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After four long years, 's series is finally back with , but does the new slasher measure up to the expectations set by the original trilogy? According to its Rotten Tomatoes score, not so much. Debuting with a "rotten" rating of just 50%, it appears that the Shadyside sequel is dividing critics down the middle, with some calling it "a slick ride of panic" and others "a massive nothingburger."

Starring an ensemble cast that includes the likes of India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, and David Iacono, Fear Street: Prom Queen adapts the 15th book in R.L. Stine's beloved series, and centers around Shadyside High's annual prom celebration, which sees the school's wolfpack of It Girls busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. When a gutsy outsider puts herself in the running, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of '88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night. It's a familiar premise to slasher fans, but unfortunately one that doesn't work, according to Sharai Bohannon from Horror Press:

"Fear Street: Prom Queen feels like CW and Tubi had a baby behind a Radio Shack in hell. Not in a fun and chaotic way. More like the people didn't understand the assignment and assumed their audience does not have standards."

"Fear Street: Prom Queen is an insanely bad movie that is neither dramatic nor horrifying," adds Archi Sengupta from LeisureByte.com. Kristen Maldonado from Pop Culture Planet was equally unkind to the new Netflix slasher, saying that it "drops us into what feels like a Temu Stranger Things version of the '80s, where the soundtrack is the most authentic thing about it." Ouch! Nick Schager from The Daily Beast notes that it's "cartoonishly gory and drearily unoriginal and predictable," while MovieWeb's own Greg Archer calls it "a bloody slash fest, heavy on gore and light on mystery and intrigue."

Hitting Netflix back in 2021 with three films in quick succession, the Fear Street saga was met with high praise from fans and critics for delivering some effective slasher movies that felt fresh, new, and most of all – fun. When Fear Street: Prom Queen was announced early last year, fans had high hopes that director Matt Palmer's installment would be equally entertaining, and while its Rotten Tomatoes score of 50% is nothing to write home about, the film does have its cheerleaders.

"Fear Street: Prom Queen tells a tightly packed, unencumbered story in the same fashion of the 1980s B-grade slashers it's trying to emulate," says critic Andrew Parker from The Gate. Brian Orndorf from Blu-ray.com also notes that the film "probably won't stick with viewers after it ends," but that Palmer "provides a slick ride of panic and teen aggression." Brian Eggert from Deep Focus Review adds:

"Netflix continues its embrace of Stine's books for streaming fodder with Prom Queen, another entertaining, bloody, fast-paced slasher in the Scream-brand whodunit mold."

Needless to say, Fear Street: Prom Queen is dividing critics down the middle so far, but what really matters is what the audience thinks. You can see for yourself if the latest entry in the franchise matches the fun of its predecessors by streaming it now on Netflix.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes