I was rather surprised by Fear Street (Part One: 1994). Knowing this was a three part series of films for Netflix, I saw the bones of a Slasher Cinematic Universe being setup… but I didn’t realize this is actually based on a series of RL Stine novels written for older teens. Which made perfect sense since I kept thinking this film feels like they turned a movie like the recent Are You Afraid of the Dark or even Goosebumps into actual rated R horror films. Complete with copious blood and an actual body count. You know… stakes.

Fear Street 1994 follows a group of teens who live in a seemingly cursed town. Turns out, it is… and all the slashers from all the decades past are out to get them. Can they figure out why they are being hunted and what kind of curse the town has while fighting off various familiar-but-uniquely-distinct slasher characters?

This film is dosed in 1990s nostalgia… it opens in a B. Daltons at the mall to the dulcet tunes of Closer by Nine Inch Nails (and features Maya Hawk, last seen running around Hawkins in Stranger Things). And it feels like it’s been drowned in a pool of Scream… yes, this is a throw-back to 90s era horror while the next film looks like its 1970s/1980s era summer camp horror.

I had a lot of fun and actually grew to like these characters… to the point when some of them were unexpectedly offed, I was kind of saddened by it. And I do mean unexpectedly since, like I said, this film somehow both feels like a Scream homage and an adult version of a Goosebumps novel. This is a surprisingly bloody and gory film. Lots of gruesome slasher kills with lot of blood. It’s not quite as extreme as some slasher flicks but it also doesn’t hold back that much either.

I could grouse and complain that the third act gets a little slow at times and you want the movie to hurry it up. I still feel that but I don’t think it bogged down enough and the ending is quite solid so all is mostly forgiven.

So, yeah, if you want a good throw-back slasher flick that’ll remind you of the 90s and maybe some YA books you read in high school, check this flick out. If you want a good slasher film that doesn’t hold back, it’s up your alley too. Good fun and I look forward to the next summer camp massacre.

Score: 84