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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.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Malay Mail's Top 10 Picks: ‘Final Destination: Bloodlines' takes the top spot at Malaysian cinemas, pushing past ‘Gayong' and ‘Blood Brothers: Bara Naga'
KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — Now in its sixth instalment, Final Destination: Bloodlines has not only claimed the No. 1 spot at the local box office but is also earning favourable reviews nationwide, with many calling it the best entry in the series. This slasher flick delivers a horrifying experience you won't want to miss — if you have the stomach for it, of course. But that's not all — local films are not just showing in cinemas, they are still dominating with titles like Gayong and yes, the action-packed Blood Brothers: Bara Naga continues to draw strong crowds. Whether you're into hit movies, trending shows, fresh music, or must-read books, Malay Mail has compiled the best of the week to keep you entertained. Top 10 films in local cinemas (Domestic & International) (May 15 to May 18) Final Destination Bloodlines Gayong Blood Brothers: Bara Naga Thunderbolts* Devil's Double Next Level A Gilded Game Maaman Until Dawn Tourist Family The Dumpling Queen Source: and GSC Top 10 streaming on Netflix and Viu (May 12 to May 18) Netflix (Top 10 TV) Tastefully Yours: Limited Series The Haunted Palace: Season 1 Resident Playbook: Limited Series Dear Hongrang: Season 1 Bet: Season 1 American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden: Season 1 The Royals: Season 1 Heavenly Ever After: Limited Series Weak Hero: Class 2 Ms. Rachel: Season 1 Source: Netflix Top 10 Viu (Top 10 shows) Pabila Dia Tersenyum Sugar Daddy The Haunted Palace Running Man (2025) Bidaah Crushology 101 Pump Up the Healthy Love Undercover High School Only for Love 以爱为营 Twinkling Watermelon Source: Viu Frontpage Top 10 songs of the week (Spotify) (May 14 to May 21) Fourtwnty – Mangu (w/ Charita Utami) Jin – Don't Say You Love Me JENNIE – like JENNIE yung kai – blue Billie Eilish – BIRDS OF A FEATHER sombr – back to friends Billie Eilish – WILDFLOWER Nadeera – Bukan Lagi Kita Lady Gaga – Die With A Smile (w/ Bruno Mars) Nadhif Basalamah – bergema sampai selamanya Top 10 Malay songs of the week (Spotify) (May 14 to May 21) Faris Adam – Stecu Stecu Ara Johari – Menjaga Jodoh Orang Lain Nadeera – Bukan Lagi Kita Noh Salleh – Rahsia Tuhan Imran Ajmain – Seribu Tahun Lagi MikkyZia, F4dli – Aku Dah Lupa Nuh – Teruntuk Mia Tenxi – Garam & Madu (Sakit Dadaku) (w/ Jemsi, Naykilla) NAKI, Fahimi – Masa Dayang Nurfaizah, Faizal Tahir, Tuju, Yonnyboii – X Missing U Source: and Spotify Top Songs Malaysia, Spotify Carta Malaysia 50 Top 10 books of the week (May 9 to May 15) Fiction King of Envy by Ana Huang (Bloom Books) Library of Lost Hearts by N.F. Afrina (N.F Afrina) The Tenant by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press) Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa (Harper Perennial) Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press) As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh (Bloomsbury) Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Pan Macmillan) Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (Piatkus) The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida (Orion) Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum (Bloomsbury) Non-Fiction Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson (St. Martin's Essentials) Atomic Habits by James Clear (Penguin Books) Once Upon a Miao 2 (Remastered): Crushes, Friendship & Chaos by Jian Goh (Space Voyager) Once Upon a Miao (Remastered): I Love My Hometown by Jian Goh (Space Voyager) The Not To-Do List by Rolf Dobelli (Atlantic Books ) I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee (Penerbit Haru) A Doctor in the House by Mahathir Mohamad (MPH Publishing) I'm Not Lazy, I'm on Energy Saving Mode by Dancing Snail (apop books) Ikigai by Héctor García & Francesc Miralles (Penguin Life) How Was Your Day by Cheeming Boey (Grey Pigeon) Mutiara Minda (Malay Novels) Thariq Ridzuwan Commando's: His Treasure by Hudanajwa (Idea Kreatif) Mi Linda by Hudanajwa (Idea Kreatif) Bukan Cinta Sempurna by Bellesa (Idea Kreatif) Rumah Untuk Alie by Lenn Liu (Media Inspirasi Nusantara Sdn Bhd) Rahsia Danny by Teme Abdullah (Iman Publication) Mi Diosa by Hudanajwa (Idea Kreatif) Tuan Ziyad: Forbidden Love by Bellesa (Idea Kreatif) Mi Veneno 1 by Hudanajwa (Idea Kreatif) Mi Veneno 2 by Hudanajwa (Idea Kreatif) Bayang Sofea by Teme Abdullah (Iman Publication) Source: MPH
