Netflix Is Making A New Fear Street Movie Based On R.L. Stine's The Prom Queen
It's a good time to be an R.L. Stine fan. After adapting his "Cheerleaders" trilogy in 2021, Netflix is back to adapt another "Fear Street" novel, this time as a standalone movie. Stine himself announced the news on X/Twitter yesterday:
"A new 'Fear Street' movie is about to go into production for Netflix. It's based on my 'Fear Street' book, 'The Prom Queen.' Good news!"
The 1992 novel takes place once again in the appropriately-named town of Shadyside. The town's high school has prom coming up, and there are five potential Prom Queen candidates in the running. But somebody starts killing the girls one by one, and it's up to main character Lizzie McVay to get to the bottom of things before she herself is murdered. In 2022 it was reported that Chloe Okuno (director of "Watcher" and "Slut") had closed a deal to direct the next "Fear Street" movie, but it's unclear whether she's still on board.
It's worth noting that despite how interconnected those first three "Fear Street" movies were, the book series as a whole is an anthology. This means Lizzie McVay was not in any of the previous movies, and if Netflix adapts another book she probably won't be in that one either. Likewise, the surviving characters of the previous three movies won't be major players here, though since they're Shadyside residents they could make cameo appearances.
One of Stine's best
There are a lot of reasons for "Fear Street" fans to be optimistic about this news, the biggest of which being that Netflix is clearly not afraid to get ambitious with this series. The previous "Fear Street" trilogy was released in a big three-week summer event in July 2021. It had a major studio budget, and was written and directed by people who seemed to care a lot about the source material and really wanted to bring it to life for a new generation. Those movies starred Kiana Madeira, Sadie Sink, Gillian Jacobs and Maya Hawke; there's no telling who'll be in the next one, but perhaps Netflix will dip into the "Stranger Things" cast list once again.
As for "The Prom Queen" itself, it's definitely one of the more popular "Fear Street" installments. The book often lists near the top of rankings of the 51-book series, as it's a dark, suspenseful tale with some of the more unique cast of characters R.L. Stine's ever written. It's a bit of a mean book, but that's sort of the appeal; it mocks a lot of the high school backstabbing and cruelty that most teenagers can relate to. For fans of Stephen King's "Carrie" and fans of teen slashers, it's definitely worth a read, and then hopefully a watch on Netflix sometime soon.