Watch The Opening Scene Of Fear Street: 1994
There are certain authors who are synonymous with horror storytelling: Stephen King, Clive Barker, Shirley Jackson, Mary Shelley, and a host of others. But when it comes to horror books for young readers, arguably the most well-known name in the game is R.L. Stine.
Stine is best known for his anthology of supernatural books, "Goosebumps," but more recently people have been reminded of his other, slightly darker, more adult series — "Fear Street." The series which began in 1989, focuses on the fictional city of Shadyside and, in particular, the titular Fear Street. Fear Street is named after a family who was supposedly cursed in the Puritan era when Simon Fier puts an innocent mother and daughter to death for witchcraft. From that point on the Fier family (who changes their name to "Fear") is cursed, as is the town of Shadyside where the family once resided.
It's been a long time since the first "Fear Street" novels were released, but the franchise is finding new life on Netflix with a trilogy of films set to release once a week in July. The first film, "Fear Street Part One: 1994," begins streaming July 2, and Netflix just released the first five minutes.
Let's check out the trailer together, and discuss some of its best moments.
Fear Street's opening scene is a Wes Craven-palooza
"It began as a prank and ended in murder" are the first words we hear at the start of "Fear Street Part One: 1994," and they are apt ones because they are also the words on the cover of the fifth "Fear Street" novel, "The Wrong Number," originally published in 1990. We see the book itself, however Stine's name appears nowhere on it.
The speaker is star of "Stranger Things" and Scoops Ahoy employee Maya Hawke — her casting (as well as her character's name "Heather") will become important later. Heather works in the mall at a bookstore called "B. Dalton's," and, yes, that was a real chain of book stores which was popular in malls in the '90s and is long since out of business. Mall culture and Heather's mesh top-floral dress combo aren't the only things designed to let us know this is 1994. On the overhead speakers, we hear Nine Inch Nail's classic song "Closer," which was released to critical acclaim in 1994.
Heather is closing up shop when she is frightened by her friend Ryan. He also wants us to know we are in a mall in 1994, as he is holding the kind of blow up doll you'd find at any Spencer's Gifts and drinking the ultimate mall beverage: Orange Julius. The rest of the scene is spent with Heather being chased and likely killed by a villain in a skeleton mask. This opening scene is likely an homage to Wes Craven's '90s slasher "Scream" which features a very famous Drew Barrymore being killed by Ghostface in its opening sequence.
Hawke is famous on Netflix due to her involvement with "Stranger Things," but, also her character Heather is likely named after Heather Langenkamp, star of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" — another Wes Craven film. It's a nice way of letting us know that, while this scene does play out like a classic slasher film, "Fear Street" — much like "A Nightmare on Elm Street" — deals with a supernatural curse on the people in its town. Elm Street was cursed by Freddy Krueger, but who precisely is cursing Fear Street and the rest of Shadyside?
We'll find out when "Fear Street Part One: 1994" streams to Netflix beginning July 2.