Fear Street: Prom Queen is the latest entry in the Fear Street franchise that Netflix began in 2022, but some details of the new film actually seem to be at odds with one major event from the preceding films. While Prom Queen draws from the same R.L. Stine series of novels, the latest entry in the franchise feels surprisingly standalone. The ending of Prom Queen does connect to the larger story in a few notable ways, but the overall story presented, and many of its implications, seem to forget one major event from 1978.

The jump scares and kills from Fear Street Part Two: 1978 are among the best in the franchise. The second film in the trilogy is arguably the most impactful entry in the series, and its shadow looms large over the rest of the story. Showing the impact of the Goode family and how their lives led to the events of the larger story was enormous. However, that connection between the various films seems to have disappeared in the new film, other than in Prom Queen‘s mid-credit scene, which caused some confusion about Shadyside in 1988.

Prom Queen Mostly Ignores The Mᴀssacre From Fear Street: 1978

The Camp Nightwing Mᴀssacre Would Have Left A More Harrowing Impact On Shadyside

1978 saw one of the most impactful events in the entire franchise. The film featured One Piece‘s Emily Rudd and Stranger Things‘ Sadie Sink as sisters and told the story of the Camp Nightwing Mᴀssacre that would go on to be a major part of the larger franchise’s overall tale. This terrifying event, committed by a possessed Tommy Slater, received a brief mention in the introduction to the new film, with a poster serving as a memorial to the deaths. However, this event would have left a larger shadow over Shadyside.

One of the police officers at the end of the new film also remarks that “It’s worse than ’78”, but these are the only connections to that horrible event. These superficial references establish that the new film does take place in the same continuity, but they feel like an afterthought. In reality, the events that occurred during the ending of Fear Street Part 2: 1978 would have been more significant and would have had enormous ramifications on the people and the town itself.

Why Prom Queen Would Have Benefitted From Including More Connections To The 1978 Mᴀssacre

The People Of Shadyside Would Still Be Reeling From That Event, Even Ten Years Later

This mᴀssacre would have been more significant to Shadyside in 1988, during the events of Prom Queen. While the ending of Prom Queen suggests that characters like Nancy Falconer may have had connections to that mᴀssacre, or to the Goode family in general, none of this is given much focus. Students and teachers alike might have lost family members or dear friends during that event, and the impact of that would have certainly come to the fore during the slasher events of Prom Queen.

Experiencing that kind of loss is incredibly traumatic, and that fear would have resurfaced during the murders of the prom queen hopefuls in the latest film. The new film occurs ten years after that event, and those horrifying wounds would not have entirely healed. Tying in more connections with Prom Queen‘s cast to the 1978 mᴀssacre, whether to the Berman sisters, to Tommy Slater, or to the Goode family, could have quickly given a deeper emotional connection to the characters in the new film. By eschewing that connection, Prom Queen feels almost entirely separate.

Fear Street: Prom Queen features surprisingly few connections to the larger franchise, and that is a disappointing choice. While some important ties are given a few moments of screen time, the film could have increased its impact by tying more directly into events of past films. Only featuring a cursory acknowledgment of the mᴀssacre that was featured in 1978 is perhaps the most disappointing of these choices. Tying the story more directly into the horrors and traumas that emerged from that could have made the new story much more impactful.