Malay Mail
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Malay Mail's Top 10 Picks: ‘Final Destination: Bloodlines' takes the top spot at Malaysian cinemas, pushing past ‘Gayong' and ‘Blood Brothers: Bara Naga'
KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — Now in its sixth instalment, Final Destination: Bloodlines has not only claimed the No. 1 spot at the local box office but is also earning favourable reviews nationwide, with many calling it the best entry in the series. This slasher flick delivers a horrifying experience you won't want to miss — if you have the stomach for it, of course. But that's not all — local films are not just showing in cinemas, they are still dominating with titles like Gayong and yes, the action-packed Blood Brothers: Bara Naga continues to draw strong crowds. Whether you're into hit movies, trending shows, fresh music, or must-read books, Malay Mail has compiled the best of the week to keep you entertained. Top 10 films in local cinemas (Domestic & International) (May 15 to May 18) Final Destination Bloodlines Gayong Blood Brothers: Bara Naga Thunderbolts* Devil's Double Next Level A Gilded Game Maaman Until Dawn Tourist Family The Dumpling Queen Source: and GSC Top 10 streaming on Netflix and Viu (May 12 to May 18) Netflix (Top 10 TV) Tastefully Yours: Limited Series The Haunted Palace: Season 1 Resident Playbook: Limited Series Dear Hongrang: Season 1 Bet: Season 1 American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden: Season 1 The Royals: Season 1 Heavenly Ever After: Limited Series Weak Hero: Class 2 Ms. Rachel: Season 1 Source: Netflix Top 10 Viu (Top 10 shows) Pabila Dia Tersenyum Sugar Daddy The Haunted Palace Running Man (2025) Bidaah Crushology 101 Pump Up the Healthy Love Undercover High School Only for Love 以爱为营 Twinkling Watermelon Source: Viu Frontpage Top 10 songs of the week (Spotify) (May 14 to May 21) Fourtwnty – Mangu (w/ Charita Utami) Jin – Don't Say You Love Me JENNIE – like JENNIE yung kai – blue Billie Eilish – BIRDS OF A FEATHER sombr – back to friends Billie Eilish – WILDFLOWER Nadeera – Bukan Lagi Kita Lady Gaga – Die With A Smile (w/ Bruno Mars) Nadhif Basalamah – bergema sampai selamanya Top 10 Malay songs of the week (Spotify) (May 14 to May 21) Faris Adam – Stecu Stecu Ara Johari – Menjaga Jodoh Orang Lain Nadeera – Bukan Lagi Kita Noh Salleh – Rahsia Tuhan Imran Ajmain – Seribu Tahun Lagi MikkyZia, F4dli – Aku Dah Lupa Nuh – Teruntuk Mia Tenxi – Garam & Madu (Sakit Dadaku) (w/ Jemsi, Naykilla) NAKI, Fahimi – Masa Dayang Nurfaizah, Faizal Tahir, Tuju, Yonnyboii – X Missing U Source: and Spotify Top Songs Malaysia, Spotify Carta Malaysia 50 Top 10 books of the week (May 9 to May 15) Fiction King of Envy by Ana Huang (Bloom Books) Library of Lost Hearts by N.F. Afrina (N.F Afrina) The Tenant by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press) Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa (Harper Perennial) Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press) As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh (Bloomsbury) Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Pan Macmillan) Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (Piatkus) The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida (Orion) Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum (Bloomsbury) Non-Fiction Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson (St. Martin's Essentials) Atomic Habits by James Clear (Penguin Books) Once Upon a Miao 2 (Remastered): Crushes, Friendship & Chaos by Jian Goh (Space Voyager) Once Upon a Miao (Remastered): I Love My Hometown by Jian Goh (Space Voyager) The Not To-Do List by Rolf Dobelli (Atlantic Books ) I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee (Penerbit Haru) A Doctor in the House by Mahathir Mohamad (MPH Publishing) I'm Not Lazy, I'm on Energy Saving Mode by Dancing Snail (apop books) Ikigai by Héctor García & Francesc Miralles (Penguin Life) How Was Your Day by Cheeming Boey (Grey Pigeon) Mutiara Minda (Malay Novels) Thariq Ridzuwan Commando's: His Treasure by Hudanajwa (Idea Kreatif) Mi Linda by Hudanajwa (Idea Kreatif) Bukan Cinta Sempurna by Bellesa (Idea Kreatif) Rumah Untuk Alie by Lenn Liu (Media Inspirasi Nusantara Sdn Bhd) Rahsia Danny by Teme Abdullah (Iman Publication) Mi Diosa by Hudanajwa (Idea Kreatif) Tuan Ziyad: Forbidden Love by Bellesa (Idea Kreatif) Mi Veneno 1 by Hudanajwa (Idea Kreatif) Mi Veneno 2 by Hudanajwa (Idea Kreatif) Bayang Sofea by Teme Abdullah (Iman Publication) Source: MPH
