This Netflix Slasher Trilogy Triggered Every Teenage Emotion We Had Locked Away

We sat down this week to do something a little different. It’s just Meaghan and Arthur holding down the fort, and rather than diving into a brand-new book adaptation or a buzzy literary release, we decided to revisit a franchise that’s already earned a place in our hearts: Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy.

With a brand-new entry, Fear Street: Prom Queen, hitting Netflix the same day this episode airs, it felt like the right time to go back, rewatch, and reflect on what made the trilogy stand out, and what we’re hoping for in the future.

Let’s be honest: we’re not just here for spooky nostalgia. We’re here because these movies had style, smarts, and something to say. And with summer release season heating up, we wanted to shine a little light on a series that really surprised us the first time around, and still holds up.

R.L. Stine’s Teen Terror Takes a New Form

The first thing we had to get out of the way was context. We assume most people have at least heard of Goosebumps, but the Fear Street series might be a little less familiar unless you were deep into teen horror paperbacks in the 80s and 90s.

R.L. Stine started with Goosebumps, a series that scared the pants off preteens (and some of us grown-ups, too), but Fear Street was always a little older, a little darker, and a little bloodier. Instead of haunted cameras and mischievous ventriloquist dummies, we got murder, possession, and real stakes.

That’s what Netflix leaned into when they adapted the franchise, not by picking a single book to bring to life, but by creating an entire storyline that borrows elements and vibes from the Fear Street universe.

The trilogy is set in the cursed town of Shadyside, Ohio, a town where things go wrong, and they go wrong often, usually with a pile of bodies left behind. The curse, it’s said, stems from a witch named Sarah Fier who was executed in 1666. Since then, Shadyside’s been plagued by violence and horror, with normal people turning into killers every few decades like clockwork.

What the trilogy does so well is layer the mystery. Each film takes place in a different time period; 1994, 1978, and 1666, and each adds a new perspective and deepens the central story. The idea that we’re just watching slasher flicks with different aesthetics gets turned on its head as we start to understand the real cause of the curse, the real villain behind it all, and how deep the manipulation of history and fear really runs.

Smart Horror With a Lot of Heart

We really have to hand it to the filmmakers: the trilogy isn’t just clever, it’s cohesive. The three films were released one week apart in the summer of 2021, and they feel like a unified whole despite being distinct in style and tone. Part of that cohesion comes from the fact that many of the actors appear across multiple films, playing different characters in different time periods. This helped maintain that feeling of continuity even as we were jumping from 1994 mall horror to 1666 colonial witch trials.

We loved how each film embraced the era it was set in. The 1994 entry leans heavily into Scream-style horror, complete with snarky, self-aware teens and some brutally inventive kills. The 1978 film gives us a full-on summer camp slasher, with major Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp energy. And the 1666 installment dives into early settler paranoia and moral panic, while giving us the true story behind Sarah Fier, and it’s not what we’ve been led to believe.

Beyond just horror homage, the trilogy digs into themes that still feel relevant. The first film