“Hurst Hot Takes” is a new section where Merciad writers get to share some news of their own!

Each week, this section will publish an article from a writer recommending a piece of media, whether it be a podcast, book, movie, show or album. Stay tuned to hear our recommendations.

This week, I will be recommending a Netflix original horror trilogy, “Fear Street.”

Based off of the books by R.L. Stine, the stories of “Fear Street” are set in three different years: 1994, 1978 and 1666.The three movies were released in consecutive weeks in the summer of 2021, which was nice be-cause the viewers did not have to wait for a long time to see what happens next. The stories follow the common thread of siblings Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) along with several friends as they attempt to uncover the true source of the mysterious misfortunes of their town, Shadyside.

While their town is notorious for an unbelievable number of mass murders committed by seemingly normal Shadysiders that just “snapped,” their neigh-boring town of Sunnyvale is strangely a perfect Utopia.

The first movie focuses specifically on Deena and Josh’s time-line, which is 1994.When yet another killing spree occurs that hits close to home, Deena begins questioning the object of accusations for the town’s tragedies: Sarah Fier.

Sarah Fier, who is said to be a witch put to death in the early Union settlement that once was Shadyside, is often jokingly blamed for the troubling town happenings.

However, Josh and his online friends believe that Sarah Fier truly was a real person that cursed Shadysiders.

As events escalate, the siblings must work with Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), Kate (Julia Rehwald), and Simon (Fred Hechinger) to stop the witch in a race against time.

The second movie is set at Camp Nightwing in 1978. Sisters Cindy (Emily Rudd) and Ziggy (Sadie Sink) Berman are polar opposites; Cindy does whatever she can to forget her Shadyside background whereas Ziggy embraces her troubled situation.

A murderer begins slaughtering the children of the camp, and the sisters have to evaluate their short-falls and work together to stop the killings. This story is being told to characters in 1994 in the hopes that it will help them put a stop to the Shadyside curse, which the characters from 1978 clearly failed in doing.

The third movie follows the notorious Sarah Fier (Elizabeth Scopel) at the Union settlement in 1666.Finally, the true story of what happened back then unfolds. All of the questions presented in the first two movies are answered, and the 1994 characters are finally clued into Shadyside’s dark past.

I do not want to give too much away about these movies because I think one of their best assets is setting things up slowly for a fantastic eventual payoff. Each movie is better than the previous one as the Fear Street universe expands and enriches itself.

I fully believe that these movies have some of the best plot twists and payoffs I have ever seen.

The trilogy was done in a brilliant way, that it keeps pulling me back in to watch again. I have rewatched them a few times since my initial viewing.

I think these movies are perfect for a Halloween marathon, and they are great especially if you love gore, teen horror and jump scares.

If you decide to watch them, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Be sure to check out the “Fear Street” trilogy on Netflix to watch this great series!

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