Fear Street 1994, the first movie in my favorite movie trilogy, was a thrilling and engaging horror film. Even though it wasn’t reviewed the best by critics, I still love it as a horror enthusiast. The gore wasn’t too much, but enough to make it still gruesome and thrilling, even though some of the areas may falter.

The film begins with a brutal murder in a mall in the town of Shadyside. The killing is just one in a long line of gruesome murders that have plagued the town for centuries. A group of teenagers, including Deena, her brother Josh, and their friends, Sam, Simon, and Kate, become entangled in the mystery when they discover an ancient witch's curse is responsible for the violence. As they investigate the curse's origins, the group uncovers a series of interconnected murders that took place in different eras, ranging from the 1600s to 1978. They realize that each time, a possessed individual becomes the Shadyside Killer. To break the curse and save Sam, who has become possessed, they must confront the malevolent force and its history.

On the positive side, the film seems to capture how I expect the 90s to be. It showed the fashion of the era as well as kept everything in the movie up to date with the setting which are some of the things I enjoy within horror movies. Furthermore, the level of graphic violence isn’t through the roof like I said earlier, but I do really feel for the characters when they die, especially the ones at the end. The movie did a great job with character development, having each one play an important role in seemingly taking down the main villain in the end. The flashbacks along the way, the plot twists, and the abrupt ending made me really want to watch the second movie as soon as possible, which is a great way to start any trilogy! It really did encapsulate the vision and mystery of older 90s horror movies like Scream, but it brought a new experience along with it.

The plot, on the other hand, gave me mixed feelings. On the other hand, it felt very thorough and very heavy on the characters, which is something I love in horror movies, but on the other hand, is the fact that there were quite a few loopholes. The main part of the plot is a group of teenagers who uncover a centuries-old curse that has plagued their town with a history of brutal killings. Basically, they must confront an extraterrestrial force and try to break the curse before they become its next victims, leading them on a harrowing journey filled with danger and supernatural terror. This curse has rules that need to be followed, except these rules were inconsistent. It was weird to me that some characters were targeted in the movie, while others just walked right by unaffected. Also, just like many other horror movies, characters make blatantly stupid decisions that put them into predicaments in the first place. They always seem to wander off to strange noises, split up, or end up ignoring blatantly obvious warning signs which inevitably ends up killing even my favorite characters.

The twists of seeing some of the main characters actually die in the end break the expectation of most horror movies, but there still is the “final girl” that fits the standards of a lot of slashers. I enjoyed that there was a cohesive story with different villains from different time periods, and having them all come together in the end felt really great for the story, and for the suspense.

Overall, Fear Street 1994 offers an absorbing horror experience that seems perfect for any avid horror enthusiast like myself. While it sometimes struggled with the plot at certain points, its character development and outright gore make up for any mistakes. This movie was definitely a great experience.