Fear Street Part Three: 1666

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 concludes Netflix's horror trilogy by transporting viewers to the Puritan settlement of Union, where the truth behind Sarah Fier's curse is finally revealed through the eyes of Deena (Kiana Madeira), who experiences the witch's final days through a psychic connection. The film's greatest strength lies in its ambitious genre pivot, transforming from slasher homage into folk horror that evokes The Witch with its muddy, candlelit aesthetic and paranoia-driven narrative. The film retroactively enriches the entire trilogy with themes of persecution and historical injustice by revealing Sarah Fier as a queer woman falsely accused of witchcraft because of her relationship with Hannah Miller (Olivia Scott Welch). Meanwhile, the return of contemporary characters in Puritan roles creates satisfying dramatic irony. The supernatural elements are grounded in real human suffering by the performances, especially Madeira's twin roles as Deena and Sarah. The final reveal of the true villain's identity offers a thematically significant reward that unifies 300 years of Shadyside evil.

But because of the film's split format, there is a lot of tonal whiplash when the 1666 storyline suddenly jumps back to 1994 for a lengthy action scene that feels more like a stand-alone epilogue than a natural ending. Although the Puritan setting is atmospheric, it skips over its most interesting elements, such as Sarah and Hannah's friendship and the community's decline into mob violence and spends hardly forty minutes on historical events that merited a full-length examination. The climactic showdown with the real enemy ends too smoothly given the trilogy's constructed mythos, and the return to 1994 mainly relies on CGI-enhanced set pieces and lighthearted banter that undercut the gravity established in the previous reality. Additionally, the film's reliance on viewers having fresh memories of the previous installments means certain callbacks and character returns lack impact for those watching after a break. While 1666 succeeds in providing narrative closure and emotional resonance, its structural compromises and uneven pacing prevent it from fully capitalizing on the ambitious historical premise that distinguishes it from standard teen horror fare.

Staff:

Directed by: Leigh Janiak

Written by: Phil Graziadei, Leigh Janiak, and Kate Trefry

Based on: Fear Street by R. L. Stine

Produced by: Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, David Ready, and Kori Adelson

Starring: Kiana Madeira, Ashley Zukerman, Gillian Jacobs, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., and Darrell Britt-Gibson.

Cinematography: Caleb Heymann

Edited by: Rachel Goodlett Katz

Music by: Marco Beltrami and Anna Drubich

Production companies: 20th Century Studios^[a] and Chernin Entertainment

Distributed by: Netflix

Release date: July 16, 2021

Running time: 114 minutes

^[a]: Uncredited