Netflix’s “Fear Street” trilogy from 2021 was a fascinating experiment: A trio of horror films, all released within weeks of each other, functioning with the serialized rhythms of television. They weren’t bound to revolutionize the genre, but thanks to a capable cast, some inventive period pastiches from the 1660s to the 1990s, and some beautifully assured direction from “Honeymoon”‘s Leigh Janiak, they ended up being a bit more than the sum of their severed body parts. High off that success, Netflix is headed back to the “Fear Street” well with “Prom Queen,” an ’80s-inspired slasher that, unlike the prior films, is actually based on one of R.L. Stine’s books from his acclaimed YA horror series. Problem is, this doesn’t reinvent the formula as much as follows it by rote, which makes it an enormous step down.
Set in 1988, “Prom Queen” takes place at the high school of one of “Fear Street”‘s sister towns, the underdog Shadyside; forever humbled by their privileged compatriots at Sunnyvale, the faculty and students are set to make this year’s prom the most impressive yet. And, like so many ’80s high school movies, nothing is more important to the social fabric of the student body than who will be dubbed prom queen. Most people think it’ll be Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza), the Regina George of the place, or one of her coterie of mean girls (dubbed the “Wolfpack”).
But among her competitors is poor Lori Granger (India Fowler), constantly bullied for her family history, which involves her mother allegedly killing her deadbeat dad some years ago. Her only bestie is Megan (Suzanna Son), a gore effects genius who’s so ride-or-die for Lori she’ll fake an arm amputation in class just to spook her bullies. Aided by small-town animus and the nagging feeling that Lori has her eyes on her boyfriend, Tyler (David Iacono), Tiffany wants to find any means necessary to best her rival. That might get taken care of for her, though, considering a madman in a mask and red rain poncho (looking like a cross between “Squid Game” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer”) is taking all manner of power tools and sharp implements to all of the other prom queen candidates.
The first, and most notable, downgrade comes from following Janiak with “Calibre” director Matt Palmer, who doesn’t seem to have quite the same command of suspense, blocking, and direction of actors as his predecessor. Where the other “Fear Streets” managed to find some balance between building a cast/story and merely aping the periods they’re set in (and, in so doing, the horror films that inspired them), “Prom Queen” leans hard on the ’80s nostalgia button. Costumes are so garish, the needle drops so incessant (right down to an awkward dance off set to “Gloria” that’s perhaps a callback to the extended disco sequence in “Prom Night”), that the whole thing feels less like reinvention and more like emulation. Less attention is paid to characterization, despite weaving a convoluted mythology around Lori and the feuding families of the town. Visually, there’s both too much effort to emulate the grainy look of these ’80s slashers and not enough, mainly amounting to modern digital photography with some filters thrown in.
Granted, there are a few novel thrills peppered among the paper-thin characters; when Palmer sees fit to drop the limp writing and just skitter one or two teens away in a corner to canoodle, our killer has some suitably gnarly surprises for them. One early kill involving a paper cutter gets two thumbs up (that is, if one still has hands to raise them), and a buzzsaw to a face gets particularly juicy. This is the kind of horror flick where anything vaguely pointy can impale you if you land on it the wrong way, or falling backwards into any old circuit breaker will shoot deadly lightning through your body. In those intermittent moments, “Prom Queen” delivers, though sadly nothing will top the bread-machine kill from “Part I.”
It’s when the film tries to slow down and take its myriad plot threads seriously that even the brisk 90-minute runtime starts to feel long. The supporting cast flounders, really, apart from Katherine Waterston and Chris Klein as Tiffany’s snooty parents in small bursts; Lili Taylor, as the stern vice principal, is especially slumming it. The rare bright spot comes from Son, who plays Megan’s over-enthusiastic codependence with just a hint of edge, so much so that you just might suspect how far she might go to support her friend’s bid for prom queen.
“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. That’s all well and good in some contexts, but if that’s what you want, why not just watch one of the classics instead?
