!!The entire franchise
* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/FearStreet here]].

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: The R. L. Stine Books]]
* AntiClimaxBoss: Honey Perkins is suddenly revealed to have been arrested off-page in ''The Best Friend 2'', and is replaced as the BigBad at the very last minute by [[spoiler:Trish Walters]].
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: In ''The New Girl'' Cory keeps meeting this guy out walking his dog in the middle of the night (which is pretty weird to start with) whenever he goes to Fear Street to try and visit Anna. Other than his dog pouncing on Cory once he serves no purpose except to be a RedHerring and is never given any name or backstory.
* BizarroEpisode: ''The Bad Girl'', along with being the only non-''Literature/GhostsOfFearStreet'' story to veer into science fiction territory, has a just plain off-kilter tone, feeling like a bizarre dry comedy (especially the final confrontation with the villain) punctuated by the occasional bit of violence that is portrayed in an almost slapstick-like manner.
* CreatorsPet: A surprising case of Administrivia/TropesAreTools. R.L. Stine has said a few times that Reva Dalby of the ''Silent Night" books is something of a personal favorite since she's great fun to write. Of course, since she's supposed to be obnoxiously mean instead of unfailingly pure, and Stine writes her accordingly (since that's the reason he likes her), it works and most fans who don't find her unlikeably mean and a complete KarmaHoudini do LoveToHate her.
* DesignatedHero: Trisha Conrad is a self-centered AlphaBitch who is presented as a LovableAlphaBitch even though she cheats on her boyfriend with her best friend's boyfriend, and then engages in an elaborate prank against the latter for cheating on ''her'', even though she herself has no problem dating boys that she knows other girls are going out with. [[spoiler: And she somehow manages to survive the whole series.]]
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Suki Thomas, seen in ''The Overnight'' and mentioned in a couple of other books, is very well liked due to being unlike most girls seen throughout the franchise, being a tough talking, punk goth girl with multiple piercings, spiky hair dyed platinum and for being a flirt without being a homewrecker, clingy or jealous and catty like many other girls could get.
** ButtMonkey PomPomGirl Phoebe Yamura, [[WeakerTwinSavesTheDay Deidre Palmer]], TokenBlackFriend Stacy Malcolm, HeroWithBadPublicity Jennifer Fear, and AlwaysSomeoneBetter Kenny Klein are the most popular ''Seniors'' characters. A lot of fans were irritated by the unceremonious, trouble-filled way they were treated by Stine after [[DayInTheLimelight the books that gave them the most focus]].
** Jonathan Fier from the middle third of ''The Secret'' (due to being an OnlySaneMan who tries hard to end the Fier-Goode feud and never succumbs to a CorruptTheCutie FaceHeelTurn like so many of his descendants) and DarkIsNotEvil-embodying Margarete Fier from ''The Hand of Power'' are two of the best-liked members of the Fier/Fear clan despite only being in one book each.
** BenevolentBoss and DotingParent Andrew Manning and Betsy Winter (a GenkiGirl Goode descendant who is unbothered by the FeudingFamilies past of the Fears and Goodes and [[spoiler:suffers the particularly novel and nasty fate of being drowned in dough]]) only appear in a few chapters apiece of ''A New Fear'', but are well-liked SheepInSheepsClothing characters.
* FanonDiscontinuity:
** The prequel novels have various moments where some readers would like to pretend that the story stops at a point shortly before various Fears (Mary, Abigail, Jonathan, Jamie, Julia, Hannah, Sarah, Nicholas, Robin, etc.) or the targets of their wrath (like Amy Burke and Susannah Goode) lose loved ones, fail to stop an evil menace, die, turn evil after a TraumaCongaLine, or some combination of the four.
** Many readers of ''Fear Street Seniors: Wicked'' dismiss the ending due to it making absolutely no sense even by Stine's standards: [[spoiler:the main character is automatically cursed by the source of her power for using magic to kill two fellow witches in self-defense even though they killed a coven mate in cold blood at the beginning of the book and weren't cursed]].
** Since no one even mentions who killed popular ''Seniors'' character [[spoiler:Phoebe Yamura]] in ''Graduation Day'', and the equally popular [[spoiler:Deirde Palmer]] has a fairly incidental DroppedABridgeOnHim fate in ''Spring Break'', some fans of the ''Seniors'' series choose to ignore their death scenes and any subsequent mentions of them not making it to graduation.
* HesJustHiding:
** The death of [[spoiler:Phoebe Yamura]] can feel this way due to the number of faked deaths in the series, the popularity of the character, and the fact that [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment it's never revealed who was supposed to have killed her]].
** Some fans are skeptical that [[spoiler:Marla's]] DraggedOffToHell fate at the end of ''[[spoiler:Wicked]]'' sticks after how it messes with the book’s internal logic and wonder if it really happened or if she might have been able to escape with her magical skills.
** The heavily bitter BittersweetEnding of ''Door to Death'' turning into a full-on DownerEnding when the ghost kills the surviving protagonists is a scene that ''could'' conceivably be a nightmare the heroine is having after the night's traumatic experiences.
* HilariousInHindsight: ''Into the Dark'' has a character named [[Creator/BradJones Brad Jones]]. Made better by the fact that he is also from Springfield.
* HoYay: The girls comforting each other in the locker room in ''Cheerleaders: The First Evil'', and the friendship between Stacy Malcolm and Mary O'Connor from ''Seniors''. Stacy was visibly angry that people were defending Trisha Conrad for going out with Gary Fresno even though everyone knew Gary was dating Mary first.
* JerkassWoobie:
** Dana Palmer from the ''Seniors''. A slight BetaBitch in the books that didn't have her as the main character, she had the unfortunate luck to discover Danielle Cortez's corpse on the first day of school, and throughout the years watches as most of the cheerleading squad is picked off, and also [[spoiler: loses her twin sister.]]
** Reva Dalby, with a ''heavy'' emphasis on the "jerkass" part. She may be a [[MisanthropeSupreme cruel, hateful bitch who is nasty to almost everyone]], but it's implied her mother dying when she was young was [[StartOfDarkness what made her this way]], as she was a nice enough person before then. One also gets the impression that beneath all her cruelty, she is mainly just [[SourOutsideSadInside sad and lonely]].
