Fourth Wall Breach

Netflix’s Fear Street Trilogy is like a great, creative campaign that unfolds, rather than launches.

Technically, they’re three connected horrors, inspired by R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series of Young Adult novels. I didn’t read these when I was younger, but I was an avid collector of Point Horror books, which feature many titles written by R.L. Stine, so their name is very nostalgic to me and synonymous with horror.

(I shamefully admit, I didn’t read or watch Goosebumps! Does watching Are You Afraid of the Dark? make it sound any better?)

Because the Fear Street Trilogy taps into nostalgia, I think it instantly attracted Gen Y/ Millennials, while the fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping-ness, and possibly Stranger Things vibes (including Sadie Sink being cast as Ziggy), brings in the Gen Z-ers.

At first, I was like, “What audience are these films meant for?” The answer? Both!

In case you haven’t see them, the Fear Street Part One: 1994, Fear Street Part Two: 1978, and Fear Street Part Three: 1666 adaptations are connected by three different time periods, with different groups of characters, blending three different styles of horror:

• The 90s supernatural teen chillers
• The 70s/80s summer camp slashers
• The gothic/folk/witchcraft-y horrors

The story in a nutshell?

A witch, Sarah Fier, has apparently damned the town of Shadyside with centuries of bloody mayhem and bad fortune since 1666, while their rivals from Sunnyvale prosper. In present day 1994, when a recent spate of murders shakes the Shadyside community, a group of teens must break the spell to survive when one of them is cursed. Their only hope? The sole survivor of the 1978 massacre…

Just to emphasise: it’s one story, across three chapters, released as a whole Netflix “event.”

And that’s what fascinated me the most.

The event-ness…