The Mosley Review: Fear Street Part One: 1994

I love it when slasher flicks surprise me. The teen genre has almost been non-existent for the that past few years. It has truly been a long while since I have seen a teen slasher flick that has so much fun with its storytelling and goes for the campiness. This chapter being set in the 90’s was great and as a child that grew up in that decade, they nailed some of the fun aspects of that time. You see inspirations and homages to iconic shots of the now classic era of slasher films and it was executed in glorious bloody fashion. All the classic character classes are on display and they do take each one and use them in a not so obvious way which made them compelling. Without spoiling anything, I will say that I loved the supernatural mystery elements and how it made for a good mix of the genre. Then again, it is to be expected that there would be something supernatural happening in a story based on the works of R.L. Stine.

Kiana Madeira was great as Deena and I liked her insane level of angst. She is alot to handle throughout the film and she comes off as very one note, but in the end I liked her. She captured the emotional rollercoaster of being a teen in love with someone that moves to a rival town. Olivia Scott Welch was good as Sam. She was good in the more emotional scenes between her and Deeana, but I didn’t find their relationship as strong as it could’ve been. It was weak, one sided and it kind of hurt their love story. I did like their chemistry, but it was the weaker part of the film for me. Olivia gets put through the ringer as the film progressed and she handles it like a champ. Benjamin Flores Jr. was great as Deena's brother Josh and I loved that the nerd of the film got the respect. He had alot of exposition and world building to do and that can be hard to make interesting and Benjamin did an excellent job. Julia Rehwald and Fred Hechinger were my favorite characters as Kate and Simon. Those two stole the film with their humor and sometimes most logical decision making. Their reactions to before and after everything started happening was so much fun to watch and I found them more interesting than the Deena and Sam. They’re such a great dynamic duo. Ashley Zukerman was good as Officer Goode and I liked that he tried to keep everything under wraps as the massacre begins. There is history behind his character and I can't wait to explore more. Maya Hawke was great as Heather and she gets the awesome scene that gets the Scream treatment.

The score by Marco Beltrami and Marcus Trumpp was excellent and evoked the same creepy and fun vibes of another classic Scream. The soundtrack of the film is filled to the brim with classic 90's hits and they actually fit and weren't drowning you with nostalgia. There are some great kills in this film, but one in particular was amazingly brutal and you actually feel the loss of a great character. If you've been missing the fun and campy nature of the teen slasher genre, then this film will definitely quench your thirst. I can't wait to see how the rest of this trilogy pans out. The Netflix Original is now streaming. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!