THE FINAL GIRLS

DIRECTOR MATT PALMER GETS TO HACK AND SLASH THE “IT GIRLS” OF SHADYSIDE HIGH SCHOOL IN FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN

- WORDS: TARA BENNETT

FOUR YEARS AFTER NETFLIX released its trilogy of Fear Street horror films based on teen horror author RL Stine's massively popular book series, the latest chapter is the standalone Fear Street: Prom Queen.

Loosely inspired by Stine's 1992 book of the same name, this latest tale of teen woe is set in Stine's 'burb of Shadyside in 1988. Co-written by Donald McLeary and writer/director Matt Palmer, it dives into the social politics of the race to win the title of Shadyside High's prom queen. While the “It Girls” squabble among themselves to win votes, an outsider throws herself into the ring, upsetting the status quo. Then the other nominees begin to disappear one by one.

Palmer tells SFX that as the curator of Edinburgh's “All Night Horror Madness” film festival since 2010, he's an aficionado of slasher cinema and had been actively looking for a way to put a new spin on one of his favourites, Happy Birthday To Me (1981). Then the producers of the Fear Street