FEAR STREET PART THREE, 1666.
US, 2021, 114 minutes, Colour.
Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Ashley Zuckerman, Gillian Jacobs, Elizabeth Scopel, Benjamin FloresJr, Fred Hechinger, Sadie Sink, Michael Chandler.
Directed by Leigh Janiak.
This third part in the trilogy takes up where Part Two finished, which, in turn, had taken up where Part One finished. This means that the whole focus is on 1994 and the episodes in 1978 and 1666 are flashbacks. After one hour into this film, with its recreation of the village and its superstitions and fears in 1666, announces Part Two, Fear Street 1994.
Deena and Josh have sought out the advice of C. Berman who has told them the story of 1978. Now Deena has visions of the past. In terms of audience interest, the younger audiences probably prefer the slasher aspects of the first two parts. Older audiences, with memories of such stories as The Crucible, may find the first part and its recreation of 1666 much more interesting.
The main stars still appear as themselves but, in 1666, take on the characters of the period, especially Deena becoming Sarah Fier, with the chief of police, Goode, becoming Solomon Goode in the past.
The film pays great attention to the recreation of the village and the period, isolated, the houses, the assembly hall and church, the mysterious trees out in the woods, mysterious huts, and basements and sinister tunnels underneath the town.
While the audience will be expecting to see the story of Sarah Fier, who is played by Kiana Madeira, identifying Deena with Sarah, there are twists in the plot. The townspeople are superstitious with the witches, are easily stirred against them. There are sinister goings on with the Minister standing in his pulpit his eyes gouged and members of the congregation similarly eye-gouged. There are rabble rousers amongst the population. And there is a mysterious widow who is found dead. The lesbian theme is also to the fore, Sarah and her attraction towards another girl in the town, Hannah. They have a rendezvous in the woods.
Sarah relies on the town leader, Solomon Goode, who stands by her, but is eventually revealed as the arch-villain, killing enemies, reading the book of curses, retiring to the basement and tunnels where he does the incantations, especially in choosing killers and their names being scratched on the wall. He leads the populace against Sarah and Hannah, their being condemned, but Sarah taking the full blame with Hannah released. Sarah is hanged.
With the return to 1994, Deena and Josh, with the help of C. Berman, discover the truth, devise a plan to confront Nick Goode, which involves a set up in the mall, spraypaint, guns, the resurrection of other killers and their being sprayed, their turning against each other, action in the mall, but Deena going down to the tunnels below to confront and destroy Nick Goode. Ultimately, she does, and the names of the killers vanish from the walls.
The film and the trilogy portray the mayhem but also trace back the mayhem to its origins and superstitions, fears, pacts with the devil…
