A scene from “Fear Street: Prom Queen.”
The new Netflix horror thriller Fear Street: Prom Queen from Goosebumps writer R.L. Stine is scaring away critics.
Rated R, Fear Street: Prom Queen debuted on the streaming platform on Friday. The logline for the film reads, “Welcome back to Shadyside. In this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the school’s wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown.
“But when a gutsy outsider puts herself in the running, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of ’88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.”
Directed by Matt Palmer, Fear Street: Prom Queen stars India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, Ariana Greenblatt, Katherine Waterston, Lili Taylor and Chris Klein. Palmer and Donald McLeary wrote the screenplay for Fear Street: Prom Queen, which is based on Stine’s 1992 book The Prom Queen.
Fear Street: Prom Queen is the fourth movie in Netflix’s Fear Street series, following three-part release of Fear Street: 1994, Fear Street: 1978 and Fear Street: 1666 in 2021.
As of Friday, Fear Street: Prom Queen has earned a 35% “rotten” rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics based on 31 reviews. The film is still awaiting an RT Critics Consensus.
Audiences gave Fear Street: Prom Queen a 46% “rotten” Popcornmeter score based on 50-plus reviews.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘Fear Street: Prom Queen’?
Nick Schager of The Daily Beast is among the top critics on RT who gives Fear Street: Prom Queen a “rotten” review, writing, “Cartoonishly gory and drearily unoriginal and predictable, it’s a collection of tired devices and shout-outs that plays like training wheels slasher cinema.”
The film also received a “rotten” rating on RT from Clint Worthington of RogerEbert.com, who writes, “Fear Street started as a series that tried to reinvent the wheel, even just by dint of its structure and nods to the innate curse of marginalization; this is empty-headed, straightforward slasher schlock on purpose.”
Derek Smith of Slant Magazine also gives Fear Street: Prom Queen a “rotten” review on RT, writing, “Like its predecessors, the film is an often awkward mix of YA drama and R-rated gore.”
William Bibbiani of The Wrap is the only top critic who has given the film a “fresh” review on RT to date, writing, Fear Street: Prom Queen is not the best Fear Street movie. But to be fair, it’s probably the third-best Prom Night.”
Rated R, Fear Street: Prom Queen is new on Netflix.
