Fear Street Part One: 1994 – REVIEW

Fear Street Part One. This movie is an American teen-horror, not usually my cup of tea but I thought why not! The preview looked like it should be pretty entertaining at least and, it is part of the Fear Street Trilogy so that should keep entertained for a few hours (if it’s any good – fingers crossed!). Looking forward to reviewing fear street Part Two and Part Three.

The story is based in “Shadyside” Ohio, it has a very “Scream” feel to the movie, especially with the opening scene. It was a good start so far, Heather (played by Maya Hawke), who is a bookstore employee, is just finishing her shift and getting a lift from her friend Ryan (played by David W. Thompson) when she gets attacked by a masked murderer with a knife. It has you routing for Heather as she puts up a good fight! About Shadyside, it is know as the murder capital of the USA and is adjacent to “Sunnyside”; Sunnyside is Shadyside’s neighbor-town which is the complete opposite in every way. Sunnyside is considered one of the richest and safest cities in the USA (only in the movie 😉 though).

Fear Street Part One has a great witch-theme woven into this storyline. It portrays the Witch and witchcraft from the typical black-magick perspective which is the usual route taken & expected from any type of horror story/movie script these days. The young residents of Shadyside believe that their towns infamous reputation for being the murder capital of the USA is down to this one fact, Sarah Fier. Sarah Fier was a Witch who was executed in 1666 (interesting date choice) for practicing witchcraft in the town of Shadyside but, before she was executed she cursed the town (because that’s what Witches do, right!) …

There are five main characters: Deena (played by Kiana Madeira), Josh (played by Benjamin Flores Jr.), Sam (played by Olivia Scott Welch), Kate (played by Julia Rehwald) & Simon (played by Fred Hechinger) . At the vigil held at Sunnyside for the murder of Heather (remember, she was the bookstore clerk in the opening scenes), a fight breaks out against the students of Shadyside and Sunnyside (there is a deep hatred towards each other, equally match by both sides). This leads to a car accident and this is where the story really starts to get interesting. Sam sees a vision of the Fier Witch. At first I was thinking this might be your typical possession-type horror movie but that’s not the case with Fear Street Part One. Back to the plot, so that same night Deena gets threaten by Sam’s boyfriend (who is from Sunnyside). They think he wants to scare them with his threat of killing them. The following night, Deena and her friends begin to be stalked. At first Doreen thinks it Sam’s boyfriend but soon realizes it’s not. They are being stalked by the undead killers from some of Shadyside’s worst massacres. But how is this possible, what is happening!? This movie definitely had me gripped.

After the group hear about Sam’s vision of the Fier Witch, they soon put it together and realize that the car accident must have disturbed the grave of Sarah Fier. Sam was the one who had touched her bones and so they have another realization … This is very actioned packed and keeps you very much engaged in the storyline throughout. Josh being a bit of a nerd has clippings about all the murders in Shadyside and becomes the main guy to save the group from the Witch and her minions that are trying to kill them.

I really like the fact that it was set in the 90’s so no cell phones. Literally, the characters were on their own, fighting for there lives and had to get creative to escape a gruesome death. Of course, they tried to tell the police about what’s happening but that didn’t go down to well.

Through Josh’s collection of clippings on the Shadyside massacres, they figure out that there was one survivor from the summer camp massacre in 1970s (this is part 2 of the Trilogy, review for this come after its release!). They figure out a possible way to stop the “undead” attack on Sam and put a plan into action at the high school. This idea I felt was somewhat similar to the Awake movie (which I liked a lot) and thought that the writers were going to end it in the same way, but I was wrong. I don’t want to give too much away in this review so I will keep if pretty vague so I don’t spoil it for the rest of you!

If you like horror movies, with a light-touch of comedy, a lot of action and some great plot surprises then this is a must see for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I cant wait to watch the next two parts to this trilogy.