Welcome back to Shadyside! Netflix’s Fear Street franchise returns with a new standalone installment, Fear Street: Prom Night. I spoke with director/co-writer Matt Palmer and actors India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, David Iacono, Ella Rubin, Rebecca Ablack, and Ariana Greenblatt about carving out their own unique corner of the Fear Street universe with a […]
Welcome back to Shadyside! Netflix’s Fear Street franchise returns with a new standalone installment, Fear Street: Prom Night.
I spoke with director/co-writer Matt Palmer and actors India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, David Iacono, Ella Rubin, Rebecca Ablack, and Ariana Greenblatt about carving out their own unique corner of the Fear Street universe with a slasher that’s set in and steeped in the 1980s.
While 2021’s Fear Street trilogy drew broad inspiration from R.L. Stine‘s ’90s teen horror novels, Prom Queen is based on a specific book in the series — 1992’s The Prom Queen — but don’t expect a straight adaptation.
“Because it was a slasher movie and in slasher movies you have the whodunit element, it felt like we had to go in a different direction, and R.L. Stine’s really open to that,” Palmer explains. “I thought the book had an absolutely killer premise, but because a lot of people in the States have read the books, it felt like if we followed the book, people would already know who the killer is and what the twist is. We also wanted to go quite a lot more gory as well, so we head off in a slightly different direction to the book.”
“It’s a lot of pressure to make an adaptation of a book, because people fall in love with the books, but I think that also makes it exciting. People are going to see something new and different, and then some of the same old that they love,” says Ablack. “It’s fun to live in a world that already kind of exists, and there’s Easter eggs that people can reference.”
“It’s so exciting to know that there’s so many people that are fans of this universe,” Fowler concurs. “It feels so special to be able to jump into it and bring something new and fresh to the table. To see their reactions is going to be really interesting.”
“I appreciate that this movie is like a part of this bigger, grand universe that so many people have put in so much effort to make such a beautiful world, but it also feels like its own smaller story with a bunch of new characters that you get to know,” says Iacono.
Palmer and co-writer Donald McLeary pitched the “more gory, more fun” movie they wanted to make to the producers and then Netflix, both times pleasantly surprised to be met with enthusiasm rather than rejection. “We were just like, ‘Oh, my God, we’re writing an ’80s slasher movie! This is just like the best thing ever!‘” Palmer laughs.
No stranger to the genre, the Calibre filmmaker grew up loving cult classics like Re-Animator, Basket Case, and the works of Dario Argento. He later started an all-night horror movie marathon in Scotland, affording him the opportunity to seek out even more hidden gems.
“By the time it came to writing Prom Queen, I’d watched a lot of ’80s horror. I was very, very steeped in it, so I guess the movie is everything that I love about those ’80s horror movies, all jammed into 87 minutes.”
Despite a majority of the cast not being alive in the ’80s, they appreciated being steeped in the era. “The looks, the music, the set design, everything is so classic ’80,” says Ablack. “It’s a really awesome period piece. It’s so entertaining.”
“I love movies from the ’80s, especially the John Hughes era of movies, and a lot of this felt like it was an homage to that,” says Iacono. “It was great to just be like enveloped in that world for a month.”
To help set the ’80s aesthetic, the film’s soundtrack employs an appropriately synth-heavy score by The Newton Brothers (“The Haunting of Hill House,” Doctor Sleep) and a variety of recognizable songs from the era.
“The challenging thing about the needle drops is there’s so much great music from 1988 that it was tough to pick between different tunes,” says Palmer. “Sometimes it was real heavyweight head-to-heads for certain scenes. Some of the songs, like ‘I’m Not Scared’ [by Eighth Wonder] and [‘White Wedding’ by] Billy Idol, were right there from the script stage, but with others we experimented with different ones. It was tough to choose, because 1988 was a really good year for music.”
Every slasher movie strives for a memorable killer, and Palmer drew inspiration from an early entry in the subgenre. “Alice, Sweet Alice from 1976 was a definite influence. There’s a chase scene in that with the killer in the raincoat. And I’m a big giallo fan too, so I think there was a giallo element that I always wanted from the start,” he explains.
“We were like, ‘What color of jacket we put against the red lockers?’ We looked at yellow, but that felt a bit too on the nose, because Alice, Sweet Alice already done that. We tried blue. And then one of our concept artists came back with red on red, which we hadn’t thought of because we were looking for something that wasn’t red, and it was like, ‘Oh, my God! That looks awesome!’
“Ironically, I read that the guy who directed Alice, Sweet Alice [Alfred Sole] said that he always wanted a red raincoat but couldn’t do that because it already been done in Don’t Look Now, so we ended up back where Alice, Sweet Alice wanted to be.”
Palmer continues, “The mask took a long time. There’s been so many iconic horror masks. It felt like everything had been done, and it was a bit of a panic. Then the production designer came back with that one, and it scared the shit out of all of us when we looked at it, so we were like, ‘That’s that’s the one. And then the Wellington boots, which is just more practical, really, in terms of wading around in everyone’s blood.”
