When the first film of the Trilogy opened with Maya Hawke I was instantly hooked. The Shadyside mall and the 90s neon aesthetics instantly screamed Stranger Things. And so ended the familiarity, as only moments later Maya Hawke, Heather, was stabbed by her co-worker Ryan in a very Screamy fashion (pun intended). As the distant police sirens blared and Heather lay sprawling, the trilogy dives further into the darkness.
Shadyside and Sunnyvale have co-existed side by side for years. While Sunnyvale has been growing by leaps and bounds, has a population that is both rich and happy and successful, the poor Shadyside has gotten the shorter stick. With a history of crime and infamous serial killers, the town is said to be cursed by the witch Sarah Fier. “She reaches from beyond the grave to make good men her wicked slaves. She'll take your blood. She'll take your head. She'll follow you until you're dead,” reads the washroom door in the Shadyside highschool, as Deena, our protagonist, meets her friends Kate and Sam.
The arthouse style film addresses class divide and homophobia by the relationship of Deena and Sam; recently broke-up, due to Sam’s controlling mother. They meet again at the football match between Shadyside and Sunnyvale. The tension between them is palpable and soon a fight breaks out, as the memorial service for Heather is forgotten.
A reference to Scream, again, as a skull-masked killer stalks Deena and Josh, her chat-room obsessed younger brother. As Kate and Simon, and even Sam, enter the party to aid the siblings, the skull-masked killer too calls for backup. While Nightwing and Ruby Lane attempt to paint the screen red with our heroes, the sheriff Nick Goode, drives around the city being utterly useless (we learn later why). And soon the truth reveals, it is all because of Sarah Fier, the local witchy-celebrity.
In stark contrast to the first, the second film is set in a summer-camp. At its thematic core, the second installment delves into the themes of trauma, survival, and the consequences of unchecked evil while exploring the origins of nightwing. We meet Sadie Sink, yet again playing a rebel, as Ziggy Berman, and her older sister, Cindy Berman, both facing internal and external conflicts amidst the chaos of the camp massacre as the Nightwing is revealed to be none other than Tommy, Cindy’s boyfriend. We also get a glimpse of a younger Nick Goode, who seems to be a nice enough guy (more on that later).
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The final installment goes all the way back to 1666, a clever use of the numbers in the title, as we meet the demon herself, Sarah Fier. But not in a way we imagined. Sarah Fier is indeed a demon for the inhabitants of Union, the former county that was later split into Shadyside and Sunnyvale, because first of all she is gay, and also because of her tendency to neglect the rules that do no good.
Nick Goode’s ancestor Solomon takes the center stage in the installment as all the threads align, it was never Sarah. Goode sold his soul to the devil and his subsequent generations have been sacrificing Shadysiders continuously to preserve their own. When the produce starts going bad, and the local priest kills a bunch of children, not-too-surprisingly, a witch hunt ensues. And not too surprisingly the people take the word of a wasted drunkard over the word of a girl who does all to support her family, clearly the priorities are in the right direction.
Sarah Fier indeed was a witch, for how else could you explain that the illusion of her guilt stretched across centuries, and not even a single soul questioned her involvements in the crimes. Clearly the villagers were not wrong, nor were the Goode who manipulated all to their advantage. It was always the innocent Sarah who was wrong, for being different. The movies compel us to ponder on the nature of “different” and “outsider”.
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The series attempts to recreate classics in contemporary format. With weird camera angles, and an intense color theme, the movies avoid force-asserting thematic importance but focus on giving an entertaining slasher based small town mystery. The series, preserving cliches while still not feeling too cliquey, is a refreshing welcome for anyone looking for a thrill and scare
