Latest news with #Shadyside
Tatler Asia
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
These new horror movies prove the slasher genre isn't dead
'Fear Street' trilogy Divided into three parts ( 1994 , 1978 , 1666 ), the trilogy, based on R.L. Stine's popular Fear Street book series, traces the origins of the Shadyside curse back to the execution of Sarah Fier. Accused of witchcraft, her vengeful spirit possesses others to kill on her behalf. Part of the trilogy's appeal is its reverence for slasher and horror movies that came before, evoking nostalgia in fans of the genre. Part 1: 1994 borrows elements from the Scream franchise. Part 2: 1978 , set in summer camp, pays homage to the Friday the 13th movies. And Part 3: 1666 incorporates elements of folk horror. 'Scream' (2022) Jenna Ortega steps into her scream queen era in this clever, Gen Z-driven revival of Wes Craven's legendary slasher series. Set 25 years after the original Woodsboro killings, a new Ghostface begins targeting a group of teens. The attacks draw legacy survivors Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette) back into familiar—and deadly—territory as they help a new generation of victims survive the carnage. See also: How Jenna Ortega nails gothic fashion with a nod to 'Beetlejuice', 'Wednesday' and more 'Scream VI' After surviving the latest round of Woodsboro horrors, sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter (Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega) try to rebuild their lives in New York City. But a change of scenery doesn't mean they've escaped the nightmare as Ghostface emerges to stalk them anew. In a direct callback to the original Scream sequel, familial revenge serves as the motive behind the killings in this update. Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) returns with Scream 4 alum Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere)—now an FBI agent—to assist in the investigation. 'Fear Street: Prom Queen' R.L. Stine continues to terrorise a new generation with the latest addition to the Fear Street universe. Set once again in the cursed town of Shadyside, Prom Queen follows Lori Granger (India Fowler), an outsider at her high school who soon finds herself fighting for her life when the prom court starts turning up dead, one by one, at the hands of a masked assailant. With its blood-soaked blend of teen drama and mystery, Prom Queen nods to horror classics like Stephen King's Carrie —minus the pig's blood and psychic meltdown—and the 1980s cult classic Prom Night . Don't miss: In 'Nosferatu', true horror lies within the human 'Final Destination: Bloodlines' Already hailed as the best entry since the original, the opening set piece alone is guaranteed to fuel the anxiety of a new generation of viewers. The latest instalment in this horror movie franchise takes generational trauma to the next level, introducing a clever twist: life—and death—are inherited legacies. But as much as that adds a fresh new layer to the mythology, it's the deaths that steal the spotlight, each one unfolding like a morbid Rube Goldberg machine. 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' (2025) Instead of a reboot, fans are getting a direct sequel when I Know What You Did Last Summer hits cinemas on July 18. While the film introduces a new cast of characters—led by Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders and Jonah Hauer-King—it's expected to revisit the original movie's core premise and tropes: a group of teenagers bound by a dark secret are picked off one by one by a hook-wielding killer. Legacy characters Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr) return to confront the past and help uncover who's behind the new wave of murders.
The Review Geek
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
Fear Street: Prom Queen (2025) Movie Review – A worthy follow-up to the trilogy?