“I saw the concept ideas of the mask and the coat, that striking red brings up such a breathlessness,” Fowler notes. “I remember finding it pretty horrific. But our stunt people choreographed the killing scenes so wonderfully, and the killer was so wonderful. That physical drive that someone who is murderous would have really added to the terror of seeing the killer.”
“I really thought it looked chic,” Son chuckles. “Loved the fit of the jacket, the mask. It looked really good.”
“I really love horror. My favorite horror movies are Scream and Halloween,” says Strazza. “Thinking about Ghostface and Michael Myers, I feel like our killer moves kind of like a child of those two. They have the kind of looming groundedness of Michael Myers, but then when they reveal their weapon of choice, they have this swift nature about them the same way Ghostface has.”
When the ensemble cast arrived in Canada together, they watched the original Fear Street trilogy together. The bonding experience established a chemistry that resonated on camera.
“We worked as such a great group. I think there were 15 of us who were on set pretty much every day. Because we were filming in a prom hall, even if you weren’t the center of a scene, you’d probably be in the background of it, so we were all there every day,” Strazza explains. “We still text every day. We have a group chat. We really got along well. We felt very lucky.”
“Everybody was, and truly still is, a real friend,” Fowler adds. “It made me excited to go in. I felt like I was at a fun summer camp with my friends, and we just happened to also be making a really cool movie at the same time.”
“Whether it was coercive or not, we all became great friends,” Iacono laughs. “Everyone’s so lovely and fun. We got to hang out a bunch. It felt like we were like back in high school for a little while, which was great.”
“Besides the killing and the jump scares and the blood and everything, watching this cast act together, I can do it a thousand times over, because everything’s actually like so real and raw,” says Greenblatt. “Everyone’s actually having a good time, even if someone’s being mean to one another. There’s chemistry through the screen.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever work with a nicer, more talented group. I look at the cast now, and I’m just like, ‘How the hell did we get this much talent for a slasher movie?‘” Palmer says. “They were incredible, and they got on so well. It was honestly so lovely that I don’t think I’m ever going to have it that good again. I just think they’ve all absolutely knocked out the park and brought those characters to life. I can’t say enough good things about all of them.”
“On the first day, we shot the classroom scene,” Palmer tells me. “Because of the nature of that scene, we shot single shots for each of the main cast, and each time I’d run to the producer and celebrate, because they’re all fucking great. Suddenly the potential for the movie just jumped up, because I saw what everyone could do. That was an incredibly exciting moment.”
The cast members also speak highly of their director. “Matt is the best,” says Son. “Really collaborative, open to changes. He likes to find a character with you. It’s just nice to have that communication completely open and nothing set in stone. I like that.”
“He’s awesome,” Fowler agrees. “He’s got such a great vision, and working closely with [director of photography] Márk Gyõri, they are two sides of the same coin. They work so well and just create such beautiful imagery. Matt was always very approachable and communicative with all of us.”
“We each had autonomy over the script in a certain way, and if anything was going to be changed, he would check in with us often and make sure that we were staying aligned with who we thought our characters were, which I thought was also interesting because he wasn’t just our director; he also wrote the script,” notes Strazza. “It was obviously very close to his heart, and I feel very grateful that he allowed us to have that input, even though it was something he created.”
If Palmer has the opportunity to make another Fear Street movie, he’d opt to tell another new story rather than a direct sequel to Prom Queen. “If I was gonna do it, it would be a 1990 Satanic panic slam down, like Witchboard and those kind of Ouija board crazy movies. The first three movies are supernatural and we’ve gone in a different direction, but there’s obviously a lot of fun to be had with supernatural, insane stuff. I feel like at some point there’s gonna be some satanic panic in Fear Street, and I think that’s an exciting prospect.”
But for now, Palmer and his cast are eager to share Prom Queen with the world. “Horror never dies, even if the people do,” says Son. “I’m always down for a good slasher.”
“It’s so fun, like you’re going to an ’80s party and also gonna have a few screams along the way,” beams Strazza. “I feel like it’s got an energy and a buzz about it. I’m excited to see it again!”
“It’s gut-wrenching,” adds Greenblatt. “That’s a double entendre!”
“I think it’s a really great like group watching experience as well,” Fowler notes. “So if you’re having a horror slumber party or something, this is the movie to put on. It’s great to scream together with someone and laugh along and commentate and discuss your theories as the film goes. It’s just a fun experience!”
In Iacono’s words, “If you’re trying to watch something that is very well paced and entertaining and gory and campy and nostalgic, and something that’s gonna make your heart race and also really make you laugh, you should probably turn on Fear Street: Prom Queen.”
“I think now more than ever, escaping into a movie is just the most delicious thing you can do for yourself, especially when it’s like another time or another world or another heightened tone,” says Rubin. “Being in a film and loving watching it is so rare. Aside from the death, it’s a world you like want to be in. I think it’s like a really fun escape, and it exemplifies everything I love about movies.”
Fear Street: Prom Queen is now streaming on Netflix.
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