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@ryan_the_nixon
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Fear Street Part 3: 1666
2021
18
Director: Leigh Janiak
Starring: Kiana Madeira, Ashley Zukerman, Gillian Jacobs, Olivia Scott Welch, Elizabeth Scopel, Benjamin Flores Jr, Randy Havens, Julia Rehwald, Matthew Zuk, Fred Hechinger, Michael Chandler, Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd etc
Fear Street Part 3: 1666. The origins of Sarah Fier’s curse are finally revealed as history comes full circle on a night that changes the lives of Shadysiders forever. Wow what a way to end this fantastic trilogy.
My first few positives would be the clever idea. Chemistry between the cast and great performances, as well as the great set locations and tense and uncomfortable tone. This film was very clever, having the final film be about the origins of the character was definitely the right decision for the final instalment, and having the actors from the previous two films portray the characters here was also a fun and creative idea, as well as a good challenge for the actors. I thought that the cast had fantastic chemistry here, just like with the previous two instalments the cast worked excellently. Particularly Kiana Madeira and Olivia Scott Welch, whose relationship was believable, well explored and gave Sarah Fier as a character a lot more depth and development. The performances from the whole cast were also excellent, Kiana Madeira really stepped up with her performance here, she delivered an intense and passionate performance for both roles she played and showed her versatility off well, the whole cast did great with other standouts being Gillian Jacobs, Keil Oakley Zepernick, McCabe Slye and Olivia Scott Welch. I also thought the set pieces were excellent, the film did an excellent job at bringing this particular setting and time period to life. With old farmhouses and wells for the locals. It very much felt specific to that time period, and it also set up a fairly creepy atmosphere for the film to play around with as well. This film also had an excellent tense and uncomfortable tone that was slowly built up well over the first act. This film did what I loved so much about the second film. It built up its tense and uncomfortable tone slowly as the film developed in order to create more atmosphere and impact. I loved how the first act was constructed, with things slowly going more and more wrong as more reveals about Sarah Fier were happening, they were both very cleverly connected, and it made the film’s tone have more of an impact.
My next few positives would be the great cinematography. Character background and set up for Sarah, the strong themes expressed. As well as the rising of tension and use of gore. This film had excellent cinematography, what I really loved is that this film once again provided a slightly different horror tone compared to the other 2. With the use of low-key lighting and shadows, the cinematography was more targeted towards a supernatural tone which I really loved. There were some excellently crafted scenes, using the set locations and scenery to there full advantage. Next, I also loved the character background and set up for Sarah Fier, knowing how she lived her life and the already apprehensive and negative views towards her in the town, was a good way to establish her as a character as well as her relationships with the other characters, I also really liked the set up for her character. Having her be a gay character was an interesting element, due to the time period being in the 1600’s this was considered a sin, so this raised important themes whilst also balancing it out in a positive way with more intimate moments between Sarah and Hannah Miller (Olivia Scott Welch), this increased the tension with the town and due to the strange events happening the links with witchcraft were set up well. I also liked the use of gore and rising of tension. As the reveal and set up for the town’s hatred increased the tension slowly built, the film turned into a massive manhunt for Sarah, and due to the background and new connections made with her character, it made the film very intense to watch as you realised what truly happened to her character, I also like the use of gore it had impactful due it not being overused. With the barn scene leaving a particularly big impact.
My next few positives would be the sound design, character designs. Development to the plot, great Jumpscares. As well as the building of mystery and the plot twists. I thought the film used sound excellently in order to build tension and to create a scary atmosphere. The film often used jarring sound, or effective uses of fast tapping especially within the church scene that really increased the tension of the film well, I also like that the film also focused on scenes for longer with little or no sound designs which helped to build the same effect, as well as well-timed and startling Jumpscares that weren’t overused. I also like the creative killer designs, just like with the previous two entries the film introduced multiple new killers. All of them were creative, detailed, and disturbing. My favourite had to be the town’s priest, despite it only being a short scene it had the most impact. With his hook for a hand and raking the town’s children eyes out was particular gruesome and very effective scene. I also loved the development to the plot and how It was structured, I think the film developed Sarah and her character excellently, filling in the audience into what truly happened. With all of the events explained in the previous two entries finally being explained in an intense second act, and I loved that it ended back in the present day in a full circle. I also loved how the film built its mystery, as the film slowly revealed what truly happened to Sarah Fier, I found it a great twist to find out she was innocent, and the film did a good job at building its mystery of who the true killer was and the events that have been taken place very well, it took the franchise in a strong and unexpected different direction. This led to the plot twist being excellently executed, it was well written, unexpected, and set up the final act very well. Tying all the loose ends very well and having Nick Goode as the true villain was an interesting and great twist as we learned about his descendants. This just really made the worldbuilding of this film really strong, it managed to balance tying up the loose ends and explaining the plot holes whilst also building on its own world and the different killers and characters within it excellently.
I only had a few nit-picks with the film. There were some dodgy Irish accents, I would have liked more background into Sarah and her relationship with her family, and there was some annoying exposition. As someone who is part Irish, I can safely say that there were slightly poor and off-putting attempts at Irish accents from certain actors. It was slightly forced, and they slipped into their normal accents on a few occasions, it was only a small issue for me but something I still noticed. I would have also liked a little bit more background and development into how Sarah lives her life and her relationship with her brother and father, this would have helped the connection to her character be that little bit stronger. Finally, there was a couple of instances where unnecessary exposition was used. The film had already visually explained the twists to the plot and it was clear when watching what had happened, so when the characters went on to explain everything that the audience already knows it was just slightly irritating and something g I don’t like within films.
My final few positives would be the clever final third. The excellent final act, the rising of stakes and the satisfying character arcs. I thought when the film did fear street 1994: part 2 it was a fun and clever twist and set up the final act excellently. The final act was fun, entertaining, and intense, raising the stakes for the characters excellently, I genuinely cared about what happened to the characters, so the film did its job. It ended in a satisfying way where all the characters arcs were complete, and you really felt like the characters had made piece and were happy which was nice to see. Plus, the little end tease made me want more!
Overall, Fear Street Part 3:1666 is a clever, intense, and fun final outing for this fantastic trilogy. It was well written and tied everything up perfectly, and for me was the strongest of the trilogy. I want more!
Overall score 96/100
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