** ''Seniors'' character Marla Newman is an AcademicAlphaBitch who has a fair amount of petty moments, but in her final book, comes across as this, being revealed to be a WellDoneSonGuy whose mother has some unhealthy standards, suffering a ''lot'' of humiliations even before joining in a black magic coven that tries to force her to kill someone (causing her emotional distress), and apparently being [[spoiler: DragedOffToHell at the end of the book after a prolonged HopeSpot]].
** We can hardly blame P.J. from ''New Year's Party'' for being such an unpleasant person considering [[spoiler: his jerkass schoolmates caused his death with a stupid prank. ''Twice''.]]
* {{Moe}}: Phoebe Yamura from the ''Seniors'' series, given how, despite her status as the head cheerleader, she feels like TheIngenue at times and experiences little but misery despite just wanting to cheer and get along with people.
* {{Narm}}: Plenty of moments.
** From ''The Thirst'': "GOOOOOOD DOGGGGG!!"
** [[spoiler: Chuck]] stalking Jade and Deena in an orange hunting cap. [[IncrediblyObviousTail They're in the city, and he even wears the cap indoors, in a brightly lit gymnasium.]] At least one online reviewer has snarked about how this is a strange accessory to wear if you don't want your target to spot you. It's suggested later that he may have wanted to be spotted, but it's still pretty silly at the time. It comes off like this was done simply to have a chapter end on the line, "A man in an orange hunting cap, staring in at them."
** The frequency with which terms like "nectar" (blood) and "Eternal Ones" (vampires) are used in ''Goodnight Kiss''.
** Simon's solution to ridding himself and his family of their curse in ''The Betrayal.''
---> '''Simon:''' I will change my name. I will change the letters, so that they will no longer spell fire. [[InsaneTrollLogic That will end the curse once and for all.]]
** In the next book, we learn that the mysterious fire that destroyed the Fear Mansion was caused by [[spoiler:a decrepit Simon tripping and falling on his own massive birthday cake]].
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap:
** Most of the squad (and Kimmy in particular) from the ''Cheerleaders'' miniseries are pretty unpleasant in the first book to the Corcoran Twins due to being newcomers who arrived suddenly in town and forced one of their friends off the team by being accepted. After the events of that story, the following books have them more sympathetic towards Corky, and helping combat the evil entity. [[spoiler: the fact that at least two of them were involved in the prank against Bobby Newkirk in ''Double Date'' also helps]].
** Kenny Klein can be difficult to like at first, as he does some stupid and insensitive things in his earlier ''Fear Street Seniors'' appearances. However, he gets some subtle CharacterDevelopment throughout the series, which, combined with his HyperCompetentSidekick and AgentMulder moments in ''Wicked'', cause some fans to call him the only male senior (with the possible exceptions of Will Reynolds and Clark Dickinson) who inspires any sympathy or investment throughout the series.
** AcademicAlphaBitch Marla Newman inspires little but LoveToHate amusement or unambiguous dislike from the fandom for the first nine ''Seniors'' books. However, many admit to finding her a compelling and sympathetic lead in ''Wicked'' after she is revealed to have a FreudianExcuse, a capacity for PetTheDog moments, and an affinity for magic.
* TheScrappy:
** Honey Perkins from ''The Best Friend'' was so hated for how she stalked and harassed Becka Norwood, tried to kill Becka's friends, and [[spoiler: stabbed Becka's boyfriend and made ''Becka'' think she did it]] and got away with it all, the publishing company held a contest where fans could write in what they felt was an appropriate punishment for her. [[spoiler: Even when she was given a somewhat sympathetic backstory that included being bullied and watching her family die, it's important to remember she was already clingy and unbearable even before these tragic events.]] WordOfGod from R.L. Stine even admitted the fandom hated Honey with a passion because of that ending.
** Trisha Conrad is one of the most least liked of the Doomed Class in part because of what a hypocritical, backstabbing homewrecker she was even when the other characters kept claiming she was sweet and nice.
** Ricky Schorr from ''The Overnight'' and ''Halloween Party'' is quite disliked due to being an obnoxious slob with no sense of hygiene and a terrible sense of humor.
** Matty Winger from the ''Seniors'' miniseries is basically the reincarnation of Ricky Schorr and is just as popular with both the characters ''and'' readers as Ricky.
** Gerri Marcus from ''Lights Out'' is hated because of how cruel she is to Holly for silly reasons. She even gets other campers like Mick and Kit in on tormenting her. Some are also annoyed that this part of the plot was not resolved in the end.
* {{Sequelitis}}: The ''Seniors'' maxiseries is not fondly remembered by readers who grew up with the original books, with the general consensus Stine really amped up the negative qualities of his usual teen protagonists and filled the cast with a number of unlikable assholes while underutilizing and killing off the characters who were actually likable.
* SerialNumbersFiledOff: A small, coastal town in the northern US built around a lumber mill with more than its fair share of secrets, including both real and supernatural evil, largely centered on the sordid lives of teenagers. It also features a queen bee whose father owns a department store named after himself and has a recurring fire motif. Is this ''Series/TwinPeaks'' or R.L. Stine's ''Fear Street'' series?
* SignatureScene: Easily the most fondly remembered part of ''Lights Out'', and the part people first talk about when bringing it up is [[spoiler: Debra being killed with a pottery wheel, as it is one of the more gruesome deaths in the original series.]]
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The books were mostly written in the early 90s. As such there are several plots which wouldn't really work today. Namely, several involve a person who is either thought to or later turns out to be a ghost, with the characters often learning this fact due to finding some old newspaper article or the like saying they died. Nowadays they could probably just look up the person on Google or the like.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** One of the biggest complaints about the ''Seniors'' books is how they would suddenly introduce characters among the 12th grade with no real build up only to have them killed off for shock value. Characters such as Danielle Cortez, who is the first senior to die but was only introduced a chapter before her death and didn't even have a yearbook entry until three volumes later, and Greta Bradley who served as an extremely minor character before being somewhat prominent in ''The Gift'' only [[spoiler: for her to die near the end]].
