An Uneven Return to Shadyside High with the Creatively Gory Fear Street: Prom Queen
It’s time for prom at Shadyside High, and all of the class of 1988 “it” girls are gunning to be queen. Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza) is the unquestioned frontrunner, especially as she’s got the other four members of her close-knit clique running alongside her to guarantee she gets the majority of the votes. Dark horse candidates also running include local “bad” girl Christy Renault (Ariana Greenblatt) and frequently bullied nobody Lori Granger (India Fowler).
The latter is considered the longest of longshots because, not only does she have only one real friend at school, moody gender-nonconforming malcontent Megan Rogers (Suzanna Son), but it is heavily rumored that Lori’s mother murdered her father on prom night 18 years prior. But the teenager is tired of being a nobody. She wants to stand out and for her classmates to notice her, and confidently running for prom queen seems like as good a way as any to make that happen.
Director Matt Palmer takes audiences back to the world of author R.L. Stine’s Fear Street with his gory horror-comedy Fear Street: Prom Queen, and even though this latest installment in the franchise is set eight years before the events of Fear Street: Part Three – 1666 revealed the truth behind the curse afflicting the town of Shadyside, Sarah Fier is nowhere to be found. Instead, an all-too-human terror is stalking the candidates, and it’s up to Lori and Megan to figure out what is going on and why before their heads get added to the chopping block.
This latest installment in the Netflix franchise must be judged on its own merits. When compared to the 2021 trilogy directed with flair, irreverence, and character-driven vitality by Leigh Janiak, Prom Queen comes up woefully short. But when taken as its own thing, if looked at as a low-budget slasher throwback that’s like some unintended second cousin to 1980’s Prom Night or 1984’s Fatal Games, Palmer’s spin-off can be a great deal of fun.
Unfortunately, that does make for a highly uneven ride. Where the prior threesome of features did an outstanding job of creating multidimensional characters who were worth caring about, rooting for, and getting somewhat teary-eyed over when some (most?) of them ended up being slipped through a bread slicer or chopped to bits by an axe, here they are nothing more than one-dimensional lambs set up for the slaughter. There’s little reason to get emotionally invested in what’s going on. More, if not for the winning performances delivered by Fowler and Son, and coupled with a sublime climax that overflows in creatively grotesque carnage, I don’t think there would be much here I’d want to spend too much effort talking about.
But the two actors are wonderful, especially Son. So terrific in Sean Baker’s Red Rocket, she steals practically every scene she’s a part of. Megan is the most interesting character in the film, her trailblazing ferocity to fearlessly walk her own path while still secretly harboring insecurities and social anxieties similar to those all the prom queen candidates are dealing with is strikingly human. Son makes this teenager incredibly easy to relate to, and it’s something of a minor shame her character isn’t the one all of this craziness revolves around.
Fowler is also quite good, and even if Lori isn’t anywhere near as interesting as Megan, the actor still does a fine job of making viewers care about her. She brings a wounded authenticity to her performance that resonated with me. Better yet, even as Lori’s resilience and determination to be prom queen grows, even when she makes mistakes as it pertains to her friendship with Megan, the youngster never loses sight of her own empathetic nature. Fowler gives all of this life and does so with vibrant dexterity. As final girls go, her potential survival is well worth rooting for.
I just wish I could say the same for any one of the other characters. While Palmer has assembled a talented ensemble, neither he nor his co-screenwriter Donald McLeary have given the majority of them anything all that interesting to do. If individual actors like Strazza or a delightfully freewheeling Katherine Waterston rise above the fray, it’s through sheer force of magnetic will more than it is anything else. Fellow supporting players like Greenblatt, Rebecca Ablack, and, most frustratingly of all, Lili Taylor are all but wasted, and not even a game Chris Klein going endearingly back to his American Pie roots as a doofus adult with selfishly adolescent desires can make a lasting imprint upon the proceedings.
Still, the final act is an inventive whirlwind of cartoonish butchery and dismembered insanity. Palmer pulls out all the stops, and Fowler, Son, and Strazza are all up to the challenge of throwing themselves into the blood-splattered foolishness with courageous aplomb. While the identity of the villain knocking off the prom queen candidates is obvious, the sheer uninhibited Road Runner meets Wile E. Coyote excitement of the climax remains delightfully infectious. For that reason alone, Fear Street: Prom Queen deserves to wear its horror tiara with pride.
Film Rating: 2½ (out of 4)
