Imagine Pennywise the clown from It had friends … and they all came to this crappy one-horse town party every twenty years or so … a town called Shadyside. I like that geography. Shadyside, you see, is Sunnyvale’s poor twin. There’s a small-town rivalry between the two. There’s not only an “across the tracks” feel to the name that goes hand-in-hand with an inferiority complex; it also seems right in line with the “Buffy” world.
Not only is Shadyside … shall we say … shadier, it also has all the serial killers. And like serial killer Pennywise, they’re kinda immortal and they kinda come out periodically. Unlike Pennywise, they multiply. Fear Street: Part One – 1994 opens with a possessed teenager knifing a few mall stragglers before the police shoot him dead. Worth note that “dead” is not terribly permanent in the Fear Street world. It’s more like being “asleep” or “bored” or “hungry.” The evil in this town doesn’t stay dead long.
There’s a rumor of a town curse dating back to 1666. I dunno why periodic deaths haven’t made anybody investigate the “rumor,” but if they did, the town might know what to do and we can’t have that. A homecoming mourning ceremony temporarily unites Sunnyvale and Shadyside, but you know how vigils held midfield at a football game always end in a brawl. Exacerbated by the town feud, star-crossed exes Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) sorta forget they broke up … right up to the moment where Sam’s new boyfriend Peter, a Sunnyvale BMOC, shows. Peter and his wolves (to Sam’s objections) follow and taunt the Shadyside school bus. Kids playing at home …don’t taunt a bus with a car. Just don’t. In the accident that follows, Sam’s blood gets all over the rumor’s burial site, and pretty soon, Hell comes to Shadyside. Again.
And it’s not the witch herself but instead witch-inspired serial killers from several different 
eras of Shadyside history who show up to collect teen corpses. I wonder if they exchange notes or talk up their exploits. I mean, wouldn’t you? “I was gutting this one kid and hit bone and then the knife stuck! What are you supposed to do?”
I cannot say I loved the parade of serial killers; I mean, one’s enough, right? But I did love three things about Fear Street: Part One – 1994 – 1) It wasn’t afraid to kill off people we liked, unceremoniously, without fanfare, and quickly in succession. I think it takes a lot of spilled guts to kill a character we were just becoming fond of. 2) It allowed the kids to have personalities. Very few slasher films care who is being carved up at any time, and it shows. That’s the biggest reason why slasher films suck, because it’s 100% about the body count and 0% about anything else. 3) It allowed the kids to plan and fight back. Well, what would you do if four immortal killers were out to slice you up? Would you sit and wait for it to happen or would you make a plan?
Fear Street: Part One – 1994 was definitely better than it should have been and made me want to the sequels almost immediately. I can’t say that about more than, say, two or three horror films I’ve ever seen. Yes, this is a slasher film; but this one has a brain and a personality. Again, how many slasher films can you say that about?
A small town has timely concerns
Several killers are back, it now learns
Everybody’s got a knife
There just isn’t enough life
I’m afraid you’ll just have to take turns
Rated R, 107 Minutes
Director: Leigh Janiak
Writer: Kyle Killen, Phil Graziadel
Genre: Many, many sharp edges
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Horror junkies
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: The blood shy
