Netflix bets on Binge Able Horror with Fear Street trilogy

Something special happens when you marathon horror movies on Netflix. On their own, slasher flicks like Friday the 13th or Halloween can seem like nothing more than bloody fun. But when you watch a bunch in a row, the connections and mythologies become much more apparent; Jason Voorhees shifts from a murderous demon into something more sympathetic. Some of them even feature “previously on” segments to make these links more obvious.

These movies may not have been created with binge-watching in mind, but in many ways they benefit from it, which is part of what makes the Fear Street trilogy on Netflix so interesting: it was designed to be binged. All three entries, starting with part one on July 2nd, will be released over the course of three weeks. It’s a unique experiment with changing viewing habits, and one that feels uniquely suited to horror as a genre.

Hallmarks of a slasher movie:

It has all of the hallmarks of a slasher movie — inventively grisly deaths, single-minded killers that never give up, gratuitous sex scenes — but it’s buoyed by the hint of a deeper mystery. I won’t spoil anything, but the way the first movie connects to the sequels makes them ideal for close viewing. When I finished part one, I immediately had to know what happened next. And even though each one has a very different vibe — part two takes place at a summer retreat reminiscent of Friday the 13th’s Camp Crystal Lake, while the third goes back a few centuries to the early days of Shadyside — they all feel part of the same whole.

According to Netflix, the three movies were filmed over a 108-day period in Atlanta, which was preceded by a month-long writers’ room to nail down the story and the way it would connect each film. “Everyone involved in production knew this was crazy,” Leigh Janiak, who directed all three movies, explained in a statement. “I didn’t realize how crazy and weird it was until I got into post-production and was like, these are three completely different movies.”

The Witcher or Strangers things:

Ever since Netflix started to dabble in original programming, there have been countless debates about how and when episodic stories should be released on streaming services. Netflix typically drops new seasons of its big shows, like The Witcher or Stranger Things, all at once, so viewers can watch at their leisure. Disney, meanwhile, tends to go the weekly route, so you have to wait to see what happens next on Loki or The Mandalorian.