Based on the Fear Street books by R.L. Stine (although not a direct adaptation of any one of them) and adapted by first-time feature directors Leigh Janiak and Phil Graziadei, Fear Street Part 1: 1994 is the first of three interconnected films (Part 2: 1978 comes out next week; Part 3: 1666, the following week) that center on the dark and violent history of the town of Shadyside over the course of 350 years, a history which may stem from an ancient tale of a witch. The first film opens with the murder of a mall store clerk (Stranger Things’ Maya Hawke) at the hands of one of her best friends, seemingly for no reason and yet also part of a much more gruesome and extensive mass murder in the mall.
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The next day, the victims’ fellow high school students find out about the killings and are forced to take part in a candlelight vigil before the big football game against long-time rival Sunnyvale, located in a well-off, prosperous community where nothing bad ever seems to happen, especially when put side by side with Shadyside, where mass murders seems to occur every decade or so, always by under the strangest of circumstances. As is often the case in places like this, conspiracy theories run rampant, and young Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) gets on the AOL message boards to discuss the latest murders and their apparent connection to an ancient witch curse. But Josh’s older sister Deena (Kiana Madeira) is too busy mourning her recent breakup with Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), whose move to Sunnyvale (only 30 minutes away) prompted Deena to “finish the job” by breaking up with her first to avoid being broken up with (because teenager logic).
An unfortunate car accident stemming from a Sunnyvale vs. Shadyside conflict leads to Sam having a vision of the witch and the unexpected appearances of some of the murderers from decades past seemingly coming after the kids as they get Sam to the hospital. The bulk of this chapter is the kids attempting to uncover both why the witch (through her minions) wants them dead and how to go about stopping her/them. Also in the gang are perfect-student cheerleader Katie (Julia Rehwald), who sells drugs as a side hustle; and smarmy white guy/grocery store worker Simon (Fred Hechinger), the one member of this group of friends we probably won’t miss if he dies. It’s actually refreshing that nearly all of the primary cast members aren’t straight white males; I have nothing against that demographic, but let’s be honest: I’ve seen that movie a thousand times. I don’t think the movie is better without them, but this casting is something we haven’t seen before, and any step toward normalizing that is significant.
SOURCE : thirdcoastreview.
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