Fear Street Part One: 1994

I was told this was a refreshing, retro take on the slasher genre. I was told wrong. Whatever novelty the source material had does not translate here beyond the fantastical but easily comprehensible lore, though this could’ve easily worked without the license. The soundtrack rapidly shifts between licensed music and scare notes in a manner that suggests what would happen if Baz Luhrmann made a horror flick, the kids are uninteresting stereotypes, and there’s only one instance of violence that looked the result of inspiration. Boring, weak, and terrible, though far from the worst film I’ve seen this year, unfortunately.

3