‘Fear Street: Prom Queen’ Review: Franchise Growing Pains Can’t Hold Back Matt Palmer’s Gnarly Winner

The director and final girl India Fowler prove worthy protectors of Netflix's beloved R.L. Stine series.

Can an even meaner “Carrie” actually end well for the prom queen? In Netflix’s new “Fear Street” adaptation, Matt Palmer argues yes and no with a whip-smart teen horror movie co-written by the director and Donald McLeary. An even gorier “Heathers” crowned in the pitch-black comedy era of “Bottoms,” “Fear Street: Prom Queen” is anchored in the same vicious and girly roots as the original film trilogy from 2021 — albeit missing some of the scope and style inherent to Leigh Janiak’s three-part slasher epic. Still, Palmer and McLeary’s take is giddy and gruesome, a clever next chapter with a fresh killer whose bloody raincoat isn’t the only detail to scream “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”

References don’t make a good movie any more than they make a good movie review, but “Fear Street: Prom Queen” successfully uses genre homage to carbonate R.L. Stine’s simple recipe for more fizzy-minded audiences. The punch(line) is intoxicating and pridefully chunky, funneled through a messy spiral of a script that’s chockfull of exposition dumps you’ll expect… and several amputations you won’t. From a woman muttering her way through a lethal head-wound to cinema’s cruelest use of a slippery doorknob, “Prom Queen” blitzes through familiar pop-comic vignettes, only pausing to make its loathsome characters’ adolescent nightmares just a little bit freakier.

Flecks of Jamie Lee Curtis’ “Prom Night,” Rose McGowan’s “Jawbreaker,” and even Clea DuVall’s “But I’m a Cheerleader” rain down on this snappy ensemble effort like confetti. It’s 1988 in Shadyside, where it’s about to be prom night for the same cursed town explored in the earlier installments. Miracles are rare here, but outcast Lori Granger (India Fowler) isn’t going down without a fight when it comes to her school’s race for prom queen. She’s one of a half-dozen contestants in a heavily symbolic race that all six girls say they’re determined to win. The odds are the most stacked against Lori, who in addition to sharing the same name as Michael Meyers’ favorite victim (yeah, yeah, different spelling) suffers each day as Rosemary’s baby — literally.

Crossing off cliched character traits like orders on her waitressing pad, Lori is the daughter of a disgraced widow cop. Rosemary Granger (Joanne Boland) stands accused of murdering her husband years before. Now, narrating over a moody synth score (which, for good or bad, sounds a lot like “Stranger Things”), Lori explains that being named queen is the fastest and surest way to restore her mother’s reputation. Even tossing in some lore about a ruined prom decades earlier, our final girl’s motivation makes next to no sense. And yet, Palmer proves a worthy protector of the “Fear Street” legacy, embracing any limitations in his comparatively quick worldbuilding through the shrugging comfort of camp.

Meet the Wolf Pack. Yes, the Wolf Pack. More Joan Crawford than Regina George, queen bee Tiffany (Fina Strazza) is as good at crafting insults as she is milking their every syllable upon delivery. Even straight-A student Linda (Ilan O’Driscoll) gets lines like, “I’m gonna cut the bitch who did this!” in a clique as bone-deep cruel as it is prone to passive-aggressive infighting. One-note stoner Christy (Ariana Greenblatt), loyal “lap dog” Melissa (Ella Rubin), and yappy gossip Debbie (Rebecca Ablack) complete Tiffany’s cast of henchmen, opposite their leader’s tough-to-read boyfriend Tyler (David Iacono, giving a solid nod to John Travolta’s Billy Nolan). They’ve all got plus-ones and parents they’re bringing to the “Prom Queen” potluck, but without a weapon of choice, the killer gets especially creative, turning a varied and cheeky collection of deaths into a single murderous meal.

Sometimes one by one, but just as often two by two, Shadyside’s worst bullies become meat bags — satisfyingly swallowed up by action scenes, set pieces, and gross-out gags, some even on par with the newly revitalized “Final Destination.” Megan (Suzanna Son), Lori’s horror-loving best friend, does wonders for the comedic tone, emerging at the center of the first scare and pleasantly pulling focus the whole way through. A queer-coded class clown with the SFX talent of genre wizard Rick Baker, she handily earns Most Likely Fan Favorite through a slew of deranged pranks. Suffice to say, not since Squidward Tentacles celebrated April Fool’s Day has a practical joke gone so outrageously far.

To say nothing of her fate, peppy student reporter Harmony LaFay (Cecilia Lee) sticks out as another character “Fear Street” might consider bringing back, if the standalone didn’t work so well. Giving their teen co-stars a strong backboard, the adult cast boasts Emmy winner Lili Taylor as Vice President Dolores Brekenridge alongside eclectic film presence Katherine Waterston (“Babylon,” “Alien: Covenant”) as Tiffany’s mom, Nancy. Rife with red herrings but not especially complex, “Prom Queen” makes it mark by acting with intention. It’s territory you’ve seen countless Sissy Spacek-types sprint through before, and you’ll wish parts of Shadyside’s science curriculum came with a chemistry read. But when total commitment collides with enough gore and guts, this wonderfully energetic soiree sidesteps tired tropes to reach a royally dark place. Shout out to editor Christopher Donaldson, who manages that enthusiasm like a weed-smoking chaperone.

Flirty and fiendish, “Prom Queen” is the pick if you want to laugh, gag, and chant “KISS!” (in a homoerotic manner) without leaving the house this weekend. One dance sequence seems to recall “Sugar & Spice” on purpose, while another channels the “Wicked” hat dance by mistake. There’s a meat cleaver/skull gag that looks great until it gets overused. And the same could be said of goofy Principal Wayland (Darrin Baker), who repeatedly drops the word “wowzers.” (Was that popular in the ’80s? Or ever?) Those tiny flaws play more like charming imperfections on “Fear Street,” where Palmer’s contribution rules as definitive proof there is more fun to be had adapting this spooky book series. Brought back at just the right time, Netflix should make these movies an annual affair — even if Lori doesn’t live to be prom queen.

Grade: B+

“Fear Street: Prom Queen” is now streaming on Netflix.

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