** Likewise, it was terribly frustrating how the more sympathetic and popular characters like Phoebe Yamura, Deirdre Palmer, Kenny Klein, Mary O'Connor, and Jennifer Fear were largely overshadowed by unlikable characters such as Trisha Conrad, Josh Maxwell, Ty Sullivan, and Dana Palmer, especially since [[spoiler: Phoebe and Deirdre suffer rather anticlimactic deaths, Kenny is possessed and supposedly dies, and Mary completely vanishes before the series is half over while her asshole ex-boyfriend Gary Fresno and Trisha remain prominent.]]
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The books were written in the late 80s/early 90s, as such, some of the plots wouldn't really work today. There are several books where the characters are unsure if someone is some kind of ghost or still alive, and often spend hours at the library looking through newspaper archives to try to find an obituary. Nowadays they could most likely just Google the person. The reprint for ''The New Girl'' actually updates the latter so that they indeed use the internet.
** Lampshaded by Stine in a few interviews, as he states that the hardest part of writing the revival books is finding a way around cell phones, as they would resolve a good chunk of the plots.
* UnintentionallySympathetic:
** ''The Best Friend'' 2 spends a lot of time putting the blame on Becka Norwood for the horrible things that happened to her. [[spoiler:Honey Perkins' new backstory reveals Becka and several other kids tricked Honey into humiliating herself to make her leave them alone, the night before Honey saw her mom and twin brother killed by her dad. Then it turns out Trish and Bill had been conspiring to torment Becka because Becka was "a bad friend" to them for not visiting Trish in the hospital and for not getting back together with Bill after Honey stabbed him in the chest. However, while the prank on Honey was excessive, Honey and her twin brother Harold were established as being insufferably whiny and obnoxious kids who wouldn't leave Becka and several others alone, with the prank having been Becka's attempt to finally make Honey leave her alone. Even without that, Trish and Bill have no right to call Becka a bad friend when neither of them were willing to help Becka deal with Honey in the original ''Best Friend'' book. Nor do they recognize the mental abuse Honey inflicted on Becka throughout the whole book left her in no proper frame of mind to help Trish or Bill. Bill especially is an asshole after his repeated browbeating to get Becka to go out with him again ''and'' the way he made Becka feel like she was blowing stuff out of proportion even when he admits Honey came on to him. Trish and Bill act as though Honey's abuse didn't affect Becka at ''all'' even though it's clear she has justifiable reasons why she didn't visit Trish or date Bill again after everything Honey did to her.]]
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** A good chunk of the teenage protagonists come across as pretty unlikable despite all the horrible stuff that happens to them. Carter Phillips, and many of the Shadyside Seniors, either for being whiny, for actually doing something horrible and not receiving any punishment for it, or for being a boring, flat asshole.
** Chuck from the ''Wrong Number'' books also qualifies. In the first one, he makes threatening phone calls (such as making a bomb threat to a bowling alley) and puts the girls in danger by calling the villain just as he's murdering his wife. In the sequel, he [[spoiler: sends anonymous threats to Jade and Deena and stalks them because he's trying to scare Jade into eloping.]] To be fair, they're not at all pleased with him when they find out.
* TheWoobie:
** Holly Flynn in ''Lights Out''. Despite disliking the outdoors, she agrees to work at Uncle Bill's camp because she knows he's been struggling with it. It's not made easier for her when everyone at camp starts hating her, especially her ex-friend Gerri Marcus. It's easy to feel sorry for her as no one really helps her and no one beleives her about the accidents that start happening.
** The ''Seniors'' series had the following:
*** Phoebe Yamura considering she lives throughout the whole series (while being subjected to a cheating boyfriend, an AllTheOtherReindeer treatment due to a jealous fellow cheerleader, a crazed stalker and the deaths of several friends) only to be [[spoiler: killed in the final volume rather unceremoniously.]]
*** Jennifer Fear. Her entire childhood she was ostracized by the other kids because of her last name, and even in high school people still give her shit. In ''The Gift'' she's used as TheScapegoat for the vengeful spirit of one of her ancestors, and everyone thinks she's trying to kill her {{Jerkass}} ex-boyfriend Ty Sullivan, leading up to [[spoiler: Greta Bradley dying at her New Year's party and thinking she might have done it. Jennifer later finds out she's not an actual Fear since her grandfather only took the name when he arrived at Shadyside because of the influence it carried, meaning she's gone through all this bullying and torment for nothing. She has a falling out with her dad for lying to her, never finds out her so-called best friend Trisha Conrad was seeing Ty while he was still dating Jennifer, and come prom time accidentally conjures up a homicidal date via a magic charm, and said date kills Gary Fresno.]]
*** Clarissa Turner, who lost her sister before the start of the series, is MistakenForCrazy a few times, has her best friend murdered [[spoiler: and finds out another close friend is responsible and wants her dead too]]. She also discovers that her boyfriend has some serious issues and is almost framed for trying to kill her new foster brother.
** There are a lot of these in ''Fear Street Sagas'', especially if the person is a Fier/Fear relative who has never done anything cruel or vicious but still suffers and probably eventually dies because they're linked to such a cursed family. Examples include Constance Fier, Mary Fier, Jane Fier, Abigail Fier, Garrett Malbourne/[[spoiler: Timothy Fier]], Justin Fear's four wives, Dora Mae Fier, Sarah/[[spoiler:Jane]] Fear, Trevor/[[spoiler: Richard]] Fier, and Margaret Fier. Then we have Susannah Goode and her mother, Nora Goode, and Nicholas Fear's first love Rosalyn, admirer Betsy, and mill coworkers.
[[/folder]]


[[folder: The 2021 Netflix trilogy]]
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The Skull Mask killings in 1994 seem to have less victims than the other ones - with only five, including the killer. And the police arrive extremely quickly, with Nick Goode stopping Ryan while he's in the middle of stabbing Heather. In 1978, when finding the bodies of the four murdered children, Nick is so horrified he throws up outside. [[spoiler: While this is a case of EvenEvilHasStandards on the surface, perhaps on some level, Nick felt guilty about the 1978 massacre; he's shown to be unsure of his future and does go out of his way to rescue as many people as possible and even bring Ziggy BackFromTheDead. So did he rig his second possession to have as little casualties as possible? He decidedly picked closing time at the mall, where there would be less potential victims around, and arrived in timely fashion to kill Ryan personally. Was he in some way testing the water to see if he could still maintain the curse with less victims, essentially trying to have his cake and eat it too?]]
