"Fear Street 1994 Part 1" Review: "Stranger Things" Meets "Friday The 13th" With A Dash Of "Scream" Thrown In

NetFlix just released part 1 of "Fear Street". Over three weeks, this series will cover the time periods 1994, 1978 and 1666. It is inspired by RL Stine's YA book series "Fear Street' (which never quite rose to the level of fame as his mega popular "Goosebumps" series).

In part 1, a group of teens in Shadyside (a town with a history of violence and tragedy) must fight for their lives as various entities try to kill them. The show starts with the typical "Scream" open. A girl is closing up at B Dalton's (remember those?) at the mall. Suddenly a masked killer appears. And you know the rest. Knocking off a big name name like Maya Hawke at the get-go is very reminiscent of Drew Barrymore's death in "Scream".

Next we're introduced to our YA cast. Thee's Deena (Kiana Madeia), her brother Josh (Benjamin Flores) and friends/pep club members/high school drug dealers Kate (Julia Rehwald) and Simon (Fred Hechinger).

The group travels to a football game against their sister city Sunnyvale. Everything in Sunnyvale is better than Shadyside. There's a major class and ethnic divide between the two. Sunnyvale is more affluent (read more white), has more prospects for upper mobility and even has a better town name.

We learn at a pregame memorial ceremony that the person Deena broke up with (Sam) is in fact a girl. Her parents got divorced and she was forced to move from Shadyside to Sunnyvale. Both ladies still obviously have major feels for each other. But cheerleader Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) is now with football player Peter (who is a real A Hole).

As with any horror movie, the killings dont stop with just one. Luckily brother Benjamin has an encyclopedic knowledge of the bad happenings in the town (and one of those bulletin boards with various newspaper clippings and strings connecting everything). Sara Feir was a witch killed back in the 1600s and she's been making the town pay for it every since. Over time she has instigated a number of otherwise law abiding citizens to go cray-cray and start killing people. The teens have to solve they mystery of how to defeat her without losing their heads.Next week we'll see a bit more of the backstory as the show travels to Camp Nightwing in 1978. And we all know how much killers love summer camps.

Grade: 4 1/4 Monsters (out of 5). So far I'm really digging this 1990s slasher throwback. The kids are fun to watch. The production values are high. And I'm loving the soundtrack. It's also great that the show features a same sex couple as it's protagonists. But given how slashers typically go, I'm not sure I'd get too attached to either of them. If you're looking for hard core horror, this isnt it. If you're looking for a fun YA slasher homage, check out "Fear Street".