For those born in the ’90s, ’70s and 1600s (teehee), you’re in for a huge dollop of nostalgia injected right into your eyeballs.
The first of the Fear Street trilogy has officially dropped on Netflix (July 2), with the second and third instalment landing every Friday to round out three weeks of pants-shitting scares.
A quick recap: the legendary Fear Street series from R.L. Stine has copped not one, but three movies that loosely follow certain plotlines from Stine’s huge back-catalogue.
With an MA15+ rating, these movies are packed to the brim with death, decay and destruction, albeit set to the whimsically nostalgic backdrop of our fondest eras (minus the 1600s, I’m not too familiar with how much whimsy went down a bajillion years ago).
Each movie in the trilogy — Fear Street Part 1: 1994, Fear Street Part 2: 1978 and Fear Street Part 3: 1666 — all share a common theme of Shadyside residents being plagued by an ancient curse that turns unwitting people into straight-up serial killers, with the last instalment serving as an explainer of the curse’s origin.
This is a spoiler-free zone, but here are a few fun little Easter eggs spotted throughout the trilogy:
Camp Nightwing
The most direct Easter egg off the bat is found in the name of the summer camp during the second movie, Camp Nightwing.
The name is a direct reference to the 12th book of the Fear Street series, Lights Out, where tweens, teens and everyone in between is terrorised at a place also called Camp Nightwing.
Coincidence? Not a chance.
Robert Lawrence
I spy with my bleeding eye, a little not-so-subtle nod to R.L Stine’s in-universe pen name, Robert Lawrence (who both share the same acronyms).
It’s worth noting that R.L quite literally stands for Robert Lawrence, too, but it’s a cute reference that could easily be missed by the casual fan, so it’s definitely worth noting.
A nod to Carrie
During Fear Street Part 2: 1978, there’s a scene that follows a certain student getting back on another certain student (again, no spoilers), by crafting a plan to pour red paint over the victim’s head.
At one point, another student walks in and sees the plan being devised, simply saying, “Carry on”.
Carry on. Carrie on. Get it? Not to mention the Sissy Spacek-starring movie came out a year prior to when Fear Street Part 2 is set.
Need further proof? The brains behind this plan also casually says, “Well I don’t have pigs handy, do I?” which has to be a call-out to the students in Carrie who pour literal pig’s blood over poor Carrie’s head.
She did go on to kill half the town but still, I did feel sorry for her in that moment. Kill ’em all, I say.
Neon neon, everywhere
Enough said — that’s essentially R.L. Stine’s signature in one freeze-frame.
Scream-esque cold open
In the opening scene of the very first Fear Street instalment, the protagonist’s five-minute nail-biting altercation with a masked Stabber McGee is purposely reminiscent of the opening scene in the very first Scream instalment with Drew Barrymore.
Not only do they both lull you into a false sense of security (she’s the starring actress, surely she won’t die!), they’re both set in the ’90s. Well, Scream was also made in the ’90s, but y’know, the point still stands.
Halloween Nights 2
Another nod to the books, the murderer in the first movie bears a striking resemblance to the villain in another of R.L. Stine’s Fear Street books, Halloween Nights 2 (pictured above).
If you wanna have a peruse of the trailer before you watch the trilogy, go nuts:
You can watch the first Fear Street instalment right now, with Fear Street Part 2 dropping on July 9 and Fear Street Part 3 landing on July 16.
Hug your friends and kiss your pets, you’re in for a world of pain.
