Happy Halloween, Fear Street lovers. And could there possibly better news, EVER, then the fact that the fear master himself, R. L. Stine, is set to revive the Fear Street series with new books! Holy crap, I am over the moon about it. According to his Twitter, which I now follow with absolute delight, he is halfway through the first book, Party Games. Things couldn't be better. Of course A.M. and I will be following these new developments.
So, in honour of the awesome news, and of course for Halloween, I put together some of the things that make Fear Street so very special in our hearts. I am so eager to see how much of this ends up in the new series.
Some of the best things that make Fear Street books so awesome are the little details. For A.M. and I, that means the awkward description of kisses between chaste teenagers, or the mind-bogglingly gross-out ways that R.L. has thought up to off his characters. I also started to make a list of all the books we've deemed have abusive relationships within them, but it was basically every one of them, so I just stopped. Also, it seemed a little wrong to highlight that aspect of the Fear Streets too much. Just know that we here at Shadyside Snark frown on abusive relationships and you should never date someone who dumps a bucket of leeches on you. In case you needed that bit of life advice.
Best description of awkward kisses
Make no mistake about it - one of my favourite things about Fear Street is the really awkward way kisses are described. They rarely sound enjoyable at all. Just one more part of the teenage horror experience?
Letter openers
The letter opener, bar none, is the best murder weapon ever, and much more common than you would think. It does make me wonder, though - who are all these people with letter openers? If people could see the stats on how many of these lead to terrible deaths, maybe they'd just stick to opening letters with their fingers, paper cuts be damned.
Best poetry attempts
And by best I mean worst.
Most gruesome/memorable deaths
I started to compile the deaths that gave me the creeps, but I eventually had to stop. R.L. is super creative when it comes to death. Here is just a sampling of some of the gruesome ways you could possibly go. A surprising amount of these were found in the Evil Cheerleaders series - that Sarah Fear was a complete ghoul!
Bobbi Corcoran scalded to death – Cheerleaders: First Evil
Impaled by camera, stunt double – The Third Horror
Face torn off in tobogganing accident – The Perfect Date
Death by pottery wheel – Lights Out
Death by printing press – Final Grade
Buried alive – The Burning
Skinned as a cat, rat stuffed down the throat – Evil Moon
Piano wire across ski hill – The Face
Death by water cooler – Cheerleaders: The New Evil
Head ground in mill; head boiled in a vat of potatoes – The Awakening Evil
Special mention
These are some of the scenes that just stick in your head - we remembered them vividly even after years since reading Fear Street for the first time.
Garberator scene – 99 Fear Street: The First Horror
Killer vomit – The Third Horror
Needle in lipstick – Silent Night
Triple threat chase scene – Sunburn
The time-traveling car – Cataluna series, Evil Moon
