Netflix’s Fear Street: Prom Queen (2025) Loses Sight of the Crown
Title: Fear Street: Prom Queen
First Non-Festival Release: May 23, 2025 (Digital/Streaming Platforms)
Director: Matt Palmer
Writer: Matt Palmer, Donald McLeary, R.L. Stine
Runtime: 90 Minutes
Starring: India Fowler. Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
The social politics of high school make navigating the most turbulent and hormonally charged years of teenagers even more difficult. The institution of Prom has been an important coming-of-age moment in young American’s lives for decades, with Prom Queen being a title that is equally coveted and maligned for all that it is associated with it during this turbulent time in a teenager’s life.
Lori (India Fowler) feels a pull to run for Prom Queen despite her family’s sordid history with the Shadyside high school tradition. Joining her in the race is ruthless Queen Bee Tiffany (Fina Strazza) and her “Wolfpack” friends Melissa (Ella Rubin), Debbie (Rebecca Ablack), and Linda (Ilan O’Driscoll), as well as local drug dealer Christy (Ariana Greenblatt). Her candidacy, much like her usual reputation, is colored by rumors that her mother killed her father years ago during her own senior Prom. Lori’s excitement and nervousness regarding the race becomes the least of her worries when she realizes too late that someone is killing the candidates for Prom Queen, and she’s next.
Formulaic and flat to a fault, Fear Street: Prom Queen blunts the momentum given to it by its predecessors.
The campaign to win Prom Queen is a staple of teen coming-of-age movies, and its relationship with horror over the years has shown just how important, and deadly, this practice can be. Unfortunately, Fear Street: Prom Queen fails to make its competition interesting or original. Taking place over the course of the two days before and during Prom, the story rushes to set up Lori’s complicated history with the crown while weaving in kill after kill. This alone isn’t interesting enough to keep the story’s momentum going.
More juice could be in the story if there was enough thought put into its characters. Main character Lori lacks charisma one would expect a Prom Queen front runner to possess while Tiffany and her Wolfpack lack the teeth to nail the quintessential high school mean girl run clique shtick. Even Lori’s oddball best friend Megan (Suzanna Son) feels like an afterthought with her various attempts to prank the Wolfpack. The lack of depth, or any strongly discernible personality, extends to the antagonist as well. Featuring one of the most eyerolling motivations in recent slasher history, the reveal makes the already flat project totally dimensionless.
A common trend as of late, the period elements of Fear Street: Prom Queen feels forgotten as the slasher rips away through its cast of vapid teenagers. With the bulk of its nostalgia credibility marked through hastily imagined needle drops, Fear Street: Prom Queen ultimately looks indistinguishable from generic modern slashers. Between its hair styling, costumes, dialogue, and set design, there’s barely even a surface level attempt to give the film period chops. Its aesthetic is less important than its story, but in failing to dazzle in either respect, Fear Street: Prom Queen has to make up for its detractors elsewhere.
Its saving grace, like many slashers, comes in the form of some of its more creative kills. While they are few and far in between, Fear Street: Prom Queen ekes out a few gnarly kills to remind its audience that it is a horror film. Bloody and brutal, it’s impossible to deny that the slasher knows it can be mean, and it isn’t afraid to go there. Peppering in a few solid chase scenes and giving the rest of the empty school a certifiably creepy vibe, Fear Street: Prom Queen slightly makes up for its decidedly disappointing story.
Empty, derivative, and boring, Fear Street: Prom Queen is a sharp departure from the excellent trilogy director Leigh Janiak gave us in 2021. It’s clear that this entry’s director, Matt Palmer, tries to match the brutality and camp of the trilogy but fails spectacularly. Weak scares, bland characters, and a distinct lack of commitment to its time period or place in the Fear Street universe makes this slasher a huge disappointment. The crown may be worn by few but even fewer should seek out this plastic sheened Netflix original.
Overall Score? 4/10
