to the movie is the reveal of who the killer is. Have audiences seen it before in a much better slasher franchise? Yes, but it also works really well for what this story is trying to accomplish.
Ultimately, fans of the original Fear Street trilogy who are expecting a unique and subversive addition to the Netflix film franchise will walk away disappointed. Fear Street: Prom Queen is a disappointing slasher film that’s all guts and no glory.
2.5/5 stars
Fear Street: Prom Queen is now streaming via Netflix!
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Higher education professional by day, writer and pop culture enthusiast by night. When he isn't writing for The Cinema Spot, Tristian can be found creating content for his YouTube and TikTok pages, or working on the young adult novel he has been trying to finish for the last three years.
