Film Review: FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN (2025): This 1980’s Slasher Film Homage Hits and Misses in Equal Increments

Fear Street: Prom Queen Review

Fear Street: Prom Queen (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Matt Palmer, written by Donald McLeary, R.L. Stine and Matt Palmer and starring India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, Katherine Waterston, Lili Taylor, Chris Klein, Arianna Greenblatt, David Iacono, Darrin Baker, Ella Rubin, Rebecca Ablack, Ilan O’Driscoll, Ryan Rosery, Damian Romeo, Dakota Taylor, Luke Kimball, Eden Summer Gilmore and Brennan Clost.

Filmmaker Matt Palmer’s throwback to 1980’s horror movies gets a mediocre “execution” in the new star-studded Netflix film, Fear Street: Prom Queen. I was greatly impressed, however, by the way the movie gathered some prolific talents to appear in this average attempt at recapturing the feeling of a slasher film from the aforementioned decade. Set in and around Shadyside High School, several wannabe prom queens must decide how they’re going to go about trying to win the coveted title of “prom queen” of the high school. Meanwhile, at least one psycho killer is at large trying to make things easier for a specific potential queen to win.

India Fowler, an attractive and personable young talent, plays Lori Granger, a working-class beauty who yearns to earn the title of the most prestigious honor an “it” girl can receive. There are several competitors who are going to give Lori a run for her money, including her closest competitor, Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza), whose mom, Nancy (Katherine Waterston in a clever role for the actress), may have a secret desire to see Tiffany win at any cost. There are several suspects at large, but when some of the young prom queen contenders die, the usual suspects fall off the list, leaving us to suspect there may be more than meets the eye when it comes to the film’s twisty plot.

This movie has fun with the characters, including a dance/off between Lori and Tiffany where they try to wear each other out, but the really funny part of the picture comes when a Tiffany (the 1980’s singer) song, “I Think We’re Alone Now” plays at a key moment where a severed head pops up during the festivities at prom.

Also featured in Fear Street: Prom Queen is the great actress from Sean Baker’s Red Rocket, Suzanna Son. She plays Lori’s close friend who starts to suspect the competition for prom queen is slimming down thanks to a murderer (or two) at large. Son’s performance is solid, but this isn’t where I had hoped Son would end up after her remarkable turn in Baker’s masterful aforementioned film. Son certainly has fun on-screen, but there are better things she could be doing these days.

Like any good Scream movie, there are multiple masked killers in this picture. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a good time watching certain scenes of Fear Street: Prom Queen, but there was so much more that could have been done if the movie wasn’t just trying to be just a mere imitation of the films it is clearly inspired by. This new picture feels low-budget and if not for the top-notch talent involved, it would seem like a third-rate movie. Though the cast helps, it doesn’t help enough to raise the new movie to levels beyond an average everyday slasher picture.

India Fowler emerges as an energetic and smart actress who has fun with her pivotal role in the movie. She’s the true “scream queen” here in the vein of the roles Jamie Lee Curtis used to play in films like Prom Night, Terror Train and Halloween. Suzanna Son has an interesting spin on her role as she is the “smart one” who starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together although she looks to draw attention to herself in the early portion of the movie by pulling pranks on her classmates.

Fear Street: Prom Queen is an admirable, but forgettable, effort. It was a stroke of genius to try to emulate elements of those old school 1980’s movies in a modern-day production. Lily Taylor as a school head honcho and David Iacono as a love interest for one of the girls here both play their parts in a fashion that pokes fun at the movies this production is clearly fascinated with and inspired by.

If Fear Street: Prom Queen didn’t have a super suspenseful last 20 minutes, it would have been an overall dud. Luckily, the edge-of-your-seat, surprise-filled ending kept me glued to my seat even if the hour that preceded it felt a little too familiar to rise this entry above the quality of a standard slasher picture. It’s a close call and I’m not recommending it, but I still enjoyed what it was trying to do.

Rating: 6/10

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