'Fear Street: 1666' ends the Netflix trilogy with a fizzle, not a bang

The concluding chapter of the Netflix trilogy comes to a head when we're transported 300 years into the past to discover the true origins of the witch, Sarah Fier.

Returning to Shadyside for one final time, 'Fear Street: 1666' is certainly the trilogy's most ambitious title. As we saw briefly at the end of 'Part 2: 1978', our main character from 'Part 1: 1994' Deena (Kiana Madeira) is able to embody the real Sarah Fier, transporting her back to 1666 and living out the last few days of her life before being accused of witchcraft and hung for her sins, thus discovering what really went down all those years ago. Who is behind all of these Shadyside murders? And can they be stopped?

We say the movie is ambitious because there are many unanswered questions going into this third part that it feels like a lot of pressure is being placed on 'Fear Street: 1666' to deliver. Thankfully, the movie does deliver a worthwhile and dramatic explanation of this 300-year old curse placed on the town - but then after the revelation is revealed halfway through the movie, it falls apart.

Placing us into the era of the Pilgrim settlement (and its very dodgy accents), there's an air of grim hopelessness that makes the first half of the movie a tense watch, setting it apart from what's come before. Most of the actors from the previous two movies return to play Pilgrims in this early settler version of Shadyside, so there's also a sense of familiarity even though we've essentially being placed into a brand new setting. Given the supernatural-ness of it all, one recalls 'The Witch' or 'The Village' in its tone.

Unfortunately, once the mystery of all of the killings of the past 300 years in Shadyside has been resolved, we're transport back to the '90s where the final showdown of the trilogy takes place. While its exciting at first to discover we're back in 1994, the sudden realisation that there's still an hour to go before this movie ends begins to kick in. Fast-forward to our heroes setting up 'Home Alone'-style traps in order to rid the town of these monsters for good, and the scariness level drops dramatically. Damn it, 'Fear Street', you nearly had us thinking this was going to be a memorable ending.

It's not that 'Fear Street: 1666' is a fail, it's just that we didn't really want to return to the '90s. The weakest movie of the trilogy in our opinion, the first part felt like it catered for a younger audience than its 18 certificate lead you to believe. Predictable happenings with a gory backdrop was the meal of the day, which is the same pitfall the second half of this movie falls into.

What started out as potentially being the strongest movie of the trilogy quickly unravels into another cheese-fest aimed at teenagers, but, at least everything is wrapped up and makes total sense. Mostly.

All three parts of the 'Fear Street' trilogy are available on Netflix now.