Reviews by:
@ryan_the_nixon
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Fear Street Part 1: 1994
2021
18
Director: Leigh Janiak
Cast: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr, Julia Rehwald, Maya Hawke, Charlene Amoia, David W Thompson, Fred Hechinger, Noah Bain Garret etc
Overall rating 93/100
Fear Street part 1: 1994 is about a circle of teenage friends who accidentally encounter the ancient evil responsible for a series of brutal murders that have plagued their town for over 300 years. Welcome to Shadyside. This was a fantastic film and one of the strongest slashers I have seen.
My first few positives would be the opening scene, the fantastic cinematography, soundtrack and Jumpscares. The opening scene was just fantastic and set the type of tone this film was going for perfectly. It was intense, it was stylistically and visually creative. And the slasher tone and the feel of the film came across instantly, getting you invested and wanting more straight away. The cinematography, not just in the opening scene but in the whole film was excellent. The use of colour to represent how the characters were feeling or the danger they were in was excellently used. I loved the uses of Blue and Red especially. It made the film stand out and it was very creatively used. I also loved the soundtrack in this film. Some other critics could say it was overused, but for me it perfectly fit in with the tone perfectly and made the scenes so much more fun to watch. With loads of 90’s pop culture references sprinkled throughout; it was a nice creative touch to the film for me. I also thought the Jumpscares were very effectively used. For me they weren’t overused due to the focus on the tone and building tension. But when they were used, they were very effective and startling which helped increase the tension within each scene, they were sometimes predictable but nonetheless still effective.
My next few positives would be the building of tension. The excellent slasher tone to the film, the fantastic humour as well as the great chemistry and performances from the cast. This movie-built tension excellently. With each scene the stakes were increased and the more you cared about the characters the more intense it got. The film did an excellent job at spreading and building the tension evenly throughout and when it came to the final act it went all out. I absolutely loved the classic slasher feel to it. With the soundtrack and the excellent character design of the killers reminding me of scream, it bought back lots of nostalgic 90’s slasher vibes whilst also balancing that out with feeling fresh as well. Also, with the great performances and over the top reactions and screams just made it that much more fun to watch. I also thought the cast did a fantastic job here. Everyone played their roles well, but key cast standouts for me where Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr and Maya Hawke. They bought the extra intensity and depth to there characters. But the whole cast had excellent chemistry with each other, it reminded me of stranger things with the group dynamic. I also think due to the casts chemistry the humour was excellent. There was some excellent comedic performances and timing from the actors, and they all bounced off each other in an organic and fun way.
My next few positives would be the use of gore, the interesting dynamic to the killers. The LGBTQ + representation, the excellent plot twists as well as the development to the plot and mystery. I thought the use of gore was very effective, it made the scenes even more intense and gave them more impact. Some of the kills were very brutal and truly made it standout from some more teen and younger audience-based horrors, it gave that little bit more of a punch and was effectively used. I found it really interesting that the killers were revealed, it added an interesting and fairly fresh dynamic to the film. Instead of building a mystery around who the killers were it was much bigger than that. The plot developed really well, and the mystery was built excellently. They didn’t disappoint with the reveals and the plot twists were excellently done, making you guess what was going on constantly which kept me entertained throughout. I also thought that the LGBTQ+ representation was refreshing and nice to see, having the two leads in a relationship and for to be explored properly and with depth throughout was nice to see, it was proper representation and not watered down or making them feel like token characters.
My two negatives for the film would be the unexplained conflict, and the generic conflict and character motivations. I thought the conflict between the two neighbourhoods of Shadyside and Sunnyvale was slightly unexplored. It was never fully explained why both places hated each other so much and it felt like a missed opportunity and it came across as generic, and they only touched the surface with the conflict, making it come across as usual high school drama. My other negative would be that there was some generic conflict and character motivations. I felt like this made the film tonally off in places only because it felt more like a teen drama which I feel like most of the film was trying to differentiate itself from. And some of the character motivations and decisions did fall into some genre tropes that were frustrating in parts but mostly forgivable.
My final few positives would be the worldbuilding, depth to the relationships, the fantastic final act. And the brilliant set up for the future instalments. I thought that the film had excellent worldbuilding. The different killers and the towns history were well explored and intriguing, they went into a good amount of detail into how everything was connected and therefore I was invested in the story and excited for the world to expand with the future instalments. I loved the depth that they added to the main characters relationship. It was all about accepting each other for who they were without fear of judgement from others, and the events that took place and risk of death to both of them only bought them closer, the movie didn’t shy away from the themes they embraced it and therefore the characters grew and developed nicely with a satisfying character arc. The final act was incredible. At first It seemed like it was going to a simple and fun final act with a final battle, but it was much more than that. The stakes and tension were incredibly high, so much that you didn’t know what was going to happen to the characters, and just when you thought it was the end they threw in another twist. This led to an unexpected and fresh set up for the next instalments that I didn’t see coming, it was refreshing for them to seemingly end it in a positive way only for it to be flipped on its head.
Overall, Fear Street part 1: 1994 is one of the strongest slashers in years. Serving as both a homage to previous slashers but also paving its own path and brand. With an intense, layered and visually stunning feast for the eyes, and despite me being nervous for the rest of the franchise due to this being so good and the film already revealing a lot about them, I am excited to see where this trilogy goes.
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