By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The R.L. Stine franchise has been filmed as a time-jumping trilogy of terror.
Netflix will premiere the FEAR STREET TRILOGY, based on Stine’s best-selling book series, on three consecutive Fridays: PART 1: 1994 (pictured) on July 2, PART 2: 1978 on July 9 and PART 3: 1666 on July 16. All three movies were directed by Leigh Janiak (HONEYMOON), who scripted with Phil Graziadei (PART 1), Zak Olkewicz (PART 2) and Graziadei and Kate Trefry (PART 3). The casts are headed by Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Sadie Sink (STRANGER THINGS), Emily Rudd, Ryan Simpkins (SURVEILLANCE, ANGUISH), Ashley Zukerman and Gillian Jacobs. The synopses:
“FEAR STREET PART 1: 1994: A circle of teenage friends accidentally encounter the ancient evil responsible for a series of brutal murders that have plagued their town for over 300 years. Welcome to Shadyside.
FEAR STREET PART 2: 1978: Shadyside, 1978. School’s out for summer and the activities at Camp Nightwing are about to begin. But when another Shadysider is possessed with the urge to kill, the fun in the sun becomes a gruesome fight for survival.
FEAR STREET PART 3: 1666: The origins of Sarah Fier’s curse are finally revealed as history comes full circle on a night that changes the lives of Shadysiders forever.”
“As a filmmaker making FEAR STREET, but also just as a movie lover,” Janiak says, “I was so excited to pay homage to some of the great eras of horror movies. For 1994, SCREAM stood above all the rest–it’s peak ’90s horror and, I think, one of the most brilliant movies ever made, period. Then for 1978, I got to look at the heyday of slasher films–FRIDAY THE 13TH, HALLOWEEN, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. For 1666…I found the best inspiration for me lay in the beautiful world made rotten of Terence Malick’s THE NEW WORLD.”
Adds Stine, “The thing that ties FEAR STREET to people all over the world is that we all have the same fears. It doesn’t matter what country you’re in, everyone is afraid of the dark, or afraid somebody’s lurking in the closet, or afraid of being in some strange new place they’ve never been before. We all have the same fears.”
