The “Fear Street” movies are the height of disposable slashers, but even so, it’s remarkable how disposable the characters are. These are the kind of slasher flicks where a student will be crushing on a guy, he’ll be viciously murdered in front of her, and less than an hour later she’ll be feeling OK again.
Because we are used to this, it doesn’t really matter. And for what it is, “Fear Street: Prom Queen” (2025) – the series’ fourth entry, following a trilogy from 2021 – is a watchable addition to the overflowing bucket of Eighties nostalgia bait. In this case, we don rose-colored glasses for the “Prom Night” series, most notably when Lori Granger (India Fowler) engages in an impromptu dance-off against Mean Girl and presumptive prom queen Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza), using Jamie Lee Curtis’ moves from the 1980 film.
Many characters are pure script fodder for the red-slicker-wearing killer to rack up a body count (although, on the other hand, I’m glad no one is “alive after all” like in the “Scream” films). Despite this, “Prom Queen” has a certain warmth.
“Fear Street: Prom Queen” (2025)
Director: Matt Palmer
Writers: Matt Palmer, Donald McLeary (screenplay); based on the books by R.L. Stine
Stars: India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza
This is thanks to Fowler, who has a girl-next-door quality like Shailene Woodley. Lori has a nice friendship with Megan (Suzanna Son), a gender-swapped Duckie who I thought would be portrayed as gay, since she likes stereotypical male things like horror movies. But that’s not made explicit – like how a true Eighties film would do it.
Although the screenplay by Matt Palmer (who also directs) and Donald McLeary is an exercise in box-checking (appropriate, considering the prom royalty voting), the actors play their roles straight.
Prom night at Tiffany’s
Tiffany and three other types that we’d know as Mean Girls a couple decades after “Prom Queen’s” 1988 setting are the candidates, along with wrong-side-of-the-tracks Christy (Ariana Greenblatt) and Everygirl Lori. “Election” this ain’t; it’s simply a war of attrition, because people keep getting picked off.
As with the 2021 trilogy, the creative goriness of the kills is the highlight. The killer favors a meat cleaver but makes use of other implements around the school, and the special effects are good. The setting evocatively captures cheap 1980s slashers, with Shadyside somehow being dark and deserted except for the huge gathering in the school gym, which features a prom banner with a reversed apostrophe. (Another mistake: a yearbook that’s published before the prom. To give the writers credit for imitating old-school scripting laziness is probably one benefit of the doubt too many.)
The score is like what AI might come up with to imitate the genre, and the producers spring for the rights to era-appropriate hits. (Adjusted for inflation, it’s possible this film spent more money than any of the five “Prom Nights,” despite going straight to Netflix.)
“Prom Queen” lacks social commentary or meta qualities, as are found in a lot of 2020s slashers, yet isn’t purely of the old school. Palmer imitates Eighties slashers up to a point, but ultimately if this movie was screened next to 1987’s “Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II,” you could spot the imposter. For every “Gag me with a spoon” there’s a “f***ton.” Despite cuts to camcorder footage, it’s too slick to rank as an artistic throwback.
We might be watching a future star in Fowler, who had a minor role in “The Nevers,” but I’m bad at guessing these things. Plus, two actors you’ve heard of play Tiffany’s parents, although I didn’t take note of them till the final credits. At a breezy 90 minutes, “Prom Queen” is – like the 2021 “Fear Street” trilogy — easily watchable, but except for the kill scenes, it’s likewise easily forgettable.