‘Fear Street Part Three: 1666’ Review: “A Fun and Fulfilling End”
Fear Street has been ongoing for three weeks, and we finally have our conclusion. We have seen director Leigh Janiak draw inspiration from the slasher films of the 1990s as well as the 1970s. The amount of nostalgia we got in three weeks is incredible. The third film, Fear Street Part Three: 1666, is kind of a mash between The Crucible, The Cabin in the Woods, and Scream. It’s so fun and ambitious that it kind of debunks the entire “Netflix isn’t willing to go there” theory. They clearly didn’t put Janiak on a leash, and they let her have her way.
The last time we saw Deena (Kiana Madeira), she had been sent into the past as Sarah Fier, the woman who supposedly put a curse on Shadyside. 1666 shows the events that led up to Sarah’s eventual hanging. Was Sarah actually a witch or was she convicted of a crime due to pure ignorance and hatred? There is a lot jam-packed into this film as we see all the main actors of the film come back in 1666 as different settlers.
After seeing what really happened to Sarah Fier, Deena tells her brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) and Ziggy (Gillian Jacobs) what happened. The trio recruits Martin (Darrell Britt-Gibson), the gentleman that Sheriff Goode had arrested in 1994. They all band together to defeat the evil that has cursed their town and holds the soul of Deena’s girlfriend Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) hostage. Whether they accomplish their goal or not, you’ll have to watch the film to find out!
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This is a series in which the films get better as the story progresses. For this installment, Kate Trefry joins Janiak and co-writer Phil Graziadei in writing the screenplay. They do a grand job implementing plenty of twists and turns, but they also give you that fear factor. I think that is one of the main things that Fear Street does well. They don’t focus on jump scares alone, they genuinely try to scare their audience. Something that those slasher films from the 70s-90s accomplished with ease.
The acting has been great in the series across the board, but with this film specifically, it was superb. McCabe Slye, who portrayed Tommy Slater in 1978, played Mad Thomas in 1666 and he was damn good. Along with the performances from Michael Chandler (Pastor Miller), Ashley Zukerman (Solomon Goode), and Welch (Hannah Miller). Janiak is a great director with an amazing vision. Her writing and directing truly guided this series through and through, and they stuck the landing. Other than the campiness and hint of corniness that comes with the territory of 90s based slasher films, this was a really good series.
Overall, the Fear Street trilogy may be one of the best originals Netflix puts out this year. It’s a fun, thought-provoking series that I think everybody can enjoy. It’s the horror films we grew up with in modern form. The team for this film definitely knew their target audience and hit the nail on the head. To all the big studios out there: this is what you get when you let directors have creative freedom. – Rascal F. Kennedy
Rating: 8/10
Fear Street Part Three: 1666 is now streaming on Netflix!!