Goodbye Fier Street
Fear Street has been quite the turbulent ride over the weeks. The first part brought a pretty mixed reaction from audiences and critics alike with some publications (including ourselves) panning the film hard for its tonally inconsistent narrative. The second part by comparison felt much more stable, producing a simple but enjoyable homage to slashers gone by. With these two wildly different movies, the third part left a lot of questions around exactly how this one was going to play out. Would it be able to close everything out in a satisfying way? Would it wrap up all the big plot points? Or would it fall apart when it matters most? Well, you’ll be happy to know that Fear Street Part 3 is much closer in style and tone to the second part than it was with 1994. In essence, this movie is split into two distinct halves which work together to shed light on the past and close out the present day (present being 1994 in this case) story in a satisfying manner. The first half of the film tackles what happened back in 1666, picking up right where we left off last time out. The central focus is on Sarah Fier and her subsequent witch trial. There’s also a pretty big plot twist here too, turning everything we knew about this story upside down. After this, the story cuts back to 1994 for a deliciously twisted finale to this slasher tale. Aptly titled 1994 Part 2, Deena, Josh and the motley gang of misfits set out to stop the town’s curse and free Shadyside from its doomed future once and for all. While it’s a little goofy and certainly leans into some of the more elaborate ideas of the show, this final part skips away from the cursing and crow-barred romances, instead focusing exclusively on the story. The result is a pacey and satisfying final act, where the truth is revealed and all our characters get a satisfying conclusion. The characters are pretty straight forward this time, with the plot playing out front and center. Notably, there’s far less killing in this movie, with the central focus on wrapping everything up and making sure the movie gets a good ending. Given this is always the hardest part of any story to get right, Fear Street does a pretty admirable job of it. It’s not perfect, and a few of the scenes do tend to awkwardly jam in nostalgic music from the 90’s once more. There’s one such example where the kids are racing to get into a car while a track plays in the background and to be honest, it feels completely unnecessary. This is particularly noticeable too given the same treatment isn’t given to the scenes in 1666. The irony here is that the first half off the movie feels much more eerie and suspenseful because of this. Fear Street hasn’t been a perfect trilogy by any stretch of the imagination. With the story now done and dusted, I stand by my comments in the first movie’s review. This should have been a 12 or 15 rating, with less gore and more accessibility for a younger audience. The over the top cursing and bloodshed could have easily been edited out and adds very little to the movie. Still, as an homage to the past and a celebration of slashers gone by, the Fear Street trilogy has been a fun but flawed trip down memory lane.
