WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Fear Street Part 1: 1994, now streaming on Netflix.
In Netflix's Fear Street Part 1: 1994, the first part of the trilogy does place a more modern and adult spin on R.L. Stine's stories. The overall essence and direction of the author is there, with a supernatural mystery at hand and the shadow of the occult looming overhead. However, while it initially isn't as gratuitous with the bloodshed and gore, the final act of the film is where it becomes clear that this isn't Stine's Goosebumps.
Admittedly, scenes like the Skull Mask killer murdering Heather in a Scream homage and stabbing Nurse Beddy later on are all part of making the series fit for young adults. The story involves sex, drugs and violence, so it clearly leans into mature themes. But the first set of bloody sequences are occasional and just accentuate the aggression at hand as slashers chase Deena, Sam and their teenage crew on behalf of a witch.
However, this notion drastically changes with back-to-back deaths in the final act that are quite graphic and focus less on Stine's knack for sleuthing. These are more about shock, awe and that crimson spectacle, made even more painstaking by the fact that it happens to two of the film's most compassionate heroes: Kate and Simon.
Kate's the first to go, luring the slashers out in a grocery store by smearing Sam's blood on her. This makes her a target, but it's all a distraction so Deena can kill and revive Sam, thus breaking the witch's curse and calling off the slashers.
But unlike the lighter kills seen prior, this escalates from a teen book series to full-blown Wes Craven territory -- or even something as twisted as Halloween. It's apparent as the Skull Mask corners Kate, smashing her face into a cake. He then stabs her deep in the gut, enjoying the knife's work before ramming her head into a bread slicer. One would have expected the camera to cut away, but instead we get it all in slow, agonizing detail. It's not the mysterious nature Stine's work encompasses; it's a straight-up Mortal Kombat Fatality as Kate's head is minced to pieces.
Josh, Deena's brother and the young kid who loved Kate, then stumbles upon the aftermath, making it a heartbreaking, gooey scene that's sure to leave Josh with PTSD. The shocking thing is that as Simon spots the murder too, the Camp Nightwing slasher shows up in the aisle and smashes his axe into Simon's head.
Again, the camera shows the outcome with the blade embedded in Simon's cranium. It's scary seeing his pale face and all the blood dripping from the wounds, once more leaving Josh petrified and evoking what viewers would feel if they expected something more along the books. Ultimately, between Kate's mangled remains and Simon's lifeless corpse dropping to the hard grocery floor, all these layers of death and ounces of blood pouring out really craft two standout, brutal moments, not just in this film or in the minds of Stine's fans, but in the horror-slasher genre on the whole.
Directed and co-written by Leigh Janiak, Fear Street stars Kiana Madeira, Olivia Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Darrell Britt-Gibson, Ashley Zukerman, Fred Hechinger, Julia Rehwald, Jeremy Ford and Gillian Jacobs. Part One: 1994 is now streaming on Netflix, followed by Part Two: 1978 on July 9 and Part Three: 1666 on July 16.