A worthy follow-up to the trilogy? Fear Street: Prom Queen is not a particularly good movie and no amount of blood, gore and good will built from the previous films can save this one from being an underwhelming mess. For those unaware, Prom Queen is the latest iteration in the Fear Street movie series, which itself is an adaptation of R.L. Stine's book series sporting the same name. Unlike Goosebumps though, Fear Street was very much a series designed for older teens and young adults, with bigger stakes and wilder twists. The Netflix trilogy did a relatively good job of capturing these vibes, although those teen slashers were not without their own set of problems, which are pretty much exacerbated here. You don't need to have seen the trilogy to watch Prom Queen though but long-time fans of the franchise who have watched those will get more out of this. There are a few Easter eggs sprinkled in and a couple of nods through the dialogue that are sure to be appreciated. We're still in Shadyside here, and the hallmarks of this series – which include a litany of killings and a group scrambling for answers – is still very much the lifeblood of this film. The basic premise centers on Lori Granger, a senior at high-school who's haunted by the death of her father. Her mum has been blamed for his death, and it's something that's caused her to believe the Granger name is cursed. To break that perceived curse, Lori runs for Prom Queen, alongside five other 'it' girls at her school. Among them is Tiffany Falconer who has a serious chip on her shoulder and is determined to win the coveted crown no matter what. Stirring things up though is Lori's friend Megan, who has a habit of pulling off elaborate pranks. Her latest includes prosthetic body parts and a spurt of fake blood. And while she does all this for the giggles – there's nothing funny about what happens on Prom Night. It's here where we learn a killer is on the loose, slowly killing off the different prom queens for reasons that become clear toward the end of the movie. The basic premise keeps things ticking over but this is also a film that doesn't want you to scrutinize the plot too closely. The reveal of the killer and their motives make sense, but it also throws up a number of problems with both worldbuilding and consistency. Again, I'm not going to reveal that here but it's a huge sticking point that causes the whole narrative to fall apart when examined closer. The characters themselves are relatively generic, as you'd expect from a teen slasher like this, and there's even some familiar cliches that show up too. We have the 'rival boyfriend' who has a soft spot for Lori, the weird adults who may or may not be hiding secrets, and a ton of cheesy dialogue throughout. The film never slips into guilty pleasure territory though because it's too busy trying to lean into its shock factor. There are some pretty gnarly deaths here but they're superficial at best and don't really feel that earned. There's no suspenseful build-up to a lot of these deaths, no sneaky camera angles or fake-out jump-scares to ratchet up the tension, they just… happen. To make matters worse, there are also a couple of killings that feel like they've been ripped right out of a satire. Aesthetically, Prom Queen very much leans into 80's nostalgia, and you can expect all the usual big 's music hits to make an appearance. 'Sweet Dreams' and 'Never Gunna Give You Up' are both prominently displayed, alongside the generic costuming and set design too. However, it's hard to shake the feel that everybody here is just cosplaying as an 80's teenager rather than leaning into the reality of life as an 80's kid. When you compare this to say Stranger Things season 1 for its scenes in high school, you'll see what I mean. None of this is helped by poor lighting and some questionable camera work, with some scenes benefiting from wide angles or zooming out a bit rather than questionable extreme close ups and shaky chase sequences. The film never tries too hard either and while that would usually be a bonus as the premise leans into the sheer absurdity of it all, it unfortunately comes across as sloppy and amateurish. It's one of those films that feels like its been made specifically because it has to be, rare than by a team that care about the Fear Street franchise. I briefly mentioned the dialogue but it's hard to state just how bad it is here. The film literally opens with a 5 minute exposition dump, while we're constantly told what characters are like and how we should feel about them. The cheesy one-liners aren't the worst thing about this, but the adults in particular are given such stilted awkward scripts that it's hard to take any of them seriously. Unless that's the point, it's hard to tell with this film. The usual combative approach to this criticism