Writing Task: Review
Fear Street
The Fear Street trilogy (released over a span of 3 weeks) is a teen horror series which is based in 1994, but stretches across three decades, from 1666, where the majority of the third film takes place. The trilogy begins as a group of teenagers decide to take it upon their own hands to get to the bottom of a series of brutal slaying that have been occurring in their town of Shadyside, but not perfect neighbouring town Sunnyvale.
With the first film set in 1994, the second and third movies act as flashback films to tell the stories of Camp Nightwing in 1978 and the story of Sarah Fier in 1666 which all piece together immaculately to bring the story together.
The characters of 1666 (including Sarah Fier, known for being the “witch” behind the Shadyside curse, which is in fact a lie, the truth having been twisted twisted by the evil Solomon Goode, who was the real villain of the 1666 story, and was aided in his lie by the ignorance and immense homophobia of the heavily religious society in1666) are played by the same actors from the first two films, which allows the story to flow effortlessly, as the viewers are already emotionally invested in the characters, as they relate them to previous, more developed characters in the series. This also helped to connect the villain of 1666: Solomon Goode to his ancestor: police officer Nick Goode.
The series is inspirational in its clever use of plot devices and plot twists, such as the door of the book shop at the mall that the series’s first victim works at not closing in the opening scene, a seemingly unimportant incident at the time, considering it did not come back to bite her before her untimely death, and then momentally refusing to close again in the final fight scene in 1994, when an older version of Ziggy Burman (a girl traumatised by losing her sister in 1978 to the massacre at Camp Nightwing) attempts to close the door on one of Shadyside’s notorious killers, and encounters a heart stopping moment as she realises that the door isn't closing.
The series keeps viewers in suspense, as even when you think you know how things are going to work out for the "flashback" characters of 1978 and 1666, the plot has a way of pulling the rug out from under your feet and completely deterring from what you thought you knew. For example, with the knowledge that a “C Burman” had survived the massacre in 1978 by dying, viewers assume the character is Cindy Burman of Fear Street: 1978, only for it to be uncovered that it was actually her sister, Ziggy, who had survived, as her full name was Christine Burman.
Similarly, the first two films are spent thinking the villain is an unknown witch who struck a deal with the devil in 1666, only to find out it had been the Sunnyvale sheriff and seemingly charming boy Ziggy had met and fallen in love with at camp all those years ago.
The colourings and visuals of the films are displayed in a way that reminds the viewers of previous horror movies, such as the opening scene of 1994 being very similar to 1996 film Scream.
I now plan on exploring the horror genre more by watching more horror films.