We Now Know What Netflix's Next Fear Street Movie is About
Welcome back to the spooky side of the street.
Netflix is no stranger to experimental releases, from making an interactive Black Mirror episode to its attempts at walking back the binge-release schedule that made it famous. While perhaps not as memorable, the streamer tried to launch a horror movie franchise in a unique way back in July 2021. Over the course of three weeks, Netflix released the Fear Street trilogy, three movies set in three different times that told a spooky story based on the classic teen horror novels by R.L. Stine.
The idea was a modest success, and now, almost three years later, Netflix is returning for one more tale, this one inspired by Fear Street #15: The Prom Queen.
Watch out: a serial murderer is targeting the prom court.
Word came from R.L. Stine himself, who made the announcement on Twitter. This is a notable shift in strategy: while the first three Fear Street movies took general ideas from the series instead of adapting specific books, this is a standalone film that will fully cover one book, which follows a prom court trying to find the person murdering them one by one.
In November 2023, Netflix Head of Film Scott Stuber told Collider that a standalone movie would be the future of the franchise, so don’t count on The Prom Queen being another start to a trilogy. But aside from the source material, we don’t know much more yet.
While the first three Fear Street movies formed a narrative around accused witch Sarah Fier, The Prom Queen seems to be a standalone.
This blank slate gives Netflix some new opportunities. While the trilogy was set in 1666, 1978, and 1994, a new movie could be set in the present day to set itself apart from the previous period pieces (and to avoid the book’s incessant references to Madonna and Christian Slater).
It’s unclear if this movie will tie into the lore of Sarah Fier, the innocent victim of a witch hunt who haunted the previous Fear Street movies. Considering the source material, it’s more likely to take its influence from films like Prom Night and Carrie. But even if it’s just a one-off adventure, any stroll down Fear Street is welcome.