* {{Anvilicious}}: Not too much that it overshadows the [[NarmCharm fun of the trilogy]], but the metaphor for the classism and the wealthy (Sunnyvalers) prospering at the expense of the poor (Shadysiders) is pretty obvious in all three parts. Especially in the third part when the root of it is revealed.
* {{Applicability}}: The overwhelming majority of characters of color seen are from Shadyside, with only one confirmed Sunnyvaler being played by a black actor. This is on top of the fact that said Sunnyvaler is an unnamed background character with one line. Meanwhile multiple members of the 1994-era main cast are people of color.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** ''1666'' has The Offspring’s “Come Out and Play” when the heroes prepare at the mall for the final showdown. Also meaningful given the lyric:
-->''Your never ending spree of death and violence and hate is gonna tie your own rope!''
* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Deena as the main protagonist of the entire trilogy, who's only OutOfFocus in ''1978''. Half the base finds her too obnoxious, {{Wangst}}y and less interesting than other characters like Kate, Simon or Ziggy. Others find her a relatable flawed heroine, refreshingly unconventional, and realistically dealing with things that would make anyone irritable.
** Sam is similarly divisive, with some seeing her as TheLoad, and how [[spoiler: Kate and Simon died trying to save her when they'd have lived if Sam had just sacrificed herself]]. Some also find her a bit needlessly cruel to Deena at the beginning. And on the flipside, there are those who love her for her CharacterDevelopment, and the fact that she was willing to sacrifice herself to save the others, as well as being [[spoiler: strong enough to fight off possession briefly]].
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Nearly all the killers not featured in main roles get this, but none more so than Billy Barker, mainly because of his genuinely creepy design despite being a small child and the fact the flashbacks focusing on him were pretty brutal. Many wished that he had a larger role in either ''1978'' or ''1666''.
** Mary Lane just has cameos in ''1994'' and ''1666'', and just two scenes in ''1978''. But her subplot of being the mother of one of the Shadyside killers, and being the HeroOfAnotherStory in finding all the information the protagonists need gives her a real sense of importance. Despite her short screen time, it's clear she made an impact.
* FandomSpecificPlot: What if the possessed killers got to meet each other in the afterlife? This normally goes hand in hand with a found family relationship with Ruby and Tommy in particular being very close, sometimes Ryan as well, Pastor Miller being the TeamDad, and occasionally Billy being TheBabyOfTheBunch.
* FanficFuel: Have fun filling in the backstory gaps for the Shadyside Killers that doesn't include [[spoiler: Pastor Miller, Tommy, Ryan and Sam,]] and how their killing sprees went. Ruby Lane in particular is given just enough hints of an interesting history that leaves her story ripe for interpretation.
* {{Fanon}}: Given that she is the ''only'' female Shadyside killer, it’s become generally accepted amongst fans that Ruby Lane [[spoiler: rejected the advances of the Goode son who named her to become possessed.]] The fact that she is constantly singing “You Always Hurt the One You Love” can be interpreted as a clue to this theorized motivation. Making this FridgeHorror, someone worked out that the [[spoiler: Goode that cursed Ruby was Nick's father- and that Nick would've been born]].
* FriendlyFandoms: Fans of ''Fear Street'' and ''Stranger Things'' are pretty much guaranteed to overlap, mostly due to the nostalgic essence of both properties, shared cast members like Sadie Sink and Creator/MayaHawke, and ''Fear Street'' being directed (and essentially run) by Leigh Janiak, Ross Duffer's wife. Both also have messages about growing up and moving on.[[note]]In ''Fear Street'', it's Sam and Deena's faltering relationship, while in ''Stranger Things'', primarily during the third season, it's Will's struggle with realizing the main party is growing up.[[/note]]
* GeniusBonus: Ruby Lane constantly singing "You always hurt the one you love" may seem like just an old tune for the sake of being creepy. [[spoiler:That is until the climaxes of 1994, 1978, and 1666, where a possessed Sam stabs Deena, Nick (who's later revealed to be the main villain) curses Tommy which leads to Ziggy getting brutally attacked, and Solomon severs Sarah's hand and turns her in to hang for witchcraft all while proclaiming he loves her.]]
* HarsherInHindsight:
** ''Every'' disdainful remark someone from Sunnyvale makes on Shadyside after the third movie reveals [[spoiler: that their prosperity and the violence in Shadyside comes from a curse the former town's founder placed on the land and which their most influential family maintains.]] This is doubly so for any such comment [[spoiler: the Goode family makes.]]
** The much mocked CleanPrettyReliable moment near the end of part 2 where Nick revives Ziggy via CPR after she had been ''stabbed multiple times in the chest'' gains a sinister edge to it when part 3 reveals [[spoiler:that the Goode family, including Nick, are behind the curse which exchanges the souls of Shadysiders for giving the Goode family everything they want - meaning that Ziggy was brought back by demonic forces, rather than CPR.]]
* JerkassWoobie: Deena, although the 'Jerkass' part only really counts in the first movie. She's a cynical nihilistic young woman who is actually quite mean to her ex and causes a car accident because of her immature reaction to a prank. However, her mother appears to be out of the picture, her dad is a deadbeat alcholic, and she appears to have to parent both herself and her brother. She's also a lesbian who, although she loved Sam, could not ignore that she was always too afraid to be fully out with her. Then early in the film, she sees Sam with a boy, and this hurts her so much she goes under the bleachers to cry. And that's even before the killers start attacking!
* LGBTFanbase: The fact that the series' overarching narrative centers on not just one but two lesbian couples [[spoiler:with the 1994 ones ultimately surviving and getting a happy ending, something uncommon for queer people in the horror genre]], as well as featuring other female characters with AmbiguouslyGay moments, has endeared the trilogy to many lesbian and bisexual women. Simon has also proven to be popular among many genderqueer fans, who tend to headcanon him as trans or fluid in some capacity.
