Title – Fear Street: Part Three – 1666 (2021)
Director – Leigh Janiak (Honeymoon)
Cast – Kiana Madeira, Ashley Zukerman, Gillian Jacobs, Olivia Scott Welch
Plot – The origins of the Shadyside curse are finally revealed as we are taken back to late 1600’s where witchcraft and paranoia run rampant.
“End the curse”
Review by Eddie on 26/07/2021
Over the last three weeks we’ve had the Scream like opening 1994, the Friday the 13th inspired 1978 and now with the final instalment in Netflix’s surprisingly good R.L Stine based horror series The Witch feeling 1666, a film that acts as an entertaining and even genuinely surprising final piece of the puzzle around the cursed town of Shadyside.
With the two previous instalments laying the foundation and providing backstory to what Fear Street is all about, 1666 doesn’t have to provide us with much in the way of set-up as we are thrust into the life of hanged supposed witch Sarah Fier (played by 1994’s lead Kiana Madeira) as we join her and a collection of badly wigged co-stars (complete with a slightly suspect array of accents) in a small settlement village that starts to experience a series of evil occurrences that townsfolk attribute to the dark arts of witchcraft and devil worship.
Despite the fact this Ohio set location didn’t have villages of this kind in the time period, much can be forgiven in 1666 as director Leigh Janiak does a great job dialing things back for the first part of this experience as she gives us a far less slasher inspired horror that lays on the dread and mystery thick and fast that culminates in a great twist, one that in turn leads us towards an innovative and gloriously ridiculous finale that is just what the doctor ordered.
Filled with some unnerving and spine tingling moments of horror (a pigs pen or church sermon with a difference are ones to keep an eye out for) and some great work from D.O.P Caleb Heymann and a trio of scorers in Marco Beltrami, Anna Drubich and Marcus Trumpp, 1666 also feels like the most polished of all three films in Janiak’s series and gives one a feeling that should she and Netflix wish to do more work under the Fear Street banner, there’s reason enough to get excited by the proposition.
While in a genre sense there is no real new ground being covered by any of these films, with each owing a debt to not only R.L Stine’s work but classic horror outings that have come before them both a long time ago and also more recently, Fear Street can be commended for not always being totally predictable, unexpectedly dark and gruesome and also fresh enough in delivery too feel worth ones time and while many have bemoaned the lack of quality horror in Netflix’s original offerings for good reason previously, Janiak’s three films have showed just what can be achieved for the streaming platform in this area with the right minds and creativity at work.
Final Say –
Rounding out one of the years most surprisingly entertaining offerings with the best singular effort yet, Fear Street: Part Three -1666 is a memorable way to wrap up one of the most consistent horror trilogies in recent memory.
3 1/2 piglets out of 5
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys) 
Loved the writing guys. One question- what did you think of the motifs that the film tries to establish? The false labelling of free thinking women as witches or for that matter, marking same sex relationships as taboo?
I can’t comment with too much certainty on that one mate. Interesting that the series is directed by a female director. I am sure she wanted to pop in many relevant themes into the film from today’s current climate.
E
I also was kinda surprised about the trilogy. It is very solid from start to finish. Nothing groundbreaking, but I always like myself some good genre movies. I don’t know if I should address this subject or not, cause I get that it is sensitive. Whatever, Iam getting annoyed with all of the lesbian and gay and political correctness stuff in movies. I mean, not that I have anything against lesbian or gay people or portraying their storys and so on, but in many movies and series nowadays you have that kind of feeling that the cast has to be super political correct. Anyway, maybe Iam just too sensitive.
Back to the trilogy, I enjoyed the second and third part most. Definitely had my fun!
A very fun series this one, way better than one would’ve thought!
I get where you’re coming with in this comment, Hollywood has almost oversaturated itself in this type of stuff, it needs to dial back the political messaging a little bit and focus more on just making good products regardless.
E