The “Fear Street” movies take inspiration from R.L. Stine’s best-selling series, but the show’s creators set out to bring fresh ideas to the table from the get-go. Director Leigh Janiak told Den of Geek that the movies aren’t inspired by the books at all, but they did mine them for inspiration. However, Netflix’s main goal was to honor the edgy and subversive spirit of Stine’s stories while reimagining the “Fear Street” universe for the screen. Granted, the films do pay homage to titles like “Cheerleaders: The First Evil” and “Lights Out,” but these references are mostly window dressing.
Now that we’ve seen a fresh spin on Stine’s spooky universe, there’s no harm in returning to the franchise’s roots. The upcoming “Fear Street” film is a chance to adapt the source material in juicier detail, which could open up a world of creative possibilities. From the mind-swapping horrors of “Switched” to the werewolf-centric “Bad Moonlight,” the novels offer a wide range of stories featuring a variety of concepts, creatures, and ghouls. It’d be a waste not to bring them to the screen.
What Netflix has in store for the “Fear Street” franchise moving forward remains to be seen. Still, it’s good to know that the streamer will return to this universe in the near future.
