As enamored as I was with the Goosebumps books at the public library when I was growing up, I was just as obsessed with R.L. Stine's Fear Street novels. There was something more dangerous about them, more edgy, more slasher-y. While Goosebumps sparked my imagination with frightful fun, Fear Street gave me something to look forward to fearing when I was old enough to cross the street to Shadyside.
I was fortunate to even own some Fear Street books at a young age, when an older cousin gave my family several grocery bags of books for my sister and I to enjoy. Nestled between used paperbacks of The Baby-Sitters Club and Full House stories were a stack of Stine's Fear Street titles (as well as a couple of Christopher Pike books), and ocassionally I would gaze at the eerie covers of these books, wondering what types of terror awaited me within its yellowed, dog-eared pages. One of those Fear Street paperbacks was The Prom Queen, so I was especially thrilled when Netflix revealed that this book in particular would be the basis for the streaming service's fourth Fear Street film following Leigh Janiak's excellent trilogy released back in 2021.
Set in the world of that trilogy but very much its own standalone story, Fear Street: Prom Queen is now streaming on Netflix, and I had the pleasure of catching up with director/co-writer Matt Palmer and cast members India Fowler, Fina Strazza, Rebecca Ablack, Ella Rubin, and Ariana Greenblatt about their love of R.L. Stine, playing an intriguing cast of cutthroat characters, and time traveling back to 1988 on a set infused with tubular tunes and killer fashion!
You can watch my video interviews below, and to learn more about Fear Street: Prom Queen, visit:
SYNOPSIS: Welcome back to Shadyside. In this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, 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 puts herself in the running, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of ’88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.
DIRECTOR: Matt Palmer
WRITER: Matt Palmer & Donald Mcleary
PRODUCERS: Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and Kori Adelson for Chernin Entertainment
CAST: India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, Chris Klein, David Iacono, Ella Rubin, Ariana Greenblatt, with Lily Taylor and Katherine Waterson.
ALSO STARRING: Darrin Baker, Rebecca Ablack, Ilan O’Driscoll, Damian Romeo, Dakota Taylor, Eden Summer Gilmore, Brennan Clost, Cecilia Lee, Ryan Rosery
Based On The Book Created By: R.L. Stine Executive Producers: Yvonne Bernard, Joan Waricha, Jane Stine
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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