The scariest thing about Prom Queen is that it feels less like a step down and more like a full-on tumble from the other Fear Street movies. There was a refreshing nature to how the trilogy of films drew on different eras to compose a more twisty horror epic than a nostalgic etching, as it darted between the 1990s, 1970s, and 1660s. Prom Queen takes place in the 1980s, and it stumbles into every hole possible for evoking that popular era of horror.

Taking place in 1988, high schooler Lori Granger (India Fowler) finds herself struggling to attain the coveted title of Prom Queen. Her towering competition includes a slew of popular girls, with the domineering Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza) being a shoo-in. There is no chance of Lori winning, given her status as an outcast, especially around her prank-playing friend, Megan (Suzanna Son). Her only hope is that a mysterious killer slaughters the queen candidates. Thus begins a string of murders leading up to and during prom, featuring plenty of teens getting chopped up with blood and guts aplenty.

While the premise isn’t built for the most compelling of mysteries, the slasher format could suffice if there were characters worth caring about. Much like the film’s inclusion of embarrassing 1980s references (including a prom soundtrack featuring Rick Astley), the characters serve routine roles as outcasts and popular girls, which might as well have trope nametags strewn across their prom dresses. Everybody is portrayed with humanity as paper-thin as their bodies, where all it takes is one good swing of an ax to send a head flying.

Furthering the divorce from the Fear Street series is how little it ties into anything from the previous movies, acting less like a side story and more like an estranged entry. Aside from a brief mention of past events, there’s an undeniable feeling that this was a film that merely paid lip service to the Fear Street franchise in name only. Yet it’s based on another of R. L. Stine’s books, making it even more peculiar that this film doesn’t maintain the previous sparks of mystery and twists, where the reveal of two masked killers holds about as much intrigue as the costume that just screams ‘Spirit Halloween Front Man’ from Squid Games.

Prom Night waters down the Fear Street saga into a retro slasher as generic and dusty as its references. With a stylish poster, the film has the old-fashioned allure of being that one tape at the video store that’d always draw the eyes, but you’d never rent. Years later, you finally pull it off the shelf and give it a watch, only to discover it doesn’t live up to the advertising. Okay, fine, the film does meet the bare minimum requirements: there is a prom queen crowned, and it does use the Fear Street setting and timeline. Outside of that, it’s nothing more than a blood disappointment.