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Fear Street: Prom Queen review – disappointing Netflix teen slasher
The Fear Street trilogy was one of the many casualties of the cinema-shuttering Covid pandemic, originally scheduled for an ambitious one-film-a-month summer release by Fox before being offloaded to Netflix. But while it was a little disappointing to see horror films made with such unusual cinematic flair released straight-to-smartphone, it was also a wise business decision, the unorthodox original strategy unlikely to have paid off. Based on the series of books by teen favourite RL Stine, the three films set up an exciting, expansive world, shifting between the 1660s to the 1970s to the 1990s, gliding from teen slasher to queer romance to supernatural fantasy and within a genre that typically fails to win critics over, they were surprise successes (each boasts a Rotten Tomatoes rating over 80%). It was a rousing win for writer-director Leigh Janiak, whose steady tonal balance of serious and silly showed so many others how it can and should be done, and it opened up a new universe of potentially interconnected horrors for Netflix, the first of which lands this week. Smartly, Fear Street: Prom Queen does not have quite as much on its plate, a simple standalone slasher with a tight focus on just one timeline. But that's where the smart decisions both start and end, a misfire not quite bad or powerful enough to undo Janiak's great work but one that questions whether the world of Fear Street is one we need to spend much more time exploring. If the introductory trilogy started us off on a thrilling journey, here we're brought to a sudden dead end. There was always going to be an inevitable aesthetic downturn, as we slide from studio to streamer, but the distractingly tinny feel of Prom Queen is a particularly bitter pill to swallow after how sleek and transporting the previous films had been. We're taken back to the 1980s for this instalment but it's all thin, theme party pastiche, overly reliant on hairstyles and needle drops to do all of the heavy lifting. The plot is equally thin, as high schoolers compete to be named prom queen before getting picked off one-by-one in a rushed 90-minute runtime. It's a face-off between good girl from the bad side of the street Lori (India Fowler) and bad girl from the good side of the street Tiffany (Fina Strazza). Comically both girls actually do live opposite each other on the same street, despite considerable architectural differences … The red flags start flying early, as Scottish writer-director Matt Palmer and co-writer Donald McLeary race through an ungainly infodump opener, introducing far too many characters far too soon, a superficial and ineffective introduction to the specifics of Shadyside high school politics. They sprint toward prom without any dynamic filled in enough for us to understand or care and the catty standoffs are so toothlessly written, that the film immediately fails at the teen comedy side of the Venn diagram. Sadly, the teen slasher side is almost as bad, poorly choreographed kills with zero suspense and a killer in a rubbishy dime store costume with only one entertainingly gory moment to wake us up (a victim trying to use a door handle after his hands have been chopped off). There's just no pace or atmosphere or, most importantly, fear to any of it. One of the many exciting surprises of the trilogy was the introduction of an outstanding young cast of mostly unknown faces, filled with so many standouts that the real MVP was casting director Carmen Cuba, who's previously worked with Larry Clark, Steven Soderbergh and Ridley Scott. She's returned to oversee but any luck has run out with none of the high schoolers breaking through (Anora and Until Dawn's Ella Rubin comes close but she's frustratingly sidelined) or even given the opportunity, their dialogue never rising above rote. The adults – Chris Klein, Lili Taylor and Katherine Waterston – fare slightly better but, aside from Klein, one wonders why they're even here. Prom Queen isn't just a disappointment because of what came before in the Fear Street universe but for what Palmer himself had previously done. His 2018 thriller Calibre was a remarkably gripping debut, an incredibly tense, watch-through-hands nightmare about a hunting trip gone horribly wrong (I highlighted it in the best underseen films of that year), but any edge he might have had has been smoothed out by the bland Netflix algorithm, his follow-up as anonymously milquetoast as streaming content gets. The fear is gone. Fear Street: Prom Queen is available on Netflix on 23 May
