Fear Street Part One 1994 5 Horror Tropes It Uses (& 5 It Avoids)

Fear Street Part One: 1994 – 5 Horror Tropes It Uses (& 5 It Avoids)

Thanks to its inventive use of horror tropes, fans love the first movie in the Netflix horror trilogy Fear Street, adapted from R.L. Stine’s books.

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As soon as Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy was announced, fans of horror were excited to see this new interpretation of the classic book series by R.L. Stine, and the first film didn’t disappoint. In Fear Street Part One: 1994, the characters Deena, Sam, Kate, Simon, and Josh work to figure out what is cursing the small town of Shadyside and how they can get out alive, making for quite a spooky story.

While the film certainly stands on its own, it definitely does take inspiration from other horror classics as well, and it’s interesting to examine the first film in the trilogy and see what classic tropes it employs and which ones it doesn’t use at all.

10 Uses: Jump Scares

The jump scare is a classic horror movie trope that is used in countless movies, most commonly in slashers but sometimes in a supernatural story as well. Fear Street Part One: 1994 uses this trope in an innovative way, with the most obvious example being the opening scene. This got fans talking, as it echoed the opening of Scream, when Drew Barrymore’s character Casey is killed – one of Scream’s most famous moments.

Maya Hawke’s Heather is shown closing up for the night after finishing her shift at the Shadyside Mall bookstore, and she soon realizes that a masked killer is after her. She manages to escape and runs into another store, and there’s a great jump scare when she thinks the killer is next to her – before realizing that it’s just a mask hanging on the wall.

9 Avoids: Scary Kids

A popular horror movie trope is a little kid who is creepy and terrifying, whether they’re possessed or they’re the ones who can tell that something sinister is going on. This isn’t something that Fear Street Part One: 1994 does.

The kids in the movie are adorable, as Kate babysits two girls and promises that if they help her with a task, they can watch My So-Called Life, a nice nod to the ’90s setting. Sure, Kate wants them to sort drugs and put them in baggies, but it’s her idea and there’s nothing else that is scary about this scene.

8 Uses: A Ghost Who Wants Revenge

Described as a “vengeful ghost” or a spirit with “unfinished business,” the trope of a “ghost who wants revenge” shows up in many paranormal stories, and it often moves the plot forward since making the ghost feel heard or understood is often the way to survive. This is also a trope that the first movie in the Fear Street trilogy uses.

At the end of the movie, Sam is possessed by Sarah Fier, the witch who died in 1666 and is said to have cursed Shadyside forever. Deena realizes that she has to do everything in her power to get the person who she loves back, and fans are excited to see what happens in the next movie.

7 Avoids: Research In A Library Or On The Computer

Another common plot device used in several scary movies is the portrayal of characters doing tons of research so they can figure out the threat or the reason for the story’s murders taking place.

When the characters in Fear Street Part One: 1994 find out that there were murders at Camp Nightwing in 1978, it’s thanks to Josh’s obsession with the creepy things going on in their small town, as they look at the many newspaper clippings that he has acquired. But this is research that Josh has already done, in contrast to movies where the characters head to a library and look through old books, yearbooks, and news stories on their own.

6 Uses: A Creepy Hospital

Some horror movies use what is described as the “abandoned hospital” trope, and it’s often satisfying, as it’s hard to think of a creepier location.

The first movie in the Fear Street trilogy uses this trope too. While Sam is in the hospital, Deena and her friends visit her there, and it doesn’t seem like many people are around, giving it a creepy and horrifying vibe. Soon, things get even worse when the killer shows up and kills Beddy.

5 Avoids: A Cell Phone Runs Out Of Power/No Wi-Fi Signal

In many horror movies, a character will be in danger of getting killed and they’ll realize that they don’t have a Wi-Fi signal or any cell phone service. It happens pretty often and it feels like an easy way to prove that there’s no way out of the situation. Many ’90s horror movies hold up today and it’s interesting to compare them to more modern stories, since of course, the characters couldn’t use social media, computers, or smartphones as easily as today.

Therefore, just like those classics, Fear Street; Part One: 1994 also avoids this horror movie trope, since the movie is set in 1994 and the characters don’t have access to smartphones. This works well, as it feels like an old-fashioned scary story where the characters have to rely on their intelligence and each other instead of technology.

4 Uses: The Big Moment When The Killer’s Mask Is Taken Off

A classic horror movie trope is the big moment when someone, either the main character or sometimes a cop, takes the mask off the killer and shows everyone who they really is. This is always intense and dramatic.

This trope is used in the opening scene, as everyone learns that Ryan is the one who murdered Maya and the one behind the mask. His costume echoes that of Ghostface in the Scream franchise.

3 Avoids: A Connection Between Sex And Death

In many slasher movies, characters who have sex end up dead, and sometimes this is turned on its head, as the movie Cherry Falls saw a killer going after virgins. Fear Street Part One: 1994 avoids connecting these two things.

While Sam and Deena make out in one scene, and Kate and Josh do as well, that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the killings taking place and the overall slasher story.

2 Uses: The Final Girl

While Fear Street Part One: 1994 does use the horror movie trope of “the final girl,” it also subverts it, as the end of the movie has two final girls with Deena and Sam. Sam however becomes the new threat, as she stabs Deena and tries to kill her, but Deena survives.

This sets up the second movie, which focuses on the horrors that happened at Camp Nightwing in 1978, where C. Berman was the final girl. Fans have become invested in Sam and Deena’s love story and hope that everything will end up okay, but since this is a horror trilogy, that definitely remains to be seen.

1 Avoids: The Basement Is The Scariest Place

The basement is the worst setting in countless horror movies. Perhaps a main or minor character gets locked in there by the killer, or maybe they’re trying to hide there and, of course, the killer finds them.

Fear Street Part One: 1994 doesn’t use this trope at all, as the main action takes place in a hospital, at the high school, and on the main streets of Shadyside.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/fear-street-part-one-horror-tropes-uses-avoids/

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