[Film Review] Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021)

Spoiler warning: Mild spoilers for Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021)

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021) is the last part of the epic Fear Street story, and it had a tall order ahead of it as we looked to find out what happened in 1666, as well as see a conclusion to the 1994 story. And I have to tell you, it did not disappoint. It’s so hard to talk about this film without diving into spoiler territory, but I will try to only touch on the essentials.

We’re back in 1666 along with Deena (Kiana Madeira), who finds herself inhabiting the body of Sarah Fier. Other residents of the colony are made up of actors we’ve seen in the previous two instalments, playing new characters, many of which have questionable Irish-adjacent accents. 

Sarah doesn’t seem particularly witchy at this point, but a late-night rendezvous with Hannah (Olivia Scott Welch) puts her at the mercy of the town’s gossip. This is especially bad news when things start going wrong, such as the town’s well being poisoned and all the food rotting. We’re soon acquainted with the first of the Shadyside killers in the form of the Pastor, who takes the eyes of a group of the town’s children, before being killed himself by Solomon Goode (Ashley Zuckerman).

Sarah and Hannah are swiftly judged as witches, mainly thanks to the testimony of Caleb (Jeremy Ford), after he was rejected by Hanah and embarrassed by Sarah. This really goes to show that a humiliated man with a boner is more dangerous than most things. The rest of the town soon jump on the witch hunt train, and both girls are marked to be hanged.

Of course, the audience knows Sarah’s fate is to be strung up from the hanging tree minus one of her hands, but it turns out we don’t know the full story. Sarah is betrayed by one of the people she trusts the most, sacrifices herself for the person she loves the most, and proves she’s a little witchy after all before she takes her last breath. 

Back in 1994, Deena now knows the truth about why Shadyside seems to be living under a curse, and with the help of Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.), Ziggy (Sadie Sink), and Martin (Darrell Britt-Gibson), she’s determined to out the real bad guy and break the curse once and for all.

The 1666 section of the movie was definitely missing the needle drops this film series has become famous for. However, back in 1994 we’re welcomed back with a booby trap montage set to Come Out and Play by The Offspring. The first section is a standard, gloomy folk horror, so this scene is a welcome return to the entertaining slasher side of things and brings the film back into fun territory, getting us excited for what comes next.

Thankfully, we’re treated to a finale that is worthy of a film series about lots of different serial killers, as we get to see most of them close up for one final fight scene. Once again, I can only commend the monster design in these movies, as they’re all incredibly creepy and unique. 

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 does pretty much exactly everything I wanted it to in order to wrap up this series successfully. It ties up any loose ends that were left hanging from the first two movies but still has enough surprises in store to keep you locked into the story. Also, even though all three movies are roughly the same runtime, this is the only entry that I didn’t feel dragging in places. There’s so much going on between 1666 and 1994, the time flies by, and I’m glad there wasn’t a second for my mind to wander during the conclusion to our story. 

Overall, the Fear Street trilogy hits on so many themes that really stand out to me in horror that I can see them all becoming firm favourites. Deena and Sam’s love story is placed front and centre, but it’s never played off as a gimmick. In fact, their love story transcends generations, albeit through different characters. Instead, the story focuses on the pressure and judgement placed on them from the outside, which is obviously slightly more extreme in 1666. The two women do anything they can to stay together, and this proves a strong connection point between Sarah and Deena.

I also love a story that shows women coming back from the grave to get their revenge and reclaiming the power from the other side that they were never able to fully use in life. Sarah Fier isn’t your standard vengeful witch, but instead, she’s something far more complicated and powerful. 

Finally, Fear Street Part Three: 1666 dives into the ways women are betrayed by those around them, and those who claim to love them. Same shit, different century, right? In the end, Deena, Ziggy, and even Sarah Fier herself have to band together to take down those who have wronged them and get the justice that everyone involved deserves.

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 is the perfect ending to this trilogy, and while I secretly had hopes that reversing the curse might undo the deaths of some characters, it wasn’t to be. However, the ending we got was amazing. It’s a happy ending, with all our questions answered, and a little sting at the end which hints we might not be quite done with Fear Street just yet. It also gave us lots more Pixies songs!

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