Alt Title: Fear Street: Prom Queen Director Reveals Why They Needed to Change the Killer from the Book
Netflix is finally making another Fear Street film, this time titled Prom Queen, five years after the highly successful and loved trilogy that the streaming service released four years ago. This new entry, which stands on its own, follows the story of a group of high school prom queen candidates in 1988 as they start being brutally slaughtered, one by one, on the night of their big dance.
The Direct's Russ Milheim sat down with director Matt Palmer to discuss the latest entry in the hit series, how it connects to the first Netflix trilogy, the changes they needed to make from the original book, and designing this new killer.
How Connected Is Fear Street: Prom Queen to the First Netflix Trilogy?
"It's Definitely a Standalone Film," But One That Has Small Connections
- The Direct: "Speaking of those previous three films, can you kind of tease to audiences how connected this new one is, you know, if at all, or just how much it weaves into the DNA of it?"
Matt Palmer: We're sort of striking out for new territory. There's a lot more I'd say about the sort of dynamics of the town, because you've got the whole Shadyside, Sunnyvale stuff, and we dig a bit deeper into what it would be like to live in a town that's, you know, a poorer and kind of messed up town, like it's a very sort of blue collar town. It feels like there are a lot of American towns right now that have that kind of vibes, but it does interact...
And we dig a bit deeper into what it would be like to live in a town that's, you know, a poorer and kind of messed up town, like it's a very sort of blue collar town. It feels like there are a lot of American towns right now that have that kind of vibes, but it does interact. And if there's maybe something very late in the movie, maybe even after the credits that could link up to the original trilogy [and] continue through the credits. But it's definitely a standalone film...
The thing with the original films is that they have this lore, and they did it amazingly well. But it kind of, it was all tied, apart from one question, the kind of, who's got the book question, very much tied up and completed in those first three movies. So it kind of felt like if we lean too hard into that, people would kind of know the answers already, because the answers are all in those three movies, apart from you kind of loose ends. And I'm sure people will pick up those loose ends and run with them, but then we've left those for the filmmakers.
- The Direct: "There have been three hugely popular 'Fear Street' movies so far on Netflix. How did you want this one to differ and feel unique from those ones?"
Matt Palmer: I guess the producers, they were very open from the beginning. I mean me and the co-writer we pitched this idea, because we were like, if we're able to do this, this would just be the most exciting thing to write ever, and the most fun. So we'll pitch this, but they're never going to go for it. And then, and then they did, and they were really excited.
And they were like, Okay, we're going to take this to Netflix. And we were like, Ah, shit, you know, we're one step away, but Netflix are never going to go for this. And then Netflix went for it. So, it was very much like we kind of had an idea for the tone and the sort of type of movie we wanted to make. And we were like, it's quite different to the first three are they gonna go for it?
And they did, and I feel like that's, you know, now we've done it. It's potentially opened up, it's really opened up the franchise for all kinds of different movies and styles and feelings that connect and interact in certain ways, but are quite distant as well.
Making Changes to the Original Prom Queen Fear Street Book
Changes Had to Be Made for the Adaptation.
- The Direct: "This film is based on The Prom Queen [Fear Street] book. Can you talk about just the changes you had to make to [the story], as one does when one's adapting from a book to a different medium, and just why certain things needed to be adjusted?"
Matt Palmer: One of the things is, we were writing a whodunit, because that's one of the things I love about slasher movies, is they have this–you get a free who done it. It's like watching who done it, but then also watching people having their heads cut off, which is a great combo.
There are a lot of people out there [who think] those books are really popular. So a lot of people know who did it in 'Prom Queen.' So it felt like we had to sort of strike out in different directions. Also, the deaths aren't as gory in the book, and we wanted to go back to the '80s slashers where the deaths are sort of showstoppers and super gory.
And there's a lot of dialogue in the book as well. So, it felt like we sort of had to go in, necessarily, go in new directions.
But, RL Stein's great in those terms, because it's like anything you like, run with it. If you want to go in different directions, run with it... When I read the synopsis for that book, it just grabbed me by the throat. I was like, this is a killer setup for a movie. So, we'll take that premise, and then we'll take certain elements of the book, but we'll push out these options too.
- The Direct: "I'm always curious [about] some of the smaller changes that are made in some of these adaptations. So, for example, even the names of the characters were all changed. What is the thought process there?"
Matt Palmer: I think naming characters is quite—it's kind of a key part of the creative process for me... There's like a feeling and a texture to the names that you pick, that you kind of need in the DNA of the writing.
So [with] Tiffany Falconer, that Falconer name, to me, somehow conjures up the entire essence of what our family is... So, I kind of have to change them because that naming process feels like a key part of the character design. It's just kind of unavoidable.
Designing a New and Terrifying Killer in Prom Queen
This Fear Street Killer Could Have Looked Very Different
- The Direct: We have a really cool new killer in this new entry. Can you talk about just designing the killer and why that look was what you guys went with?
Matt Palmer: It was really tough. I was thinking, you know, I'm really into, like, 80s Giallo movies. So what's the kind of Giallo element?... The black coat wasn't gonna work, the sort of classic black raincoat Giallos wasn't really gonna work, because there's a lot of darkness in the film, so it [would] get lost.
So, then I was thinking about maybe yellow because I think the killer in 'Alice, Sweet Alice' from 1976 is very, very visually iconic. And then we had a concept artist, and he came back with a red coat, which is something I hadn't thought about, because I was like, What color are we going to put against the Red lockers? It's like, yellow, blue. And he came back with red on red. And like me and the producers looked at it, and we were like, that is sick. That's it. So it was a red raincoat from that point on.
The mask was super hard, because I feel like it's been so many amazing horror slasher masks. And I was having a bit of a freak out, because I was like, they've all been done. There's nothing left. And then the ones that seemed like we have a sort of cartoony mask that felt like it would pair really well with the raincoat. But then, when we put it all together, it just looked a bit stupid. But then, eventually, we happened upon this one.
The production designer found it, and it was kind of an adapted version of a different mask. And it just felt, you know, we looked at it and we were like, that's super creepy. So it kind of, it kind of came together. I knew that it was going to be someone in a raincoat, and then the other details kind of, it was a process that was quite tough to get to the final guy, but I'm happy with the [final result]...
The full spoiler-free interview can be viewed here:
Fear Street: Prom Queen starts streaming on Netflix on May 23.
Fans of horror movies should also be sure to check out The Direct's separate interviews with the cast of the latest Final Destination film!