* SignatureScene: Each film tends to have a well-remembered scene that stands out for either being tragic, brutal, or both:
** Without a doubt, the scene that has gotten the most attention from Part 1 is [[spoiler: Kate's death where her head is rammed through a bread slicer. Mostly for being so brutal in comparison to the rest of works associated with R.L Stine and for making it clear that none of the main characters are safe from the body count, as Simon follows soon after.]]
** The ending scene from Part 2, [[spoiler:namely where Ziggy and Cindy are killed side by side and try to reach for each other]], has also gained a large amount of interest for being suitably tragic.
** Part 3 has the full scene of Sarah Fier's hanging, [[spoiler:with her BadassBoast towards Solomon Goode and her sacrifice for Hannah being stand out moments of acting for Kiana Madeira.]] The following scene where we watch as [[spoiler:her friends give her a proper burial has also gotten a lot of attention for being extremely bittersweet.]]
* SpiritualAdaptation: Listen closely to the overarching outline of the trilogy. A group of people are hunted by killers that are powered by a supernatural force, with many serving as [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of popular horror movie characters. With that in mind, the trilogy sure does sound like the closest thing so far to a ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight'' movie so far.
* ViewerNameConfusion: One of the past killers, a large man wearing a strange mask, is generally referred to by fans as the Grifter, because of the "Grifter Guts Girls" newspaper headline that introduces him to the audience. He's actually listed as the Shame Killer in the end credits, though that name is never used to refer to him within the story.
* TheWoobie: Sam mentions that her parents divorced, and her mother forced her to move away from her friends and girlfriend (who then dumped her because of where she lived). Her mother is also viciously homophobic, meaning she was basically forced back into the closet for the sake of a quiet life. Then she ends up targeted by an army of undead, unstoppable killers, and at one point even her own friends want her to die to stop everything. [[spoiler: While she [[EarnYourHappyEnding earns her happy ending]], she also spends two films in the trilogy being {{Mind Rape}}d and will likely have to live with the knowledge that Kate and Simon died trying to protect her]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The 2021 Netflix trilogy -- ''Part One: 1994'']]
* {{Adorkable}}: Josh's anxiety and slight awkwardness around Kate due to his crush make him quite endearing. His love of video games and the internet only furthers this.
--> '''Josh:''' So, when'd you get into the fruit business [Kate's drug dealing]?
* FanFicFuel: It's practically impossible to not imagine if the movie was similar to the ending of [[spoiler:''1978'', where far more killers show up to chase Cindy and Ziggy?]]
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
** The opening lines are Heather excitedly reading out the blurb of a book someone's buying, trying to do an ominous voice. The uninterested customer deadpans that the book is "trash" she's buying for her stepdaughter. Heather gives her the finger as soon as her back is turned.
** Kate gets her babysitting charges to help sort her drugs! She then warns them not to take any of the pills because they'd probably die and "your parents would be so, so sad". Julia Rehwald says it like she's talking about an irritating stain on the carpet.
** It's revealed that Simon had to do an entire shift at the grocery store wearing the t-shirt that Sam had vomited blood on the previous night.
** Simon defends being taken in by Ruby Lane so easily because [[ImAManICantHelpIt "she was hot!"]]
** Sam and Josh are shocked when Deena reveals she stole Officer Kopinski's gun. Kate on the other hand?
--> '''Sam:''' Are you crazy? You stole a cop's gun!
--> '''Kate:''' (''excited'') Fuck yeah, she did.
** Simon realises that everyone had simultaneous hook-ups while he was masturbating. Kate insists that her and Josh were "barely first base".
* OneSceneWonder: Heather of course! She's set up as the DecoyProtagonist just like Casey Becker from ''{{Film/Scream 1996}}'', only for her sudden and tragic death to establish that AnyoneCanDie. Maya Hawke provides plenty of deadpan wit and bubbly charm in a short amount of time.
* PlatonicWritingRomanticReading: Kate and Simon are intended to be PlatonicLifePartners or LikeBrotherAndSister, but the fact that they're introduced together (with Simon sneaking into the girls' bathroom no less) and are given lots of moments highlighting their closeness - many viewers assumed they were already a couple. Simon also takes his shirt off in front of Kate, teases her in ways that could be considered flirting and actually seems [[spoiler: to take her death harder than Josh]].
* [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct She Really Can Act]]: Julia Rehwald has only had a few short film credits to her name prior to the trilogy's release. Needless to say, the fact that her portrayal of Kate has been so praised and lauded as one of the best parts of ''1994'' is quite impressive for her feature film debut.
* StoicWoobie: It's not drawn attention to, but Deena states that Simon had been supporting his family for years. In addition to school, he had to work long hours at a grocery store (and in fact had to work his most recent shift in his blood-stained t-shirt). Not that you'd know it, because he's very upbeat and ThePollyanna most of the time. The drugs unfortunately probably have something to do with it.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Despite Josh's implication that every one of the Shadyside killers will come after them, only Skull-Mask, Ruby Lane, and the Nightwing Slasher are the killers for the movie. Killers who didn't get as much attention such as The Humpty-Dumpty Killer and Billy Barker would've likely satisfied fans who thought that the long legacy of killers wasn't properly utilized, and could've made for some interesting setpieces.
* TooCoolToLive: [[spoiler: Kate]] and [[spoiler: Simon]] are supportive, sardonic, and interesting depictions of stereotypical best friend characters. They both also approach the scenario as realistically as possible and do their best to help Sam and Deena. [[spoiler: So naturally, they are murdered horrifically in the supermarket. Kate's death gets an extra mention due to the fact she gets her head slowly pushed through a bread slicer.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The 2021 Netflix trilogy -- ''Part Two: 1978'']]
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** A lot of fans view Alice as AmbiguouslyGay, and this has been supported by Leigh Janiak and Ryan Simpkins. Since she is introduced having sex with Arnie and genuinely seems to like him, this begs the question of whether he's TheBeard, Alice likes him as a friend but doesn't love him (and simply doesn't realise her sexuality) or she's actually bisexual. She refers to him as the only ''person'' she's ever loved, implying she has no love for her family, so she could even have just latched onto him without realising her feelings weren't romantic. It helps that Simpkins is non-binary in real life.
** Ziggy's disdain of Cindy's efforts to improve her life seem to be just simple cynicism, believing no one gets out of Shadyside. But Cindy's later speech about how she tried to ignore her old friends and Alice has a moment where she says she "couldn't" ignore Ziggy. So maybe Ziggy was resentful because she thought Cindy might actually make it, and she'd given the impression she'd be leaving her sister behind.
