Here it is: the finale of the Fear Street trilogy! Ending today with a review of Fear Street, Part Three: 1666 (2021). Again, this review is spoiler-free, but there will be spoilers for the previous film: Fear Street, Part Two: 1978 (2021).
SYNOPSIS:
In the year 1666, Sarah Fier, a colonial woman in Union (the original settlement of Shadyside), is promised to Solomon Goode, a kind gentleman from a powerful family in the village. But Sarah's heart belongs to another - Hannah Miller, the local pastor's daughter. When the pastor murders all the children of the village and plucks out his own eyes, the men of the village convene to find answers. Assuming witchcraft, they turn their suspicions toward the impropriety between Sarah and Hannah. The girls must find a way to escape the village mob, before they're hanged as witches!
REVIEW:
We're finally given the origin of all the paranormal activity in Shadyside! And what a tale! In the previous film, Deena believes that uniting Sarah Fier's lost hand with the rest of her bones would settle her spirit and stop the supernatural serial killers roaming the town. But upon touching Sarah's bones with her own blood, she's given a clear vision of Sarah's life. And so begins the final film, 1666.
An interesting choice for this film was in recasting actors from the previous two films to play the main colonial characters. For instance, Deena plays Sarah Fier, her girlfriend Sam is playing Sarah's love interest, Hannah. The sheriff Nick Goode is playing Solomon Goode, etc. It was an interesting choice because we had built up emotional connections to these characters. So seeing them again as different characters, but in similar roles to their modern-day personas, helped to establish our relationship with them without having to spend film time character building from scratch.
It also made for one helluva cliffhanger in the previous film, as Deena touched Sarah's bones and suddenly found herself in Sarah's body in 1666. I didn't know if she was magically transported to 1666 or if she was just re-living Sarah's past life. It wasn't until this third film started that it became clear we're seeing a flashback, with familiar characters filling in the main roles.
I was impressed with the accents all the actors adopted for this film! I can't vouch for the authenticity of their accents, but it was pretty impressive hearing actors speak American English in the first two films, then switch to "Colonial English" for the final film. A difficult acting feat for a single actor, but to have your entire cast switch accents? Definitely impressive.
The drug abuser theme continues! Some of Sarah's friends (played by Deena's drug abuser friends from the first film) snuck into an old widow's hut out in the woods and stole some berries that induce hallucinogenic effects. They brought them to a drink party in the woods, where they distributed them amongst the younger crowd. I'm not positive that some of the murdered children were also at this party, taking hallucinogenic berries, but with the film trilogy's thirst for justice against drug abusers, I wouldn't be surprised. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that this visit to the widow is the catalyst for all the horrible events in this film, and throughout Shadyside's history. Really beating home that "drugs don't pay" theme.
What is interesting is this film's focus on gay persecution. I thought it was odd that the first film focused on two women in love with each other in the '90s. I grew up in the '90s, and whereas gay culture was starting to have more of a public presence, it was still taboo in most places. Heck, people still used "gay" as a derogatory slur back then. And I don't recall any of the Fear Street books having gay couples (although it's been over 20 years since I last read them so I might not be remembering them well). It just wasn't culturally appropriate at the time; a mindset that is fortunately changing in more modern times.
I thought the concept was just added as a modern-day spin on a '90s tale, as their relationship is not viewed negatively by anyone. Except for Sam's mother, who doesn't outright say anything anti-gay, but still insists that Deena stay far away from her daughter. And interestingly enough, Sam's mother also played the pastor's wife - mother of Hannah, who also wanted Sarah to stay far away from her daughter. The relationship between two women becomes a central conflict in this final film. They live in a time when that's not acceptable, and leads to suspicion and anger and violence from others.
It also added to the tragedy of the story. We're told throughout the other films that Sarah Fier was hanged for witchcraft in 1666, but we didn't know the exact story or how it played out. And this film keeps you on your toes, wondering if an innocent girl will be hanged or if she'll turn to witchcraft as revenge against the village, as the legends claim. Seeing her motivations (her love for Hannah) helped you relate to her and understand the depths she'd go to in order to protect the person most important to her.
I thought it was cool that they focused on the red mossy crown Sarah made for Hannah, and they even focused real hard on where it landed when it fell off her head. That same spot was where Cindy was cleaning a red moss infestation at camp in 1978, complaining about the stuff growing everywhere. The red moss is sort of a symbol of Sarah and Hannah's undying love, persisting in that area over 300 years later.
My wife was upset with Sarah in this film. She claims that the film was too focused on pushing a modern acceptance agenda to understand relationships of the 17th century. She said, in that time, Sarah should've (and would've!) been more discreet about her affair with another women. It's not right by today's standards, but my wife thinks Sarah should've just married Solomon Goode and then continued her relationship with Hannah on the side, in private. Especially since her suitor knew about their affair and seemed to be cool with it. But by turning down Solomon to pursue another woman, she made herself a target in the public's eye. It may be sticking to your morals by today's standards, but in that era, that was literally a death sentence.
And so concludes this film trilogy. If you're unfamiliar with the old Fear Street novels, you might not understand why the films are called Fear Street when there's not really a Fear Street present in the film. The story of these films is an original tale, although based loosely on the Fear Street universe. There was a Sarah Fier in the books, but she was a very different Sarah Fier from these films.
RECOMMENDATION:
This was a fantastic conclusion to a three-part story, nicely wrapping up the tale with some good twists and turns to keep you engaged. I was afraid it wouldn't be as interesting as the other two modern day horror films, but it definitely kept my interest. If you've watched the other two films, you might as well conclude the story with this final tale. It comes highly recommended by me!
