It’s almost prom season, and a pair of new images from Fear Street: Prom Queen debuted on Collider. Releasing May 20 on Netflix, the fourth film in the Fear Street franchise is based on the 1992 R.L. Stine novel The Prom Queen. “Visually, we actually took a lot of inspiration from movies like River’s Edge […]
It’s almost prom season, and a pair of new images from Fear Street: Prom Queen debuted on Collider.
Releasing May 20 on Netflix, the fourth film in the Fear Street franchise is based on the 1992 R.L. Stine novel The Prom Queen.
“Visually, we actually took a lot of inspiration from movies like River’s Edge and Blue Velvet, in terms of nailing down an authentic ’80s look and a wrong side of the tracks feeling for Shadyside,” director Matt Palmer told Collider.
“As the movie progresses, and we move into prom itself, the visual look becomes more heightened, falling more in line with the slasher classics of the ’80s, as well as the Italian giallos of the same period. Some of my favorite directors — John Carpenter, Dario Argento and David Lynch — also feel like influences on the visual look and movie as a whole.”
Palmer continues, “The entire movie is a love letter to ’80s slasher movies, it’s really seeped into every frame of the movie. There’s a bunch of slasher movies that I’m crazy about — Happy Birthday to Me, Sleepaway Camp, and Pieces to name just a few — and the idea was to try and make a ‘lost slasher classic,’ as if the movie had been locked in a vault since 1988 and only released now.”
He promises ’80s needle drops, a synth score by The Newton Brothers, and practical effects. “Our film is set in 1988, so the look, tone, and even our kills are inspired by the classic horror of the era. We relied heavily on practical effects and bloody sprays that we captured in real time — which made for an incredibly messy — but insanely fun shoot.”
Palmer and Donald McLeary co-wrote the script, which adds “a fresh narrative filled with new characters” to the Fear Street cinematic universe.
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.
