"Fear Street"... 3 timelines... 3 movies

FEAR STREET PART ONE: 1994 has likable characters and a couple of subversive plot twists, but there are too many jump scares, some of the dialogue is awful, and Marco Beltrami and Marcus Trumpp's music score is intrusive.
5/10


Stories that take place over the course of many years are usually told in chronological order, in order to feel like a sprawling epic. Can it work if it's told backwards? Yes, as long as it's a form of world-building rather than a gimmick and as long as the different settings remain as connected as possible. And that leads us to FEAR STREET PART TWO: 1978. While it reveals relevant facts, the '90s characters could've explained them. It introduces new characters that don't end up playing a bigger role and it presents younger versions of characters we already know. Therefore, this middle chapter doesn't move the overarching story forward. That being said, it has the right elements to be entertaining. In fact, Sadie Sink gives the performance of the trilogy. The music score (now composed by Beltrami and Brandon Roberts) is much more tolerable, but it feels like songs of the era are jammed into the movie. Seriously, one will start immediately after the other.
5/10


You know how horror movies about curses feature a brief flashback explaining the origin of this supernatural event? Turning that into half of a movie and the other half into the continuation of present day events is the craziest idea I've heard in a long time... but once again, the right pieces were in their places during the making of FEAR STREET PART THREE: 1666. Unlike the previous installment, there was no way to include younger versions of characters we already know. Instead of that, the world-building is taken one step further. We don't see a real flashback but a vision where Deena Johnson (Josh's sister) is inside the body of Sarah Fier (the evil witch). She's an observer while everything plays out like it really did. Because of this, actress Kiana Madeira is the one we see on the screen. What confuses me is that a lot of the characters from the past (who by the way say each other's names just for the benefit of the audience and it feels unnatural) are played by the main actors of the entire trilogy. Is it because they're the ancestors? But we see people of different ethnicities and there's nothing to indicate it was a form of blind casting with a hidden meaning (like HAMILTON). Maybe it's just part of the vision and in actuality they all had completely different faces... but why would Sarah do that? To draw parallels between her life and Deena's? Is seeing things from her perspective not enough? I also don't believe that Deena's subconscious caused this, because some of those faces belong to individuals that Deena has no real attachment to. Not to mention the actors from the 2nd installment, i.e. a time period that she didn't experience. Anyway, Trumpp is back working with Beltrami and they're now joined by Anna Drubich. They've written some amazing tracks... but of course, the story needs to return to 1994 and we're back to the music that makes everything obvious (although it's less annoying compared to the 1st installment). Something that's more consistent between the 2 time periods is Caleb Heymann's cinematography. The past has great shot compositions and the present has beautiful lighting.
5/10
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You can read comments of other movies in my blog.

I didn't really care for those movies that much, but the most interesting aspect, by far, was the different period pieces being linked.. even though they didn't really pull any of them off.

Without that I don't see it having the same appeal at all.