Fear Street cast shares creepiest experiences on set
Have you seen the Netflix adaptation of R.L. Stine’s popular Fear Street books yet?
Premiering as a horror trilogy made up of Fear Street Part One: 1994, Fear Street Part Two: 1978 and Fear Street Part Three: 1666, the three slasher films directed by Leigh Janiak feature connected storylines told across different time periods.
Designed as a “hybrid” between traditional TV content and movies, each Fear Street installment has been released over the course of just three w
eeks, with the third and last part coming to the streaming service today.
And if you ask cast members Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch and Benjamin Flores Jr., the finale in the saga about how a witch’s curse spanning three centuries is turning residents in the fictional US town Shadyside into serial killers, gave them the creepiest time on set.
In response to a STAR question during a recent virtual presscon, all three stars selected scenes from Part 3 as the scariest to shoot. “Scary scene, I would have to say is the end of 1666 and when we’re in the mall. Just because that’s where a lot of stuff goes down. No spoiler alerts, but a lot happens in the mall and I feel like that’s probably the scariest for me,” said Benjamin.
“Yeah, not giving any spoilers away, it’s hard to think of the scary scene, but there were moments where we were faced with multiple killers at once and that was scary because you kind of have to watch it back at every angle,” shared Kiana. “And the killers were all just like... they performed so well! You know, they all moved in very specific ways, and they were all creepy in their own ways. So like, having them all in the same space, those scenes were really creepy.”
For Olivia, the mall scenes also scared her the most because “there’s so much gore in them,” adding, “it was practically like happening right in front of us and I remember being like, this is a lot of blood. Yeah, like a lot of blood that we’re seeing right here, and that was really scary!”
Nevertheless, Olivia had enough preps for the chills and thrills because she’s a massive fan of horror movies. In fact, she gave herself a tattoo of the number 237 on her ankle as an homage to The Shining and got a matching American Psycho tattoo with co-star McCabe Slye. She can name a list of at least 40 favorite horror films with her Top 5 composed of yes, American Psycho (2000), Demons (1985), Cam (2018), The Exorcist (1973) and Mandy (2018).
The same can’t be said of Kiana though as she noted that, thanks to the many jumpscares during the filming, she continued to get terrified by random things at home.
She said, “My fiance would come in unexpectedly and I would just jump and scream, because we got so used to doing that in these movies. I feel like I’m still weaning off of it, and it’s been two years!”
As for Benjamin, whose character deals with terrifying situations with a special chant, in real life, whenever he finds himself in a tough spot, he gets down and prays. “I usually just stop and try to like talk to God, honestly pray. That’s how I find peace if I’m in a stressful situation or something I can’t figure out. I know He’s got the answers for me so I can talk to Him.”
Nevertheless, they all agreed that should they hear noise outside their homes, like in Part 1 as caused by the sudden appearance of Skull Mask Face, they’d be the last ones to go out and investigate unlike their characters.
Kiana said, “I will look out the window. But I’m not going outside.”
“Yeah, I don’t really see the need to go outside and be like, you know, what’s going on?” Benjamin agreed.
Even if these were only cats making crazy sounds, these would still not make them confident enough to go outside. Kiana mused, “It makes me want to just stay and lock everything twice.”
Despite the fear factor, the cast stressed that the trilogy is more than just horror and that it offers beyond the usual YA (young adult) content that we’re seeing in recent years.
“Of course, the horror is there. And, you know, these are slasher films and there’s blood and gore, but at the same time, they’re about a group of friends and about two people who love each other. I think that’s so relatable.
“It’s also about a group of people who are considered outsiders, and I think that oftentimes we don’t see that reflection. A real-life one on screen. So these movies are just so different in so many ways,” said Kiana.
“Especially given in the world that we live in today where people are really taking the time to get in touch with the way that they identify with themselves, it’s important to see that reflected on screen and I think these movies do such a great job at shining a light on the importance of that. So yeah, they’re more than just horror films. They’re so layered and so complex!” she added.
In the film, Kiana plays an angsty highschool band member Deena, who is at first embittered by the move of her cheerleader ex-girlfriend, played by Olivia, to another school. But they end up joining forces along with Deena’s brother Josh (Benjamin) and other friends to save themselves and stop an ancient evil awakened by a careless “act of revenge”.
Just in case you’re wondering where you’ve seen them: Kiana is the breakout star from Netflix’s coming-of-age drama series Trinkets. She also recently wrapped production on the next two films in the After franchise, After We Fell and After Ever Happy.
Olivia, on the other hand, has been described as “an actress on the rise.” Most recently, she starred in Amazon Prime Video’s YA series, Panic, adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name. She also starred in Netflix’s critically-acclaimed limited series Unbelievable, as well as the comedy Modern Family and Marvel’s Agent Carter.
Benjamin is also part of the critically-acclaimed Showtime series Your Honor, starring Bryan Cranston. He played an ensemble lead in the Netflix film Rim of the World. Previous work includes supporting roles in Transformers: The Last Knight and Ride Along.
Director Leigh Janiak said of the cast: “It was important to find a cast that would be able to convey that they’re not the traditional types who’d survive the first 15 minutes of films like these. I wanted the characters to feel real in a way that I don’t think you usually see in horror movies and this cast just f**king nailed it. I don’t think they realize just how scene-stealing they all are.”
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