Netflix's New Fear Street Movie Will Bring The Horror Franchise To The '80s

Netflix's shadiest horror franchise is targeting its next set of victims. The slasher series "Fear Street" debuted back in 2021 as three full-length movies set in the fictional but aptly-named town of Shadyside, based on author R.L. Stine's popular "Cheerleaders" sub-trilogy within the "Fear Street" novels. The mega-sized special event was released over the course of three consecutive weeks on the streaming service (check out /Film's spoiler review of the movies here), pulled in a ton of viewers, earned consistently high praise among critics, and served up all sorts of gory kills and supernatural chills — along with one heck of a memorable kill by a particularly deadly bread slicer. Fans have been clamoring for more sequels ever since and rumors of new movies have swirled since at least 2022, but now we've heard straight from the studio that another release has officially been greenlit.

After all three previous movies took place over the course of three separate decades — "Part 1" was set in 1994, "Part 2" in 1978, and "Part 3" in (what else?) 1666 — this next installment is taking things back in time to the heyday of the 1980s. Titled "Fear Street: Prom Queen," the film is obviously taking its cues from Stine's 1992 novel "The Prom Queen" and will feature a wholly fresh ensemble cast taking over for trilogy stars such as Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Gillian Jacobs, and a rather tone-setting cameo by Maya Hawke (pictured above). The new movie will include a cast made up of India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, David Iacono, Ella Rubin, Chris Klein, Lili Taylor, and the great Katherine Waterston. Stepping into the shoes of trilogy writer/director Leigh Janiak will be Matt Palmer, who is co-writing the script with Donald McLeary.

Horror fans love a solid anthology series with a killer cast and centuries of in-universe lore, so it's no surprise that the "Fear Street" movies went over so well after scratching that very specific itch. Full of loving homages to classic slashers of years past and bursting (sometimes literally) with all sorts of gory creativity, the unique release of this trilogy heralded one of the more successful genre experiments in recent years — even if many of us would've rather had the opportunity to catch such crowd-pleasing movies in a full theater with an amped-up audience.

While this next "Fear Street" sequel is bound for another streaming debut on a to-be-announced date, at least we now know that Netflix is embracing this franchise and remains intent on making more. "Prom Queen" has a lot to live up to after its predecessors established a world full of foreboding atmosphere and a spooky central curse dating back centuries, but the early synopsis teases all sorts of gruesome murder and a pretty compelling premise, to boot. According to Netflix:

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 is unexpectedly nominated to the court, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of '88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.

Say less! Netflix certainly is, at least; little else has been made known about the upcoming movie. Rest assured we'll be keeping a close eye on "Fear Street: Prom Queen" updates as they come in.