Fear Street | Through the Shattered Lens

First published in 1997, Into the Dark tells the story of Paulette Fox. Paulette has been blind since birth but she hasn’t let that stand in her away. She’s one of the most popular students at Shadyside High. She has two best friends, Jonathan and Cindy, who are devoted to her. She enjoys eating the pizza at Pete’s Pizza, watching silly slasher films with her friends, and taking piano lessons at the Music Academy. And, assuming that she can get her overprotective parents to sign off on it, she’s looking forward to taking self-defense classes.

Best of all, she’s got a boyfriend! Brad has just moved to Shadyside. Like Paulette, Brad loves music and wants to make it his life. Unfortunately, Brad does not come from a rich family so he has to work as a janitor at the Music Academy. Brad seems to be sweet and considerate and he treats Paulette like an adult. Paulette touches his face and discovers that not only is he very handsome but he also a scar on his eyebrow. Scars are sexy!

However, no sooner has Paulette started hanging out with Brad than strange things start to happen to her. Twice, she is nearly run over by a car despite the fact that Paulette is always careful while crossing the street. (The second time, Paulette is convinced that someone pushed her, even though everyone tells her that they didn’t see it happen.) She starts to get weird phone calls. According to Cindy, someone has broken into Paulette’s bedroom and painted all sorts of threatening messages on the wall. Even worse, Brad starts to act strange. Sometimes, he’s the considerate and nice Brad that she wants to date. Other times, he acts possessive and creepy. Her friends tell her that she needs to stay away from Brad, especially after he’s accused of robbing Pete’s Pizza! But Paulette remains convinced that only she can figure out what is truly happening with Brad….

This is an R.L Stine novel so there’s really no way that you won’t guess what the big twist is. In fact, if I remember correctly, it’s a twist that Stine has used in quite a few of his other books. Because I’m a nice reviewer, I will not spoil what the twist is but …. I mean, seriously, you figured it out while reading the previous paragraph, right?

Obviously, Into The Dark won’t win any points for originality but still, as far as the Fear Street books are concerned, Into the Dark is an entertaining and quick read and Paulette is a likable and relatable heroine. Indeed, Stine actually appears to have done some research for this book and the passages where he describes how Paulette navigates every-day life without being able to see ring true. Paulette may be blind but she’s also a typical teenager. It’s easy to roll your eyes when she repeatedly refuses to call the police despite the number of weird things that happen to her but seriously, what teenager wants to call the police for anything? When I was 17, I was woken up by what I thought was the sound of someone breaking into my house and, even though I had a phone and could have easily called the police, I instead grabbed a golf club and walked around the house in my t-shirt and underwear, searching for the thieves. When you’re 17, you think you’re immortal and, even more importantly, you don’t want to have to deal with any authority figures.

(Incidentally, there were no thieves and it was all just my imagination. Yay!)

Finally, who couldn’t relate to Paulette’s confusion about Brad? Sometimes, Brad is extremely nice and caring. Sometimes, Brad is cold and kind of a jerk. That sounds like every guy I knew when I was in high school. Like the best of Stine’s book, Into the Dark works because the reader can relate to it, even if they’ve never lived on Fear Street or been threatened by …. well, I won’t spoil it. But you already figured it out, right?

I will admit that I was a little bit concerned when I first heard about the upcoming Fear Street trilogy, just because the whole thing sounded a bit like American Horror Story and I was worried that the end result would be more Ryan Murphy-like than R.L. Stine-like. Even though Murphy wasn’t actually involved in the production of the film, American Horror Story, with its heavy-handed approach and it’s somewhat condescending attitude towards the genre, has influenced several recent horror films and series and very rarely has that influence been for the better.

However, I just watched the trailer for the Fear Street Trilogy and it looks pretty good. It looks like they captured the feel of Stine’s books while also thematically updating them a bit for the present age. It also looks like they avoided most of the overly cutesy stuff that often makes American Horror Story such a struggle to slog through. The trailer features plenty of scenes that will warm the heart of any regular reader of R.L. Stine’s. There’s Sunnyvale! There’s Shadyside! There’s a witch! There’s a dark and haunted night! There’s mayhem on a school bus! There’s a mall massacre! There’s a haunted camp! There’s a bloody murder! There’s teenagers in danger! There’s a man with an axe! There’s a landline phone!

Anyway, Fear Street is actually three connected films. Much like the Red Riding Trilogy, each film takes place in a different year but they share certain characters in common and they all add up to tell one big story. They were originally scheduled to come out last year but, like so many films, they were delayed by the pandemic lockdowns. (Ironically, they were delayed because they were originally meant for a theatrical release. However, the delay was so long that 20th Century Fox’s deal to distribute the films expired and they were then picked up by Netflix. So, even with the pandemic ending, the Fear Street Trilogy will still mostly be seen by people sitting in their living rooms. Seriously, just think about how much fun your lockdown would have been last year if you had three new R.L. Stine movies to watch. Sometimes, life is unfair.)

The three films will be released during the first three weeks of July, on Netflix! Here’s the trailer: