The Stinal Countdown: Fear Street: The Prom Queen

 It's time for yet another visit to Shadyside. Well, judging by when I finally put this one up, prom season should be in effect. Which makes for a perfect time to finally get this one done for the blog. That, and it's always been a book I've intended to cover but constantly forget exists. Wild how that happens with a cover as cool as the one this book has, huh? Was I missing out? Let's check out The Prom Queen to see for ourselves.

Fear Street's covers are often lacking in solid supernatural horror. You'll get one every now and then, but the covers often don't go for the scare factor on, say, a Goosebumps level. So when you get a cover like this, it always stands out above the pack. This is an iconic cover for Fear Street. Our titular prom queen looking in a mirror, seeing her skeletal visage on the other end. Though I will say it's a bit wonky, mainly for the angle, making it hard to tell if this is a reflection or like a doppleganger. I guess when I get into the book itself that will answer itself better. But, for what it sets out to do, it does it very well. Top tier Fear Street cover.

Elizabeth "Lizzy" McVay and her friends Dawn Rodgers and Rachel West open the book talking about a murder that took place in Fear Street Woods. A girl named Stacy was found stabbed 16 times, which Dawn says at least she won't have to find a date for prom. I mean it's true, but too soon. Rachel notes her cousin Jackie from Waynesbridge says that it's odd to have happened given Stacy was well liked. As they talk, a girl named Shari Paulsen makes stabbing motions and walks around the locker room like a zombie because we're apparently competing in the "inappropriate timing" Olympics. Also, Stacy wasn't the only girl killed recently. A similar case was found in Durham the week prior. So there's a serial killer on the loose.

The girls head to the assembly while talking about prom dates. Lizzy doesn't have one since her boyfriend Kevin McCormack moved to Alabama with his army major father. At the assembly, Lizzy notes the principal, Mr. Sewall, is short, pudgy and bald and looks like a Muppet, so they call him the Muppet. Which I guess isn't the worst name to call someone but still kinda shitty. Sewall talks about the serial killer before moving on to the top five candidates for prom queen. Simone Perry, Elana Potter, Dawn, Rachel and Lizzy. Lizzy is shocked by this, since she wasn't expecting it, but isn't too surprised about Dawn getting nominated since she's caught the eye of most of the boys in Fear Street high. Mr. Sewall also mentions that there's more to just winning the prom queen title, the girl who's voted gets a three thousand dollar scholarship courtesy of Gary Brandt's dad's car dealership, meaning Gary's more rich and white than I thought. Lizzy notes would benefit Rachel given she's poor and white.

But there's also one other concerning caveat about the prom and that it's being held at the Halsey Manor House, which is located on, where else, Fear Street. Which is close to Fear Street Woods. Which is close to where Stacy was killed. In other words, enjoy one of the most important nights of your school years while also hoping it's not your last given, you know, a serial killer. Elana, Simone and the other girls head to Pete's Pizza to discuss the prom, the killer and more reminders that Rachel's family is poor and her parents are inattentive. Then Rachel's boyfriend Gideon Miller shows up by grabbing Rachel's neck because I guess in Shadyside everyone greets one another like the biggest asshole. After Gideon leaves, the girls do their prom queen speeches as one another, before Simone notices that her boyfriend Justin Stiles with Vanessa Hartley and she heads out in a rage because she's that possessive. Also Dawn went out with Justin recently. Because Justin is a flirt, which is Fear Street speak for "I hope he fucking dies." 

We cut to a rehearsal for The Sound of Music that the school's drama club is putting on, with Simone as Maria. However, there's no sign of Simone at all, much to the frustration of the head of the club Robbie Baron, who might be up there as the most queer coded character I've witnessed in Fear Street. In fact, nobody has seen Simone. But Lizzy volunteers to check the school just in case she somehow forgot about rehearsal. She heads down to the downstairs gym and gets locked inside, making her fear the serial killer is after her, but she gets saved by the maintenance man. She leaves the school and notices Dawn leaving tennis practice with blood on her clothes, but Dawn claims that it happened during practice and totally doesn't have anything to do with one of the missing girls who could have beaten her for prom queen. What do you think this is, an R.L. Stine book? 

