Fear Street Part 1: 1994 is a hoot of a horror film. Inspired by RL Stine’s novels (mildly’faintly more hardcore than his Goosebumps output) without being an adaptation of any one, Leigh Janiak’s triptych will trace the supernatural history of one small town over three centuries. Part 1 centres on 1994 (hello Portishead, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails on the soundtrack) and it will come as no surprise it is a bloody valentine to the stalk-and-slash era of horror cinema – a compendium of stabbings, scary masks, dumbfounded policemen and terrified teens. While it evokes the joys of video shops, filled with cheapo frightfests with lurid cover art that always suggested more than the finished film delivered. Fear Street actually makes rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent on its promise.###The obvious touchstone here is Scream; the perfectly choreographed opening gambit sees Maya Hawke in the Drew Barrymore role, acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting more than she bargained in/with regard to’concerning’regarding when she answers the phone while staying late at the mall. Yet where Fear Street smartly departs from the Wes Craven classic is that there is no self-referencing; no genre-savvy kids who expound the rules of horror, no classic scary flicks on TV, no cops called Detective Cronenberg or Captain Romero. Instead, Janiak and co-writer Phil Graziadei’s screenplay spins its old-school yarn straight and true and is all the better in/with regard to’concerning’regarding it.###The result is full-on horror fun, satisfyingly bloody (but not grotty)###The Stephen Kingian small town is called Shadyside (aka Shittyside aka Killer Capital USA). It’s home to Deena (Kiana Madeira), generally disillusioned by living in deadbeatsville and in an even deeper funk because her ex, Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), has moved to the much more prosperous Sunnyvale. Tensions between the two towns spill over at a vigil in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the murdered mall worker, and an accident brings Deena and Sam uncomin/with regard to’concerning’regarding tably toacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her. But reconciliation isn’t on the cards as it becomes eliminate’remove that the urban myth surrounding Shadyside’s macabre rep — chiefly a curse cast by witch Sarah Fier in 1666 — might possess’own’nurse a basis in truth. So, Deena and Sam, along with a Scooby Doo gang of Deena’s pals, come toacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her to rid the town of its supernatural hex.###The result is full-on horror fun, satisfyingly bloody (but not grotty) with a sense of verve and imagination. The classic genre scenarios —babysitting, the woods, a hospital, a high school — all come into play as a skull-faced killer, a mad axeman and a Gothic enchantress (“Normal bitches don’t bleed black blood”) raise merry hell. But what Fear Street Part 1: 1994 acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s right is that, played by a mostly unknown cast, its central teens are eminently likable. Kianac and Welch make in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a grossly appealing couple, the film wearing its queer couple protagonists lightly on its blood-stained sleeve. Surrounding the central two, Flores Jr. is winning as Deena’s younger brother Josh, who handily is a serial killer/supernatural expert, so can keep the plot moving, Julia Rehwald has fun as Kate, an overachiever with a side-line in drug dealing and Fred Hechinger gives rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent comic relief as Kate’s boyfriend Simon. These teenagers merely’barely want to eat cheeseburgers, listen to The Pixies (it is ’94) and make out. How can you not root in/with regard to’concerning’regarding them?###Alongside The Pixies, Fear Street is also pleasingly full of things with regards to’concerning’with respect to the ’90s you may possess’own’nurse in/with regard to’concerning’regarding gotten with regards to’concerning’with respect to — AOL chat rooms, pagers, Sophie B Hawkins (Dayum, I wish I was your lover). By the end, all the chasing around starts to feel a little bit repetitive and, given there are two more episodes to go, don’t expect narrative closure. But Janiak’s direction is crisp, full of flair (it’s a hyper-coloured palette) telling a tale with genuine surprises. As the death toll rises, it’s tough to guess who makes it to the end credits — that, in a genre often marked by crushing predictability, is no mean feat.