** Tommy hears voices for a whole day and doesn't actually become possessed until hours later, in contrast to Ryan Torres from ''1994'', who heard voices and seemed to become a killer within a few minutes. Is this because [[spoiler: Tommy is Nick's first victim, and he'd gotten more effective at making sure the possession happened more quickly by 1994]]? Or is it more practical, since [[spoiler: Tommy going on his rampage at night during Color War might be easier to cover his tracks]]?
* CaptainObviousReveal: [[spoiler:C. Berman is actually Ziggy, and not Cindy.]] Ziggy fits much more easily into the
"cool loser" protagonist archetype, she's the main focus of the trailers and the poster, she's played by the bigger star, there's a closer resemblance between the two actresses, and perhaps most obviously, [[spoiler:why refer to her solely as "C" in the 1994 segments if she is Cindy? Bafflingly, Josh is shown reacting to the reveal at the same time the audience learns about it, which would imply that Christine was telling the story in ''[[ThirdPersonPerson third person]]''.]].
* CommonKnowledge: C Berman was telling the entire story in the third person to prop up the twist that [[spoiler: she's really Ziggy and not Cindy]]? In the film itself, it's clear the flashback we see is not literally the story she is telling. There are events shown that one sister isn't there for and would not feasibly know the specifics of. Even if some of the information were found out later from newspaper reports, there are intimate details that there are no survivors of. So the audience is being shown what actually happened, but Deena and Josh are only being told the story as C. Berman remembers it.
* DiagnosedByTheAudience: C. Berman requires a large number of alarm clocks to regulate every aspect of her daily routine, from eating to checking the locks in her house, to feeding her dog. This implies that she's not capable of functioning without them. The way Josh reacts to [[spoiler:the reveal that she was Ziggy]] also implies that she told the entire story of the 1978 events in the third person.
* FansPreferTheNewHer: Cindy has to spend the second act underground, crawling through mud and people's feces, as well as [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking ruining her new clothes]]. Despite emphasis on how gross she feels (and Ziggy bluntly saying she stinks), being covered in grime with MessyHair and ripped clothes makes her [[UnkemptBeauty wildly more attractive]].
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
** Cindy's rant about how Alice and Ziggy hate her gets funnier the more irritated she becomes. She's particularly annoyed at being thought of as someone who "hates fun" and Emily Rudd grumbles "[[ITakeOffenceToThatLastOne I like fun! I LIKE IT!]]". Even Tommy finds the rant more amusing than worrying.
** The RunningGag of everyone pointing out whenever Cindy swears reaches its payoff when she delivers a PreMortemOneLiner to [[spoiler: Tommy]].
--> '''Ziggy:''' You swore.
--> '''Cindy:''' ...it's becoming a habit.
** It's BlackComedy at its finest but [[spoiler: Gary getting his head chopped off]] just as Alice is being helped up. The fact that she, with an ankle so badly injured ''bone'' is sticking out of it, is dropped back onto the ground (which is implied to be covered with people's feces, being below an outhouse) and [[spoiler: Gary's decapitated body]] lands right on top of her bad leg is hysterical.
* GrowingTheBeard: Critics tended to call ''1978'' the strongest film in the whole trilogy. It helps that the film gleefully uses typical SlasherMovie tropes while still being interesting, subversive in some aspects, and having a plethora of likable characters. It also has the best [[RewatchBonus rewatch value]] once it's revealed in ''1666'' that [[spoiler:the Goodes are the main villains of the trilogy]]. It's probably helped by the fact that it was the last film of the series to be shot, meaning the cast and crew had all settled into their roles.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** The twist here is that [[spoiler: it's actually Cindy who dies and not Ziggy]]. But in ''1666'', it's flipped around when [[spoiler: Cindy's past counterpart Abigail finds Ziggy's counterpart Constance dead at the hands of the first killer]].
** Cindy and Ziggy's tense confrontation when Ziggy proclaims that her sister's "fake, bullshit" view of the world will come crashing down becomes harder to watch after the ending of the film where [[spoiler: they're both hacked and slashed to death. Though [[CleanPrettyReliable Ziggy gets better.]]]]
** And when Ziggy and Cindy dig up the hanging tree site to find [[spoiler: that Sarah's body has been moved]], we later find out in ''1666'' that [[spoiler: it was her friends who moved it as a sign of respect]]. But in that event, Abigail was involved, so [[spoiler: she ended up dooming her future counterpart to a horrific death]].
* HilariousInHindsight: While there were already many similarities between Ziggy and Sadie Sink's character Max on ''Series/StrangerThings'', that show's fourth season, which aired the next year would have several elements of ''Fear Street''; such as a father running off, an alcoholic mother, a DeadlyNosebleed foreshadowing her supposed death at the hands of a supernatural creature and [[spoiler: a twist in which she becomes the first person in the mythology to survive the villain]].
* JerkassWoobie:
** Ziggy does not seem like a particularly nice person when we're introduced to her, but it's fully understandable considering her first scene is getting tied up and burned by a cruel AlphaBitch. Once her sad home life is revealed and she starts showing HiddenDepths, the Woobie part comes to the forefront.
** Alice is introduced as a mean, reckless drug addict who does nothing but make fun of Cindy for trying to improve her life. Then she [[spoiler: has to watch her boyfriend murdered in front of her]], and reveals her own tragic home life and history with self-harm. [[spoiler: Her death is arguably one of the biggest Tear Jerkers in the trilogy]].
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: We're led to believe C. Berman is Cindy in the present day and her sister Ziggy is the one to die. However, given that Ziggy is played by ''Series/StrangerThings'' alumna, Sadie Sink (although they did pull DeadStarWalking with another ''Stranger Things'' cast member in ''1994'', and she'd be played by Creator/GillianJacobs in the 1994 portions regardless of who plays her past self), it comes as no surprise when [[spoiler: Ziggy survives her attack at the end of the film and has her legal name revealed as Christine Berman.]]