though is simply going to be to switch off your brain and enjoy what's here. While yes, you can obviously do that and will probably find parts you'll enjoy, when you stack it up next to other slashers in this field or even try to question parts of the plot, it falls apart completely. Urban Legend, Scream, Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday the 13th, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Happy Death Day and so on and so forth. There are so many in this field that have the same slasher premise that handle the expectations of the genre with far better execution and finesse than what Prom Queen offers. Overall then, this is not a particularly good movie and hard to recommend. It's a sloppy, poorly executed slasher that attempts to lean into its absurdity without understanding exactly what makes that so endearing. The kills are boring, the gore excessive for all the wrong reasons, and the dialogue stilted. Skip this one. Read More: Fear Street: Prom Queen Ending Explained
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
These Prom Queen Wannabes Keep Getting Murdered at the Dance
Netflix's gimmicky Fear Street trilogy was a minor sensation when it debuted in the summer of 2021, but its cultural footprint is zero because the films were, in the final tally, hackneyed rehashes that neither scared nor amused. Four years later, the streamer attempts to resurrect the brand (based on R.L. Stine's novels) with Fear Street: Prom Queen, a stand-alone feature premiering May 23 that mimics and remixes innumerable superior efforts to fatally formulaic ends. Cartoonishly gory and drearily unoriginal and predictable, it's a collection of tired devices and shout-outs that plays like training wheels slasher cinema. Taking place, like its predecessors, in the hard-luck town of Shadyside, where murderous tragedy is a constant, and where everyone lives in the shadow of wealthy neighboring Sunnydale, Fear Street: Prom Queen is set in a Stranger Things version of 1988 awash in every decade-specific cliché imaginable. It's a vision modeled on previous period-piece movies about the era rather than the real thing, and that artificiality extends to its by-the-books horror narrative, whose prime focus is Lori (India Fowler). An outcast because her mom is thought to have murdered her dad back in high school (while she was still in the womb), Lori is now determined to win the title of prom queen. Unfortunately, she has stiff competition from rebellious weed-dealer Christy (Ariana Greenblatt)—who's a preposterous candidate, given her non-conforming bad-girl reputation—and b---hy popular girl Tiffany (Fina Strazza) and her 'wolfpack' acolytes Melissa (Ella Rubin), Linda (Ilan O'Driscoll), and Debbie (Rebecca Ablack). Shadyside takes its prom queen contest absurdly seriously, to the point that it's all anyone talks about. Vice Principal Brekenridge (Lili Taylor)—who used to work at a Catholic school and now runs the show alongside weak-willed principal Wayland (Darrin Baker)—has them practice ahead of time for the upcoming ceremony. Lori is the clear underdog in this race, and she's mocked as the offspring of a killer by Tiffany, whether they're in class or at the diner where Lori works. Tiffany believes her teacher father Dan (Chris Klein) and mother Nancy (Katherine Waterston) when they tell her she's 'special,' and she spends the entirety of the film acting like an arrogant, scheming caricature. Lori is her polar opposite, a good girl with chaste romantic interest in Tiffany's boyfriend Tyler (David Iacono), who seems to be into her, thus amplifying tension between the girls. Lori's best friend Megan (Suzanna Son) is a lesbian-coded Fangoria reader (with a poster of Lucio Fulci's Zombie on her bedroom wall) who pulls monster movie pranks on her classmates, thereby providing Fear Street: Prom Queen with early fake-out gruesomeness. Genuine bloodshed comes courtesy of a fiend whose attire—a yellow rain slicker and a spooky mask—suggests he's a big fan of I Know What You Did Last Summer. This enigmatic assassin begins by offing Christy in a scene whose staging is almost impressively lethargic. Afterwards, he crosses out her picture on the yearbook page for prom queen candidates, indicating that his real aim is throwing the pageant for his preferred entrant—or, perhaps, simply ruining the competition because of some long-held grudge. Fear Street: Prom Queen exists in a silly throwback fantasyland and it can't stop reminding its audience that it knows the '80s, whether via a soundtrack of notable hits ('White Wedding,' 'U Got the Look,' 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)'), posters of Johnny Depp and Patrick Swayze, or a story indebted to, among others, Prom Night and April Fool's Day. As such, it operates on the knife's edge of parody, and