Lizzy then decides to check Simone's house where everything seems normal. That is until she gets upstairs to Simone's room and sees it's torn apart. A puddle of blood is on the floor and Lizzy notices some man outside running into the woods with a large bag. Oh no, the villain's Santa Claus! I mean, given the amount of fake-out Santa covers I WISH it was Santa for once. The cops question everyone the next day and everyone seems to be telling the truth. Justin was messing around with Elana at her place, Rachel worked at Seven Eleven, Dawn was playing tennis and Robbie and Lizzy were at the rehearsal with another girl named Eva. 

The kids leave when another boy, Lucas Brown, runs around screaming that he killed Simone, which, you know, is what you want to be shouting during a POSSIBLE MURDER INVESTIGATION? Seriously, is everyone in Shadyside just an asshole? He's described as being slightly cross-eyed, wears a lot of brown (because I guess to be ironic with his last name?) and enjoys dark humor. He also might be a potential future rapist given how handsy he tries to get with Lizzy. So, if he dies that's a bonus for the book. Lizzy drives off, getting as far away from Lucas as she can for now. She then notes the maroon jacket that Lucas was wearing which looked a lot like what the guy she saw leave Simone's place was wearing, which is also the baseball jacket for the school. 

So Lizzy has her suspicions at least that the already creepy Lucas might be an even bigger creep. We learn that yeah, Lucas is a weirdo and that he once put his dog to sleep by hanging it in his backyard. You gotta hand it to R.L. Stine. The man has some inventive ways to murder pets. Dawn defends him by saying that it couldn't have been Lucas because it was likely the same killer as the other girls. Though I mean copycat killers exist, but moot point. They stop at Simone's and there's no update. Rachel and Lizzy say good things about Simone while Dawn is still pretty cold, saying that she was kind of a jerk anyway, which TOTALLY makes you not look like a potential killer miss blood on the tennis court. 

The girls go shopping for sexy prom dresses with Dawn stealing the dress Lizzy wanted because, we still have about 100 pages to go but in case it hasn't been hammered in hard enough, Dawn fucking sucks. They go to the movies, which is a Christian Slater movie because 1992. Which, given this book came out in March of 1992, the closest in terms of a timeline for Slater film would be Kuffs. At the theater they see Justin now with Suki Thomas, who we haven't talked about in quite a while. So how long until the Jade and Deena cameo? I like how we get both hype for the Christian Slater movie yet Lizzy saying that it sucked. Wow. It must have been Kuffs then. But Lizzy is more frustrated that it seems like everyone but her is ready to move on from Simone. 

Dawn goes missing, but is soon found outside the theater laid out. She says that some guy attacked her, possibly our killer. Didn't stab her, didn't kidnap her, just punched her in the back of the head and ran off. Lizzy heads home and gets a letter from Kevin. She does some homework about Lincoln, which reading about him being shot in the back of the head makes her think about Dawn being punched, which while I guess makes sense to make Lizzy worried, still made me laugh over it. She then gets a call from Rachel who's in a panic. Lizzy drives to Fear Street where she runs over a raccoon because I guess the hanging dog wasn't enough for Bob, only to find out Rachel is in a panic over her boyfriend Gideon breaking up with her for Elana. So Lizzy suggests that the only way to get revenge is for Rachel to win prom queen. She even suggests being Rachel's date, which even in jest is progressive for a 1992 book.

When Lizzy returns home, she hears from her father that the serial killer was caught. He had escaped from prison, so he likely wasn't connected to Simone's disappearance, to which there's still no answer over BTW. Lizzy checks the TV and sure enough, reports show the killer being arrested, so she can breathe a sigh of relief... for like an hour or so when the cops show up telling her that Rachel's dead. She had been so pissed about Gideon that when her parents were going out for ice cream (in a storm mind you) she refused and stayed home. When they got back, she was stabbed to death. So, yeah. It's not the guy they caught if the fact we still have about 70+ pages left would suggest. 