* {{Narm}}: Cindy keeping on making a heartfelt speech to Ziggy [[spoiler: even as she is repeatedly bludgeoned in the chest with an axe. It starts looking like Tommy is just trying to make her shut up.]]
* NarmCharm: For some, the above scene still manages to be really tragic, with Cindy's BigSisterInstinct [[spoiler: having her try to comfort Ziggy in their last moments]].
* PlatonicWritingRomanticReading: Since Cindy's boyfriend quickly becomes the killer, and Alice's is [[spoiler: the first victim]], they spend the majority of screen time with each other. More emphasis is placed on the rebuilding of their friendship, sometimes making them come across as exes getting back together. Alice has been stated to be gay by WordOfGod; and both actresses believe that Cindy was gay as well, suggesting this was intentional. Cindy even seems [[spoiler: sadder about Alice's death than having to kill Tommy]].
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Alice manages this in record time, starting out as an obnoxious and overtly hostile stoner, leading herself and others into an insanely dangerous situation, and generally coming across as prime canon-fodder, but then rallying herself, discovering crucial clues to the overall mystery, and [[spoiler:getting a surprisingly poignant death after vowing to stay by Cindy and Ziggy's side to fight Tommy and end the curse]].
* [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct She Really Can Act]]:
** Although Sadie Sink was never considered a bad actor in ''Series/StrangerThings'', her character was often OutOfFocus and tended to get lost in the ensemble. Here as a major protagonist, she gets to show off just how good she is; James A Janisse of ''WebVideo/DeadMeat'' expressed surprise at just how well she played the "me against the world" archetype. She also had the hard task of having to lead the second film as essentially a new character, after the surviving characters from the first disappear for the flashbacks - which she pulled off quite well if the rave reviews about her performance are anything to go by.
** Likewise, with Sadie Sink being the bigger name and playing the more colorful protagonist in terms of personality, she attracted the majority of praise. But as time has gone on, people have also come to see the work of the unknown Emily Rudd in a good light too, acknowledging that the role of Cindy was likely the harder of the two to play (see VanillaProtagonist below) and that the film would not be what it is without her as Cindy too.
* {{Squick}}: If you think about it, Alice and Cindy are under the outhouse for quite some time. They're rolling around in at least a week's worth of the campers' business. There's even semi-fresh toilet paper there.
* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: While Ziggy was well-received as a protagonist, there were a few complaints that Sadie Sink just recycled her [[TypeCasting character]] from ''Series/StrangerThings'' in a different decade. Hilariously, ''Stranger Things'' Season 4 would then incorporate several aspects of Ziggy into Max - such as her father leaving (although stepfather in this case), her mother becoming an alcoholic, a DeadlyNosebleed signalling a supernatural death, [[spoiler: being saved from certain death and becoming the first character in that mythology to survive said encounter, and having a vintage pop song play a hand in saving her.]]
* TooCoolToLive:
** [[spoiler:Alice]] seems to be set up as stereotypical stoner slasher fodder. However, she quickly grows past that point, displaying numerous HiddenDepths and a great demeanor when dealing with [[spoiler: [[AxCrazy Tommy]]. However, she's sadly killed with an axe strike to the chest before she can join Cindy and Ziggy in trying to put an end to the Shadyside curse.]]
** Once [[spoiler: Cindy]] has TookALevelInBadass, dispatching [[spoiler: Tommy]] ''twice'', even decapitating him with a shovel - she prepares to pull a HeroicSacrifice to save [[spoiler: Ziggy. And then it's shortly revealed that Cindy is not in fact the survivor, as she is murdered brutally by the Shadyside killers]].
* VanillaProtagonist: Arguably exploited with Cindy, who is the rule-abiding goodie two shoes there to be the POV character and {{Foil}} for the more ostensibly flawed Ziggy and Alice. This is juxtaposed with her future self having become a paranoid recluse to sell the horror of what happened at camp. It also props up [[spoiler: the twist that Ziggy is the survivor and therefore the true protagonist]].
* TheWoobie:
** Good lord, Nurse Lane! The poor woman saw her daughter, a NiceGirl who she loved, become a murderer and be branded as a psychopath by the town. She's spent years trying to prove that Ruby was innocent, and then she ends up taken away and branded as crazy herself. [[spoiler: While she appears to be healthy and free in 1994, who knows what she had to deal with in the years that preceded.]]
** Poor Cindy as well. She has to deal with all the above-mentioned baggage that Ziggy does and, on top of that, a sister who is utterly horrible to her and dismissive of her attempts to improve her life. She also gets no respect from her former friends, who mock her for being a goodie-two-shoes. Then Tommy, who she was in love with, gets possessed and she even says she couldn't bring herself to kill him. And juxtaposed with the scenes of C. Berman in the future, we're led to believe the massacre [[BreakTheCutie broke her]] completely. [[spoiler: Even worse with TheReveal that it's Ziggy who survived, meaning Cindy's TookALevelInBadass still led to her dying young]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The 2021 Netflix trilogy -- ''Part Three: 1666'']]
* AbandonShipping: [[spoiler:Ziggy/Nick]] was a popular pairing, until it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Goodes have been running the curse of Shadyside and Nick's not only been the responsible for cursing Tommy, and for the Camp Nigthwing Massacre, but for the massacres in 1994]]. Most, if not all, fans jumped the ship after that.
* {{Adorkable}}: Pastor Miller actually gets a very dorky yet cute moment in the opening. When the local children are playing a game, involving a chant about his eyesight, he joins in to scare them.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** Solomon's reaction to seeing [[spoiler:Pastor Miller's victims]] is very questionable after TheReveal in hindsight, and there's many ways to interpret said reaction. [[spoiler:Did he have a brief MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment after seeing the effects of his curse, or was he just pretending to be shocked? Or maybe he intended to pretend, only to have a genuine, if brief IgnoredEpiphany]]. Was he being genuine when [[spoiler:he told Sarah they could run the curse together? Or was it all a distraction until he got a way to get rid of her?]]
