Popular among teenage readers and horror connoisseurs alike, was Fear Street: R.L. Stine’s classic horror series of the late twentieth century. First launched in 1989, the Fear Street series comprised some of the most classic horror tropes, from eery haunted houses to murder mysteries. The characters and storylines are more mature than Stine’s Goosebumps series.

Shadyside is the town in which all three of the Fear Street movies of the Fear Street Trilogy and all original books from the series take place. Released at separate times in July of 2021, the movies are only an inspiration of the original book series, with the town of Shadyside and the Fier and Goode families being the common thread between the three movies.

The first movie, Fear Street Part One: 1994, takes place in a town riddled with murder and crime. A team of teenagers, Deena, Kate, Sam, Josh, and Simon, soon unravel the real meaning behind these murders and find that all is not what it may seem. The murders connect the first movie with the second, Fear Street Part Two: 1978.

The second movie follows the classic summer camp trope at Camp Nightwing. Over the course of a couple days Nightwing becomes the scene of a bloody massacre seemingly at the hands of an ax-wielding camp counselor. Later the movie flashes forward to one Deena and Josh (in 1994 Shadyside), who are being told the story by one of the few remaining victims left from the massacre. Then it is up to Deena to uncover the rest of the mystery, flashing her hundreds of years backward to 1666.

The third, and last, movie is Fear Street Part Three: 1666. It takes place in a colonial town riddled with famine and strife. As the town starts to unravel under the pressure of exposing a supposed witch, Sarah Fier, the town is struck with its first massacre. As soon as Fier is executed, the movie flashes forward to 1994 Shadyside and finishes strong as Deena and her gang of ragtag fighters uncover the real antagonists of the Fear Street Trilogy– and it is not who the audience would expect.

The Fear Street movies combine the classic horror movie feeling with intricate storytelling and a complex web of characters. This is what makes it stand out from other teen horrors. The three movies were shot in just 106 days, making the acting and cinematography just that more powerful. The movies are streamable through Netflix. They are instant horror classics for any horror fanatic, rewatchable and just as scary the first time as they are the rest.