At the Sound of Music rehearsals, Dawn has taken over Simone's role. She talks with Lizzy about how it clearly can't be the same guy who was arrested who killed Rachel and presumably Simone. She also thinks it must be someone trying to off the prom queens, possibly over the scholarship. This is all being held in the prop room above the stage as Lizzy is the prop girl. As Dawn goes to rehearse, Lizzy briefly sees Lucas nearby. She still suspects him, but begins to suspect Dawn might be at fault somehow given that, you know, she was attacked but not killed. But all that becomes moot when a sandbag falls on top of Dawn. Well, not on top but very close. After Robbie talks with Dawn, seemingly being oblivious to the fact that two prom queens died, Lizzy leaves in a huff. But while she's driving, Lucas grabs her from behind, because for a guy who's into Lizzy, he's pretty shitty at first impressions or, like, eightieth. Lizzy tells him to leave her car and notices he's wearing a maroon baseball jacket again. Which would be a big shocker if we didn't already establish him wearing one.

After being attacked by Lucas, Lizzy heads home to find Justin in there, lamenting about constantly being broken up with, be it by Simone, or Elana or Suki. She tries to turn on the charm on Lizzy, but she rejects him because he's such an egomaniac and, well, track record and all. He leaves, but not before threatening her to keep her mouth shut. Like, no seriously, did everyone but Lizzy not take their anti-asshole pills this week? Lizzy then has a nightmare of all five of the prom queens heading onto the stage, but as she looks on, the other girls have decayed faces covered in worms and patches of flesh. Okay, how was THAT not the cover? The next day, after being creeped out by Lucas yet again, Lizzy talks with Elana who was the reason Gideon and Rachel broke up because Gideon cheated on Rachel with Elana. Reader beware, teen libidos everywhere. Lizzy asks if Gideon talked about the scholarship and noting that Gideon is poor and would need it, but she decides to let it go as to not scare Elana. Anyway Elana dies shortly after with Lizzy finding her dead on stage. Likely dropped off the catwalk above.

After talking with Dawn and the cops, the two girls realize they're the last two remaining prom queens. Lizzy heads home and definitely suspects Lucas when she gets a call from Justin who wants to come over because we're entering wrap-up time. And despite the worry, and you know, everyone dying, Lizzy invites her over and even shuts off their burglar alarm because I guess she forgot her brain at school. He arrives, really concerned about Lizzy talking to the cops, oh and wearing a baseball cap because he's part of the baseball team as well so yeah, SUPER DUMB IDEA TO TURN OFF THE ALARM. As Justin nears her, letter opener in hand, Lizzy's dad shows up, which is enough for Justin to leave. Oh, and even though this is super fucking obviously Justin about to kill her, Lizzy's still confused. He wouldn't do that, would he? 

The next day, Dawn is very concerned about Justin showing up, but Lizzy is still not putting two and two together. After the dress rehearsal for the play, Lizzy heads to the prop room across from the catwalk up above where she is once again confronted by Justin. He asks her to prom in a creepy way, but Dawn manages to intervene. However, after Lizzy leaves the catwalk, she sees someone going to stab Dawn. But before she can rush over, she trips over a wire and smashes her head into the floor. But she's still awake long enough to see Simone stabbing Dawn with the knife. Yeah, Simone's been alive this whole time and she's also the killer. 

See, Simone was never kidnapped. When she saw Justin cheating on her, it finally caused her to snap. She staged her disappearance and came to the realization that nobody cared about her and everybody was so quick to latch on to Justin when they got the chance. It's only by mere coincidence that all the girls were in the prom queen running, which didn't actually factor in her motives. She was living like a hermit in the prop room for a week or so waiting for each chance to strike. And since she overheard Justin trying to go out with Lizzy, now it's Lizzy's turn to die. Lizzy pulls a rope in time which drops a sandbag on Simone's foot. She checks on Dawn who is still alive. Suddenly Simone attacks Lizzy again, but is eventually overpowered by the school maintenance man. We then go to prom where Lizzy is with Kevin who finally showed up from Alabama. Mr. Brandt gave the scholarship money to the families of the dead girls. Lizzy is even wearing the dress that Dawn stole because I guess in the end she learned her lesson as to not be so bad? Although in fairness, she was right about Simone.

