Horror fans are in for a triple treat as Netflix’s Fear Street (a three-week horror event) starts this Friday on the streaming giant.
Helmed by Leigh Janiak (Honeymoon, “Scream”), based on three scripts adapted from R.L. Stine’s best-selling horror fiction series of the same name, and boasting a huge ensemble cast, the Fear Street trilogy wears some of the greatest eras of horror movies proudly on its sleeves.
Sharing some of her key influences, Janiak said: “For 1994, Scream stood above all rest – it’s peak ’90s horror and, I think, one of the most brilliant movies ever made, period. Then for 1978, I got to look at the heyday of slasher films — Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street. For 1666…I found the best inspiration for me lay in the beautiful world made rotten of Terence Malick’s The New World.”
The Fear Street saga first transports audiences back to 1994, when a group of teenagers discovers that a succession of terrifying events that have haunted their hometown of Shadyside, Ohio, for generations may all be linked – and that they may be the next victims. As the secrets behind the town’s curse are revealed, the trilogy traces Shadyside’s sinister history back various generations to 1666.
With the three films releasing globally on Netflix over three weeks starting with FEAR STREET PART 1: 1994 on July 2, FEAR STREET PART 2: 1978 on July 9 and ending with FEAR STREET PART 3: 1666 on July 16, SCREAM sat down with Gillian Jacobs (Come Play, Bad Milo!), Ashley Zukerman (“Designated Survivor”, “The Lost Symbol”) and Darrell Britt-Gibson (Judas and the Black Messiah, Silk Road) who discussed how much they reveled in being able to relive the ’90s all over again and dive into this R.L. Stine world that taps into all the R-rated fun of the genre’s history.
Words: Howard Gorman
