It's prom season at Shadyside High School. Anyone who has read the Fear Street series by R.L. Stine or remembers the slasher trilogy from 2021 knows that can only mean one thing: murder and mayhem. There's a killer on the loose, picking off the would-be prom queens one by one. Meanwhile, outcast Lori (India Fowler) and popular girl Tiffany (Fina Strazza) desperately want the crown. But will they survive their prom to win it?
Set in 1988, Fear Street: Prom Queen is a teen slasher that's a heck of a lot of fun with plenty of surprisingly bloody kills. Just before the film's release on Netflix, we spoke with writer/director Matt Palmer about inhabiting the world of R.L. Stine, the kills, and filming a gnarly dance off.
This interview was edited slightly for clarity.
1428 Elm: What was it like to step into the world of R.L. Stine and the Fear Street series?
Matt Palmer: It was exciting. Full disclosure: I think Fear Street was bigger in America than in the U.K. I’ve heard of R.L. Stine and Goosebumps, but this was my introduction to Fear Street. It was jumping into the world of R.L. Stine, but also jumping back into the world of '80s slashers. It was a combo of those things, which was an incredibly exciting prospect.
1428 Elm: This film has some pretty grisly kills and a lot of gore. Did you face any pushback about the level of bloodshed, or did Netflix pretty much allow you to do what you wanted in terms of the gore and the kills?
Matt Palmer: I was waiting for pushback, and then I was very surprised. As much as possible, we did practical effects. There were a few things we couldn’t do only practically. I’m a big fan of the way that Gaspar Noé does practical effects but incorporates digital effects quite seamlessly. Actually, Netflix upped our VFX budget in post-production to enhance the gore and make it more extreme. It was a fantastic moment. Not only did they allow us to do this and not ask us to cut it, but they also asked us for more.
I think there’s been a bit of a sea change in horror over the last 12 months. I think people are pushing back against the PG-13 element of it. They’re ready to go the other way. I think the horror community might be in for quite exciting times. I think things are about to get bloody. [Laughs].
1428 Elm: Which slashers served as inspiration for the film?
Matt Palmer: I like slashers generally. My favorites are the slightly more mental ones. I’m a big fan of Pieces, Happy Birthday to Me and Sleepaway Camp. I’m also a big fan of Giallo movies and Argento in particular. I feel like the shadow of Tenebrae hangs quite long over this movie. I love how in an Argento movie, there’s a ritualistic quality when a kill is coming. I thought that when we had a kill coming, we had to bring it home as far as possible and really go to town on those scenes.
I’m also really proud that all of our kill scenes are quite distinct and have quite different tones, pacing, and rhythms. Hopefully, that keeps the audience on its toes.
1428 Elm: In terms of the soundtrack, there are some familiar '80s bangers in the film, including Billy Idol, The Eurythmics, Tiffany, and others. How much say did you have over the soundtrack?
Matt Palmer: Some of the tracks, like Eighth Wonder’s “I’m Not Scared,” were a key track for me. The pulsating quality of that really suggested to me that it had promise visually. The prom scenes should be seen through the young people at prom, but it’s also like an idealized image of that. I felt like “I’m Not Scared” has that throbbing, pulsing quality.
The one thing that did happen is that I picked a few tracks that were very personal to me. I was happy when they came on and were in the edit for a long time. But one of the producers is younger. She’d tell me that a track sounded kind of boring. That’s when the voices were helpful. It was exciting for me because I listened to those tracks when I was 13, but we switched some of those tracks up. A lot of it was to keep the energy up. I picked some slightly down-tempo tunes. Eventually, we found that keeping the pace was the best thing for the movie.
1428 Elm: There's a really great sequence where the two competing prom queens, outcast Lori (India Fowler) and popular girl Tiffany (Fina Strazza), have a dance off. That scene looked like it was a heck of a lot of fun to shoot. Can you talk about directing it?
Matt Palmer: I think it was a lot of fun for everyone, apart from the actresses [Laughs]. That was a really tough scene for India and Fina. Not only are they essentially dancing for a camera, but there were about 150 extras around them. I don’t care who you are. That’s intimidating.
Neither of them are trained dancers. We had a fantastic choreographer who worked with them. It was a tough day and more challenging than some of the elaborate kill scenes actually, but I was really, really happy with what we came out with. Fina, as she dances, her performance falls apart. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, the moves that she’s pulling. They’re all classic '80s moves gone wrong.
1428 Elm: Can you also talk about the dynamic between Tiffany and Lori? They make for good opposing characters and come from such different worlds in terms of their popularity, class, and even family.
Matt Palmer: The producer said it was a story about Lori and Megan (Suzanna Son), but now that I’m looking at the edit, it’s a story about Lori and Tiffany. It’s kind of both. There’s a little bit of an element of Showgirls, just in terms of the catty and camp and snarky and snide stuff.
The Tiffany character was a total joy to write. She’s just a meanie. The interesting thing about Tiffany that I’m pleased with is the moments in the film that you see underneath that front. There’s a vulnerable teenage girl who tries to find herself under that mean girl exterior.
Lori is essentially the opposite. She has that strength, but she needs to go through the grind of the narrative to come out on the other side and really exhibit that strength. There’s a real crossing over. One becomes weaker and the other becomes stronger as the movie goes on.
1428 Elm: Anything else that you'd like to add?
Matt Palmer: It was just an absolute blast making this movie. I’m a huge fan of '80s horror and horror in general. The main goal was to make a fun movie that horror fans would like. I’m hopeful people will have a good time with it. It's nice to hear you think it’s gory because I wondered if we went gory enough. [Laughs].
Fear Street: Prom Queen debuts on Netflix on Friday, May 23.