though its gnarly murders demonstrate that it has a sense of humor about itself, such winking is more self-satisfied than satiric. It's also decidedly dull, as is everything else about this endeavor, which quickly sets up shop at the prom. There, Tiffany and her wolfpack perform a laughably sexualized dance routine in Stars-and-Stripes bathing suits ('pornographic' is how Brekenridge describes it), couples routinely ditch the festivities to wander the dark and empty school hallways, and Lori and Tiffany eventually confront each other in a dance-off announced by a DJ whose use of over-the-mic profanity at the function is arguably its most unbelievable element. One by one, prom queen aspirants are slaughtered by the maniac, and Fear Street: Prom Queen tries to complicate efforts to guess the baddie's identity via a revelation that, conversely, winds up drastically narrowing the field of suspects. That clumsiness is complemented by characterizations that are thin and inconsistent; over the course of the prom, multiple characters have epiphanies and/or alter their personalities as if their maturity process was taking place in fast forward. Director Matt Palmer and co-writer Donald McLeary's script cares less about logic than hitting familiar beats, and its metronomic quality drains the proceedings of any potential suspense. There are only three well-known actors in Fear Street: Prom Queen, and they didn't take this paycheck just to be random nobodies. The fact that it's easy to figure out the film's conclusion, however, is less deflating than Palmer's orchestration of the preceding mayhem. Whereas the initial Fear Street trilogy at least strove to create a real feel for its warring-community dynamics, this follow-up is a paint-by-numbers affair without anything like a unique atmosphere or attitude. On the contrary, its every move is a pose modeled on prior poses, turning it into a faded photocopy of better massacres gone by. Horror fans have to start somewhere, of course, and Fear Street: Prom Queen is designed to give them a handy introduction to the tropes and twists that define the genre. Yet in doing so, it presents a safe and comforting nightmare that trades in stock trauma while avoiding any seriously disturbing material. From the catty Tiffany to the de facto final girl Lori, everyone is a type rather than a person, and if that's in keeping with tradition, it's handled so unimaginatively that there's nowhere for things to go except toward foreseeable bombshells and preposterous resolutions. Palmer's sequel may be full of dismemberment and decapitations, but its all-around tepidness is likely to make its real victim the franchise itself.
Digital Trends
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Fear Street: Prom Queen director on slashers & executing the perfect kill
Matt Palmer is unapologetic about how to kill someone in his new movie, Fear Street: Prom Queen. 'We spent a lot of time working out how to kill people,' Palmer tells Digital Trends in an exclusive interview. Palmer is the co-writer and director of Prom Queen, the fourth film in Netflix's Fear Street franchise. While the first three Fear Street movies are considered a trilogy, Prom Queen is a standalone movie with new characters and stories. However, the common denominator is the setting, the town of Shadyside. Based on R.L. Stine's novel, Fear Street: Prom Queen transports audiences to 1988. Senior prom is two days away, and six girls are running for prom queen. Two of them — the kind outcast, Lori Granger (India Fowler), and the popular bully, Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza) — are bitter rivals. Executing political maneuvers to win votes for a popularity contest is difficult enough. Yet the toughest challenge on prom night will be avoiding a masked murderer stalking the candidates. Recommended Videos Ahead, Palmer talks about the importance of needle drops, the key changes from book to screen, and how to execute the perfect kill. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Digital Trends: I wanted to start with the needle drops. They stood out right away. What was the one '80s song you knew had to be in Prom Queen? Matt Palmer: I'm Not Scared by Eighth Wonder. Why is that? I think there are bigger needle drops in terms of known songs, but that song, there's something special about it. It was actually written by the Pet Shop Boys, which is why it's such a good tune. But it's a slightly lesser-known tune. It has this throbbing and pulsing. Very early on, I was like, this is what the prom looks like from the sounds. That pulsing and blaring thing. I feel like the whole tone of prom came from that song. Also, the lyrics as well. It's a kind of Lori Granger story. That was the one. We switched things up during the edit. There were different tracks pulled out