Fear Street: Prom Queen proves that sometimes unfulfilled dreams are for the best.
Fear Street: Prom Queen was an exciting prospect. After the popularity of the trilogy of Fear Street films, it was wonderful to hear that a new installment was imminent. Unfortunately, this film bypasses every aspect of what made the last three so much bloody fun. The story lacks inventive deaths, instead leaning into the “more is more” hellscape. It feels more like a Dollar Tree version of Freaky than anything. Fear Street: Prom Queen proves that sometimes unfulfilled dreams are for the best.
Written and directed by Mike Palmer in his feature directorial debut, the film lacks the behind-the-scenes creative team from the previous three. So, the movies share a relation in name only, while having distinctly different characteristics. Fear Street: Prom Queen, based on R.L. Stine’s story, The Prom Queen, and part of the Fear Street series, follows teenager Lori Granger, played by India Fowler (The Strangers: Chapter 1).
She is an outcast among outcasts in Shadyside because of a supposed incident where her mother killed her father and cost everyone their prom revels. In a town where few escape, the residents find their joy where they can. Now she, alongside her bullies and another outcast, compete for prom queen. But someone’s going around removing names from the ballot permanently. Sounds enticing, doesn’t it? Yet, what unfolds is anything but.
Fear Street: Prom Queen Forfeits Quality for Forgettable B Horror
That might even be an insult to B horror movies. At least Sleepaway Camp entertained and left folks with a shocking ending that still lingers in our minds today. The horror lacks shock or entertainment, feeling ridiculous and uninspired. The tone is cheesy. But the cast plays many scenes too seriously, making it unclear if they are aware of that. Where the first Fear Street: Part One – 1996 had a shocking death by bread-slicer scene that felt gory, jaw-dropping, and tragic since you cared for the character, this one has the gore. That’s it.
These asinine scenes include a dance-off between the rivals to “Gloria,” where they throw out the typical white girl moves of waving their arms to their sides and over their heads. It’s mediocrity in an ocean of subpar scenes. Fear Street: Prom Queen is so horrendously awful that one cannot help but wonder if they are intentionally trolling the audience.
Characters Are One-Dimensional
The lead, Lori, is akin to Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink, the “mean girl,” and Lori’s head bully, Tiffany Falconer, played by Fina Strazza. Strazza is not a poor actress; she was in Paper Girls (justice for that show!). However, neither she nor the other characters receive anything substantial to work with. It’s all boring dialogue, nonsensical conflict, and dull deaths. It’s a wonder how Fear Street: Prom Queen falls so hard from where the previous films ascended.
The Creative Team Changed
It’s unclear why the creators behind the three previous films did not craft this one. Director and writer Leigh Janiak balanced in-your-face violence and gore with scenes that allowed viewers to catch their breath and connect with the diverse characters. Between Janiak and Phil Graziadei, the movies felt like a ’90s slasher with fresh mayhem. Mike Palmer takes the story from R.L. Stine’s teen terror series and removes all tension. From dialogue to direction, there is nothing enjoyable in Fear Street: Prom Queen.
Fear Street: Prom Queen is a letdown that squanders its potential. Instead of being closer to a Prom Night, it’s closer to a discount, violent Mean Girls. Too much feels like the most blah movie aspects to ever blah. It’s generic, mostly one tonecast, makes Fear Street: Prom Queen a monumental disappointment, from its cringey dance sequences, hollow acting, and forgettable action.
