Three films, 328 years,
more brutal deaths than we can count.
Here's everything you need to know about Fear Street.
Was Sarah Fier really a witch?
Nope, Sarah Fier was a blameless woman,
unfortunate enough to be an outcast
in an intolerant society.
She's innocent
of all the accusations laid against her,
and she isn't responsible
for the evil that grips Shadyside.
The rhyme about her cutting her hand off
to make a deal with the devil is false.
In one particularly disgusting scene,
Sarah loses her hand
defending herself against Solomon Goode,
who claims he loves her.
I love you. Stop fighting!
He's just got an unusual way of showing it.
This is why her hand ends up underground,
far away from where her body is actually buried,
for Alice to find 312 years later.
I fucking found it.
Why does Sarah confess to being a witch?
Well, to save the life of Hannah,
the girl she loves.
Both Sarah and Hannah are accused of witchcraft
and held responsible
for the death of Pastor Cyrus Miller.
But Sarah takes the blame for everything,
allowing Hannah to escape the mob justice
of her fellow villagers.
Sarah's last act is to promise Solomon
that the truth will be his curse,
which, as we now know,
is exactly what happens.
Why doesn't reuniting Sarah's hand
with her body break the curse?
It does, sort of,
just not in the way that we expect.
This is a riff on a classic horror movie trope
where laying a body to rest
will end some ancient and unspeakable curse.
But as we know from Fear Street,
this doesn't always work.
The deaths keep coming,
even after the hand and body of Sarah Fier are reunited.
And that's because
she's not the evil force people think she is.
But it does play a part in ending the curse.
When she returns the hand,
Deena experiences a flashback
that reveals everything that happened to Sarah
and the tragic injustices
that led to the Shadyside curse.
This gives her the information
that she needs to trap Sheriff Goode
and finally reveal the truth.
I will follow you forever.
I will never let you go.
So who's really responsible for the murders?
The origin of evil in Shadyside is,
ironically enough, the Goode family.
In Fear Street: 1666,
we learn Solomon made a pact with the devil
for power, prosperity and legacy
after his attempts to start a smallholding for himself
failed too often.
Goode is evil.
Pushed to his limits,
Goode takes a dark path.
By offering a single soul to the devil every few years,
he gets what his unanswered prayers failed to provide.
This begins with Pastor Cyrus Miller,
the first name that appears on the underground wall.
Goode gives a name to the devil.
Ryan Torres.
The devil takes over that person.
If this wasn't already bad enough,
those marked by Goode
have a tendency towards murderous rampages.
That's why previously decent and calm people,
like Ryan, become unhinged killers.
The devil feeds off the blood
of the Shadysiders killed during the rampages,
and it's always Shadysiders.
And the Goode family gets whatever it wants.
So what's the deal with the cursed blood?
Normally, the massacres in Shadyside
are seemingly indiscriminate.
One person gets possessed
and they kill anyone around them.
But Sarah's promise to Solomon Goode
complicates things.
When someone bleeds on Sarah Fier's grave
like Deena, Sam or Ziggy,
they get a glimpse of what really happened.
And that's why the historic killers come after them,
respawning from the pulsating pile of organs
to protect Goode's secret,
drawn to the blood of anyone
who's seen the truth that Sarah Fier shared.
The lure of this blood is strong enough
that it can be used to distract
and corral the reanimated killers,
and even make them fight each other.
This is also why the police officer
in the mall gets murdered.
Look at the floor and you can see
he's standing on a neon blood trail.
Conversely, if you don't get in the way
and you don't have blood on you,
they'll ignore you in favour of their intended target.
Stay out of their way.
They'll walk right by you.
How does Sheriff Goode die?
In the final fight with Sheriff Goode,
Deena forces him
to touch the pile of pulsating organs
that spawns his undead murderers.
When he does so,
he's assailed with images of all the people
who've died and suffered
so his family can remain in control.
The revelation stuns him long enough
for Deena to finish the job and break the curse forever.
So, in a way, Sarah's promise
about the truth being his curse
is exactly right.
What code does Josh keep repeating?
As you probably noticed in the first film,
Josh has a code
he recites whenever he's feeling nervous,
which, it turns out, is quite often.
Up, up, down, down,
left, right, left, right, B, A, start.
If you've ever played any video games,
you probably recognise this straightaway
as the Konami Code.
Many older titles from the Japanese publisher
feature the cheat,
unlocking things like additional lives
in home conversions of classic arcade games.
You are the biggest nerd.
The Konami Code's popularity
goes beyond games too,
stretching into the wider public consciousness.
It features in Disney's Wreck-It Ralph,
and you can even enter it on some websites,
such as BuzzFeed, to unlock hidden secrets.
Why wasn't Sarah's body under the hanging tree?
As we see in Fear Street: 1666,
Sarah was initially buried under the hanging tree,
but her friends decided she deserved a proper grave
and moved her where nobody else would find her,
leaving the carved stone behind under the tree
as a way of memorialising her.
And as we know,
her severed hand was lost in the cave,
which is why Ziggy and Cindy's plan
of reuniting body and hand is frustrated.
We can save Shadyside
tonight.
What's the significance of the red plant?
The red plant seen in Shadyside
is symbolic of Sarah Fier's sacrifice
and her relationship with Hannah.
We see it growing in the cave
where she lost her hand,
even reaching up
to the Camp Nightwing bathroom.
And it encircles her real grave,
where Sam has the accident in Part One.
In the final movie, we can see where it comes from.
Hannah wears a crown of red flowers,
which she places in Sarah's grave
when they move the body.
Why doesn't Ziggy die from her wounds?
This is likely because Nick doesn't want her to.
As a Goode,
he's in control of the reanimated killers.
And as awful as he is,
he apparently has some genuine feelings for Ziggy.
He even says as much in Part Two.
I'm not letting you die.
This is probably
why he knows exactly where she'll be,
and how he's able
to get to her quick enough to save her.
It's a shame that those feelings for her don't last.
If I die, she dies!
Who was Kate's aunt?
In Fear Street: 1994,
Kate tells us her mum's sister
was at Camp Nightwing the year of the massacre.
Yeah, my mom's sister was there.
Screwed my family up for a long time.
So does that mean
that we see her in Fear Street Part Two?
Yes, but it's never explicit.
In an interview with Den of Geek,
trilogy director, Leigh Janiak,
says Kate's aunt might be the girl we see
in the arts and crafts cabin.
We don't see her death.
We just get this dramatic moment
with a match going out.
And the character, played by Lana Spraley,
is credited only as "Shadyside Prisoner #1".
But Janiak confirmed that she discussed
the connection with the actor
before the scene was shot.
A chilling Easter egg
for anyone who was paying close enough attention.
Who grabs the book at the end?
We have no idea.
But it wouldn't be a horror movie
without a Carrie-style final jump-scare, would it?
So, there you go.
Do you have any favourite moments from Fear Street?
Let us know in the comments below.
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