USA TODAY and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. Pricing and availability subject to change. Dressed in her 1980s finest, India Fowler spent half a day dancing to Laura Branigan's "Gloria" over and over again, and somehow the"Fear Street: Prom Queen"star doesn't hate the tune. "There's a little pang in my heart when I hear it just because of nostalgia. I love it. (But) it did play a million times," the British actress says with a laugh, remembering the prom dance battle that takes place amid a gory murder spree in hernew horror movie. Based onR.L. Stine's young adult book series, Netflix's"Fear Street" trilogyproved to be apandemic-era streaming success storyin 2021. It redefined the slasher subgenre with three period films – set in 1994, 1978 and 1666 – released weekly that featuring a deep mythology and a ton of cool villains. The fourth outing, director Matt Palmer's "Prom Queen" (streaming now on Netflix), takes audiences back to 1988 and switches things up once again as a teen movie happening within a slasher flick. Join our Watch Party!Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox But don't worry, there's still a high body count – much more than in Stine's 1992"The Prom Queen"book. "The kids are so great and you want them to live. 'Please don't be the next one to die!' And then they're cut to bits," the author says. Lori Granger (Fowler) is a quiet senior at Shadyside High and the outsider candidate for prom queen. She hopes a win will turn things around for her, as she's mocked relentlessly and her family has been the target of small-town spite and rumor for years. The main bullies are her competition – mean girl Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza) and her "Wolf Pack" – but on prom night, a masked killer brutally offs them one by one, with Lori and best friend Megan (Suzanna Son) needing to figure out the culprit. "It's this tension between, are we in the teen movie or in the slasher movie?" Palmer says. "As twisted as it is, I love the idea that the people in the prom hall are dancing and having fun, and these terrible murders are happening." The movie follows Lori's "personal arc of rediscovery" amid blood-curdling madness, says Fowler, 21. "There's this natural kind of want and need as a girl. She wants that validation, which I think as a teen I definitely felt, and I definitely pulled emotion from my own prom experience." As Lori's main foe Tiffany, Strazza – aTony nomineefor Broadway's "John Proctor Is the Villain" – embraced being an antagonist for a change. "Everyone I've ever played has always been fairly timid and more emotionally grounded," says the 19-year-old New York City native. Strazza played the serpentine and "incredibly absurd" Tiffany as a combo of Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Hairspray" character Amber Von Tussle, she adds. "When I first saw my costume for the prom, this sequined corseted dress, I was like, 'Well, anyone wearing that is going to be stirring up some trouble.'" Fowler made fast friends with Strazza, and the first day the actresses met was their rehearsal for the gymnasium dance battle between Lori and Tiffany. On the day of their"Gloria"-fueled faceoff, after getting over some initial "stage fright," Strazza recalls, the twosome "let go of all of our worries for a little moment and just danced for like 13 hours straight. We got slap-happy by the end of it. It was 1 a.m., we were still in our Uggs, just on the floor laughing and crying at the same time." But alongside the teen-movie trademarks, there are of course the horror tropes, like a masked psycho. Italian giallo thrillers were an inspiration for Palmer's baddie, from the black mask and gloves to a red raincoat that adds "a bit more pop," Palmer says. Growing up in the U.K., Fowler says Stine's "Goosebumps" books were "always on the shelf" in the library at her school, "but I never really went near them. I was never ready to put myself through it," she says with a laugh. Generations of kids have been exposed to horror through Stine's various series, including "Fear Street" (which launched in 1989). He's such a kid-lit icon that the author remembers being referred to once as "a training bra for Stephen King." "People always say, 'Well, how do kids change?' Kids are all the same," Stine says. "All your fears are all the same: afraid of the dark, afraid of getting lost, afraid of a monster, afraid something's in the closet. That never changes. What's changed is the technology: cell phones, they ruin every plot." So how do you get TikTok-watching teens off their devices long enough to watch "Prom Queen" with all its '80s hits and mom jeans? Having believable characters and a universal story was important, but Palmer also stuck to a simple mantra: "Don't be boring," he says. "If you're boring, then kids will not engage." Fowler feels youngsters will "enjoy the fun and campiness of basically going to like an '80s party. And while experiencing that party, horrific blood and guts are everywhere." Strazza concurs, offering the new "Fear Street" as perfect sleepover fodder. "I'm always looking for a great thing to put on when I'm with a group of people and we all just want to laugh and talk through it and scream together," she says. "It's just a good time." Contributing: Ralphie Aversa This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:New 'Fear Street' movie changes slasher game with 'Prom Queen'