and changed to get the right energy. That was the one right from the beginning. That's going right there after that kill, and it's not going anywhere. With your musical process, are you a director and writer who builds a scene and knows exactly what song to put in? Is it more about getting a playlist from your music supervisor, running through things, and seeing what works? Take me through that musical element. It's funny because, in the first movie I made, there is a lot of music in it, but it's composed music. It goes under the radar. A lot of people with Calibre are like, 'Oh, that's great. There's no music in it.' I'm like, 'Eh, it's kind of there. You're just not noticing it.' But this one [Prom Queen] was a completely different assignment. You hear [Quentin] Tarantino talk quite a lot about how he'll pull out a record and that'll start the movie in his head. It was a lot more like that with this one, which was really fun. Like the Billy Idol one, you start to assemble montages around the music. It's a very different way of working, but a really fun one. It's quite addictive. I'd like to do it again. It's like building a long playlist. Yeah, I spent two months at the very beginning, when we were just starting to write the movie, agonizing over this playlist. There were tunes that were key like You're the Inspiration by Chicago. I had a whole scene where the Devil character dances with Lori. Then, we were like, we don't need this scene. The scene isn't helping the character or the film. And I was like, 'But the music!' [Laughs] It was so hard to cut because I was so in love with the idea of setting a scene to that music, but it had to go. Sometimes, the images come from the music. Sometimes, it completely switches, like Sweet Dreams. The dance-off was going to be Prince, but Prince tunes are incredibly hard to license. Once Gloria was in, this wasn't going anywhere. Even if we get Prince at the last minute, this [Gloria] is the tune. It's funny how it happens. The morning I found Gloria, I was walking through the pre-production office, and a couple of hours later, it was playing in every room. I heard people singing Gloria, and I was like, OK. This is the tune. The spirit of the book is alive in the movie. I know some changes were made. Obviously, the name of the character Lizzie* is Lori. Why did you change her backstory? In the book, the girls are mean to each other in Prom Queen. … There's a lot in the book, and it's obviously from a different time. There are a lot of girls talking about boys. It was interesting as a man writing a female character. Not just one, but five girls lead the movie. It was really important to have great female producers. They were guiding me on that. If all the girls in the movie were just talking about guys, it would just feel like it was from a different time. You have to make it connect with a modern audience. I don't think those kinds of interactions would really play today. The other thing is it's a whodunit. If you're working from source material where a whole lot of people in the world know who did it, you have to change the story so that people don't know who did it because that's the lifeblood of mystery. R.L. Stine is great. If you like stuff, take it. If you want to go in a different direction, take it. He's very flexible. It gave us the freedom to launch off from a great premise and take it into some new characters and interesting directions. *In R.L. Stine's book, the main character is named Lizzie McVay. In the movie, it's Lori Granger. A lot of these kills are showcases for practical effects. Take me through building a kill. Do you want it to happen one way and then see if you can do it practically? Well, we would write what we wanted and then try and work out how we could do it. We'll try and do this until someone says it's kind of impossible. One of the things I'm pleased with the movie is it does feel like all of the kills are quite different. Quite early on, someone was like, 'What's the killer's signature weapon?' I remember going to see the remake of My Bloody Valentine. He has his ax. It's like every single kill is an ax. After four of them, I'm craving a chainsaw. This killer in Prom Queen will just grab things and have a few things handy. It opens the possibility of different kills. Even tonally, there's one kill that I feel is much darker and scarier. There's one that's comedic and drawn out. There's one that's very abrupt and sudden and probably the goriest thing in it. It's quite satisfying. I've watched a lot of slasher movies, and I'm unapologetically rabid about it. I like [Dario] Argento. What I like about Argento is you can feel when a kill is coming. There's almost a ritual to it with Arengto and a contract with the audience. It's like, 'OK, it's coming. It's going to look cool, and I'm going to