** As pointed out on the Headscratchers page, Sarah did have opportunity to [[spoiler: speak and at least try to expose Solomon right before she was hanged - and the fact that the lair was under his house would most definitely make him look suspicious.]] She however chooses not to, instead using her last words to [[spoiler: give a false confession that exonerates Hannah. Was she so broken by the treatment that she assumed that no one would believe her? After all, she doesn't know her friends believe that she's innocent. She might have been trying to play it safe: if her attempt to expose Solomon didn't go well no one would have believed anything else from her, and Hannah would have been hanged with her, so she chose the way that guaranteed Hannah's safety. Or more morbidly, did she not feel like trying to save the townspeople who were so quick to shun her? Perhaps her curse on Solomon was a compromise - let the cruel townspeople suffer for their crimes, but try to save future generations]].
** [[spoiler:Nick Goode]]. When [[spoiler:he]] comented on how [[spoiler:he]] wanted to things differently in Part 2,[[spoiler:was he being genuine about not wanting to go on with the curse? If so, did he feel reluctant about the nature of what his family did, or did he merely feel bad about doing it himself and would be down with the curse going on, as long as he didn't have to be the one to make it?]]
** Since it’s shown that Solomon [[spoiler:gave Pastor Cyrus Miller’s name to the curse ''after'' he had seen Sarah and Hannah (Cyrus’s daughter) kissing in the woods]], the motivation for [[spoiler:naming him specifically]] is called into question. Was he in love with Sarah, and [[spoiler:named a romantic rival’s father out of jealousy or to tear them apart?]] Did he plan to [[spoiler:further isolate Sarah so that he could drive her to join him in witchcraft, having sensed her potential?]]
** And then there's Sarah Fier's curse. While it's hinted that she may be a natural witch or have some kind of powers (she's said to have potential by Widow Mary, and Thomas senses something about her) that meant her [[spoiler: curse on Solomon]] was fulfilled by that method, did she in fact [[spoiler: make a deal with the devil after all? Solomon does say that someone has to knowingly extend their hand to do so, and Sarah did read the names from the book out loud, tell Hannah she would make a deal and go to the Widow intending to read from the book. So was that enough for the devil to consider it an invitation and cast a curse? And was Sarah sacrificing herself to save Hannah therefore a fitting exchange? After all, while Sarah's curse is intended to expose the truth and stop the killings, it does have several dark side effects; such as anyone who bleeds on her bones becoming a target for all the Shadyside killers, who literally won't stop until they're dead, and will kill anyone trying to protect them.]]
* CatharsisFactor:
** After causing so much pain and suffering through the Shadyside curse, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who didn’t cheer when [[spoiler: Nick Goode is stabbed in the eye by Deena and, spiritually at least, Sarah Fier who was the person blamed for all the deaths up until now.]]
** Signs of things looking up in Shadyside and [[spoiler: misfortunes befalling the arrogant people of Sunnyvale]] also count as this.
* CaptainObviousReveal:
** The fact that Sunnyvale [[spoiler: prospers ''because'' of Shadyside's suffering was this to many viewers.]]
** Sarah Fier [[spoiler: not being the source of the curse]] was also this once the film made it clear that [[spoiler:misfortunes started befalling the settlement and the first mass murder happened before Sarah made any sort of deal with the devil.]]
* FanficFuel: What if when [[spoiler: the curse broke]] every victim came back to life? Be it a reunion between Ziggy and Cindy or how the possessed killers deal with what they’ve done.
* GeniusBonus:
** For anyone familiar with the Salem Witch Trials, they might note that Solomon Goode has almost the same last name as Sarah Good, one of the first three women accused of witchcraft. Had Sarah married Solomon, she would've become a sort of a HistoricalDomainCharacter. It would be even easier for Solomone to [[spoiler:frame her for his DealWithTheDevil, along with giving him a more powerful motive.]]
** When Sarah is buried after being hanged, her legs are crossed in a position that evokes the illustration of "The Hanged Man" card in a Tarot deck. The card represents self-sacrifice, [[spoiler: which is extremely apt, since Sarah sacrifices herself to spare Hannah]].
* {{Narm}}:
** The {{Oireland}} accents on the cast in the 1600s portions are an extremely baffling decision.
** It’s obviously to invoke irony, but hearing Deena say [[spoiler:”Goode is evil!”]] can cause a few snickers. Not to mention that it's repeated several times and even spray-painted on the mall's walls; making it a rather bizarre attempt at some ArcWords.
** In the flashbacks when Deena worked it all out, [[spoiler:the Goodes]] are seen saying the killers names. The narm part comes in when you see [[spoiler:Ashley Zukerman and Ted Sutherland]], who played the two versions of [[spoiler:Nick]], play every [[spoiler:Goode]] shown, just with a wig, fake glasses and facial hair to differentiate between [[spoiler:Goodes]].
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** Sheila the AlphaBitch from ''1978'', who gets knocked out while the killings happen and was probably still in the camp when Nick revived Ziggy, is never even mentioned or name checked in the 1994 portions. It would have been interesting to see how she reacted to nearly being killed herself, if she grew out of being a bully and if her relationship to Ziggy softened in light of her sister dying. Or indeed her reaction to [[spoiler: Nick being the cause of the murders]].
** Will Goode too. While he's Mayor in the 1994 portions, it's left completely open [[spoiler: whether he knew about his father and brother's deal with the devil. It might have made for some interesting drama to explore someone discovering that their success and prosperity comes from their family members' actions that they had no part in.]]
* TheWoobie: it goes without saying that all of the residents of Shadyside (or the Union main town as it was called originally) are this due to being victims of not only the increasing greed of one family, but the apathy and classist persecution of the people of Sunnyvale. Special mention however goes to the cursed since the ones we had more info on were decent people kindhearted people who were forced against their will to kill people they cared about and remembered in history as monsters who just went psycho. And if that’s not enough, they become the Goode family’s permanent slaves who continue to act as slasher zombies whenever needed.
** Ryan Torres while odd was caring towards his friend Heather but ended up killing her before being shot in the head.
** Tommy Slater was a good boyfriend to Cindy but got cursed and killed most of their friends.
** Ruby Lane was said by her mother to be a sweet girl before she killed seven of her friends at a party.
** Pastor Miller was FriendToAllChildren and a good father who was the first to be cursed. He killed several children and cut their eyes out.
** And then there’s the ones we don’t know about. One in particular, William Barker, was just a child who was cursed by one of the Goode men who said his name with frothing hatred. Why? Who knows….
[[/folder]]
----