I didn't mind this one. I will admit I should have guessed Simone was the main villain since the book never outright reveals what happened to her. But for once Stine actually does a good enough job building enough believable red herrings. Dawn in that we never saw her get attacked by Simone, only knocked out at the movies, has motive in not liking Simone and was just straight up being a jerk. Justin in not just the scene with the letter opener, but also him being such a flirtatious jackass that him being a murderer who doesn't like being dumped would be believable. The only one I never bought for a second was Lucas because the book goes way too hard in trying to make him to be this super creep that him being the mastermind to the murders would be a stretch in the end.

So Simone being the villain is one that does work. We set up Simone's super jealousy early on, so her rage at this constantly happening with her makes for a reasonable motive for her becoming a serial killer. Although, when you think about it, just kill Justin. Like yeah, the girls keep taking him from you, but I'd think after all of this, the problem kind of reveals itself to be Justin more than anyone. But it wouldn't be Fear Street if our villain wasn't obsessed with someone and would kill anyone in their vicinity instead of killing the cheat of a boyfriend/girlfriend. So while this is a horse that Stine beat to death over the years, this one at least works better than most, giving us one of the better uses of this trope.

Lizzy's an okay protagonist. Seemingly the only good person amongst a sea of jackasses. The only one who cared about Simone's disappearance, though fell victim to some idiot ball later on, especially when it came to Justin. That's another annoying trope I dislike, where "oh, the handsome boy who wants to enter my house and grabbed a letter opener can't be the villain. No, it's the creepy guy" is a plot device. Not a Stine-exclusive thing, and it was worse in The Lifeguard, but man did that annoy me. Dawn's an okay friend character. Not perfect, kind of cruel in her own right, and could easily be believed to be a murderer, but does better herself by the end, so I'm glad she survived. Rachel mostly exists to die, while Elana is our Superfluous Clay. It could have been four prom queens and the plot wouldn't have fallen apart that much. Gideon and Robbie mostly exist, though Gideon far less.

Lucas sucks and I kind of wish he died. I mean, he ends up with someone at the end and isn't a creep to Lizzy anymore, but I don't know. He's still a guy who doesn't understand personal space. But at least he doesn't kill anyone. That's a bonus I guess. Justin exists mostly. He's an annoying flirt that I really wish got some comeuppance at the end. Again, he seemed like he was going to stab Lizzy at one point. And we get little resolution to that. It ultimately feels like Stine wanted to go with Justin as the villain but felt at the last second to make it Simone for the twist. Thankfully the book's flow makes it so that Simone being the villain at least makes sense. But it screams of a wall hit that we don't resolve this. But at least Lizzy doesn't end up with him at the end, that's a trope he also overdoes. 

I'm also a little disappointed in this book. The title of the book is THE PROM QUEEN and while the prom approaching is a plot point, having the climax not even involve the prom, hell, the villain's motivations not even involving the prom, kind of feels like a bait and switch. It also doesn't help that some of this book's plot, especially involving a stage production and a catwalk, would be reused in Secret Admirer. So because I read that first, it was more prevalent in my mind than, again, a book that's supposed to be about prom queens. I also figured the cover was a dream sequence, but I also wish we had this be a supernatural story and not yet another bait and switch cover that's just for a story about a jilted lover turned killer. Some variation now and then would have served this series so well.

So overall, I liked The Prom Queen, but felt like it lacked a lot of tools to be a great book. Its mystery is solid and the twist villain decent, but you have a lot of unlikeable characters outside of the protagonist, way too many obvious red herrings, our protagonist playing idiot ball, a villain motive who feels like so many other books in this same series, and a real feeling like the title of the book could have built to something greater. I know that this book is going to be adapted to the next Netflix Fear Street movie so I'm definitely curious how different it will be and if that version of the story will implement the prom into its climax. But for the book that started it all, I'd still give it a light recommend. Not perfect, but as serviceable as Fear Street can get. The Prom Queen gets a B-. 

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