focus on my directorial skills. It's going to be gory as f***.' Just bring it. I guess I come from that school of when a kill is coming, it's like a sacred and special moment. You need to do something that's going to satisfy the audience and maybe surprise them as well. Put elements in it and mix it all up. We spent a lot of time working out how to kill people. I would hope a director of a slasher thinks about it a lot, so that's good. [Laughs] Probably too much. I was reading an interview about how you programmed a film festival and picked out movies to run all night. I'll give you the choice here. You have Prom Queen as your first one. What are the next four movies to pair it with? So I wouldn't play Prom Queen first. [Laughs] I'd play Prom Queen either third or fourth. I spent 15 years doing this, and honestly, it's insane. OK, the things I learned. If you're going to play a slow movie, play it second. The third spot should always be the most insane, crazy, mind-bending, psychotronic, f***** up thing. That creates an energy in the middle of the night. People feel like, 'I've seen the craziest thing ever, so anything after this is a bonus. In the fourth slot, play something with a plot. People need something to grab onto at five in the morning. At one event, I played Child's Play fourth. Child's Play has a really good narrative and plot. The manager of the cinema was like, 'My god. They've all woken up. They all look way more awake than they did after the third movie, and they're all ready for the fifth one.' It took me a while to realize, but don't play something long or too abstract at number four. Otherwise, people will fall asleep. It's crazy. You don't always get it right. I played Black Christmas second at the first one. It's a great movie, but I got away with it. That's the other thing. Anything that goes over an hour and a half, and you're really dicing with death. That's why Prom Queen is 87 minutes. I found with 87-minute movies, people tend to feel they were short and sharp. I liked it, and I didn't get sleepy. I was like, can I make a movie that, if it was playing at four in the morning, wouldn't get people bored? I'd probably play Prom Queen third or fourth. Fear Street: Prom Queen is now streaming on Netflix.
Forbes
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Critics Hacking Up Netflix Horror Thriller ‘Fear Street: Prom Queen'
A scene from "Fear Street: Prom Queen." Netflix/Alan Markfield The new Netflix horror thriller Fear Street: Prom Queen from Goosebumps writer R.L. Stine is scaring away critics. Rated R, Fear Street: Prom Queen debuted on the streaming platform on Friday. The logline for the film reads, 'Welcome back to Shadyside. In this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the school's wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. 'But when a gutsy outsider puts herself in the running, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of '88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.' Directed by Matt Palmer, Fear Street: Prom Queen stars India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, Ariana Greenblatt, Katherine Waterston, Lili Taylor and Chris Klein. Palmer and Donald McLeary wrote the screenplay for Fear Street: Prom Queen, which is based on Stine's 1992 book The Prom Queen. Fear Street: Prom Queen is the fourth movie in Netflix's Fear Street series, following three-part release of Fear Street: 1994, Fear Street: 1978 and Fear Street: 1666 in 2021. As of Friday, Fear Street: Prom Queen has earned a 35% 'rotten' rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics based on 31 reviews. The film is still awaiting an RT Critics Consensus. Audiences gave Fear Street: Prom Queen a 46% 'rotten' Popcornmeter score based on 50-plus reviews. Nick Schager of The Daily Beast is among the top critics on RT who gives Fear Street: Prom Queen a 'rotten' review, writing, 'Cartoonishly gory and drearily unoriginal and predictable, it's a collection of tired devices and shout-outs that plays like training wheels slasher cinema.' The film also received a 'rotten' rating on RT from Clint Worthington of who writes, 'Fear Street started as a series that tried to reinvent the wheel, even just by dint of its structure and nods to the innate curse of marginalization; this is empty-headed, straightforward slasher schlock on purpose.' Derek Smith of Slant Magazine also gives Fear Street: Prom Queen a 'rotten' review on RT, writing, 'Like its predecessors, the film is an often awkward mix of YA drama and R-rated gore.' William Bibbiani of The Wrap is the only top critic who has given the film a 'fresh' review on RT to date, writing, Fear Street: Prom Queen is not the best Fear Street movie. But to be fair, it's probably the third-best Prom Night.' Rated R, Fear Street: Prom Queen is new on Netflix.
