Reader beware

10 iconic Fear Street covers from the classic horror series

“Don’t open that door!”

by Robin Bea

From the original book series to the new Netflix slasher trilogy, Fear Street has been terrifying teens for three decades.

To celebrate the long-running series’ latest incarnation, we’re taking a look back at some of the best covers from the Fear Street books.

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Here are the 10 most iconic covers from R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series.

10. The New Girl

Fear Street started in 1989 with The New Girl. It’s not clear whether putting a girl who looks like she’s auditioning for the “Thriller” music video on the cover helped, but we have to imagine it did.

9. Silent Night 2

Like a certain similarly titled Christmas horror movie, Silent Night 2 leans into the implicit creepiness of Santa Claus, though presumably with fewer sex scenes involving nuns.

8. Missing

While it’s lacking in the title department, Missing more than makes up for it with incredible ‘90s fashion and inexplicable poses.

7. Children of Fear

The Boxcar Children in the background don’t seem to be having a very good time, but we would read a whole series about the adventures of this sinister girl and her chill snake.

6. House of Whispers

House of Whispers wastes absolutely no time getting to the action, with a woman being thrown out a top-floor window before you even hit the first page.

5. Bad Moonlight

Despite looking like a horror take on the Three Wolf Moon shirt, the colors on the Bad Moonlight cover actually do a great job of making it stand out from any other horror title.

4. The Face

The repeated stony expression on the eponymous face is great, but the best part of this cover is the implication that the artist only noticed something strange was going on after her eighth time drawing it.

3. The Secret Bedroom

The composition, the girl’s shocked expression, and the extremely specific wallpaper all make this a totally effective cover. Still, our heroine could have saved herself a lot of trouble by knocking first.

2. Broken Hearts

Sometimes, Fear Street delves into cheesy supernatural scares. Other times, it leans on legitimately upsetting real-world horror like murderous stalkers. Broken Hearts is firmly in the latter camp, making it nightmarishly memorable.

1. The Prom Queen

This one’s so great there’s nothing snarky to say about it. It’s just one of many examples of how good R.L. Stine was at turning teenage anxieties about looks and popularity into deadly monsters.

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