Tamal Kundu
Slasher is one of the few subgenres of horror films that have a timeless appeal to them. Netflix’s ‘Fear Street’ trilogy combines various time-tested slasher tropes to create something fun, gory, and entertaining. The first film ‘Fear Street Part One: 1994’ follows siblings Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) as they and their friends find themselves battling for their lives in the small town of Shadyside, where murder and psychotic killers are so common that it has gained the moniker, the “Killer Capital of the USA.”
They soon discover something fundamentally different about the horror they are experiencing from what generally happens in their town, and it might involve a 350-year-old curse. The films are the cinematic adaptations of a namesake book series by R. L. Stine. Here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘Fear Street Part One: 1994.’ SPOILERS AHEAD.
Fear Street Part One: 1994 Plot Synopsis
As the title suggests, the story takes place in 1994. Heather (Maya Hawke), who works at a shopping mall, is chased by a killer in a skull mask. The latter fatally stabs her before getting shot by the town’s sheriff, Nick Goode (Ashley Zukerman). Heather manages to remove the killer’s mask, and he is revealed to be Ryan Torres (David W. Thompson). Shadyside seems to be inhabited by mostly working-class families, and the killing has been going on for hundreds of years. In contrast, the neighboring town of Sunnyvale is populated by wealthy residents and hasn’t seen any violent crime in the last three decades.
Still dealing with the break-up with her girlfriend Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), Deena tries to write a hate note to put in the box along with whatever she has of Sam at her home. Sam recently moved to Sunnyvale after her parents’ divorce. The residents of these two towns harbor a mutual animosity, which becomes evident when a vigil for the recent deaths in Shadyside turns into a brawl between the football players. After moving to Sunnyvale, Sam has moved on from the breakup as well and begun dating a local jock named Peter.
While returning to their town, the Shadyside youths realize that Peter and his friends are following them. Deena throws a bucket of ice at their windshield, forcing them to veer off the road and have an accident. Sam crawls out of the car and has a vision until Deena comes and asks her if she is alright. While most of them go back to their respective towns, Sam is admitted to a hospital.
The following night, Deena spots someone in a skull mask outside her house and later learns that her friends, Kate (Julia Rehwald) and Simon (Fred Hechinger), have seen the person as well. Initially, she thinks that it’s Peter and goes to the hospital to confront Sam. However, the Skull Mask suddenly appears and kills Peter. The girls escape together and inform Josh, Kate, and Simon about what is happening. At one point, Deena manages to remove the mask from the killer’s face and discovers that it’s Ryan, who is supposed to be dead. Soon, other past killers of Shadyside start to make appearances and chase the youths. Now, they must race against time to find out how to stop the killers before they are all dead.
Fear Street Part One: 1994 Ending: Who Is the Killer?
As Josh reveals to the others, the real killer behind all the murders in Shadyside is a witch named Sarah Fier, who the people of Shadyside hanged for practicing witchcraft in 1666. Before her death, she cast a spell that enabled her to wreak havoc in Shadyside from beyond the grave. Simon correctly connects this to a nursery rhyme that has most likely become popular in the years following Sarah’s death. “Before the witch’s final breath, / she found a way to cheat her death /… / Like cutting off her cursed hand, / she kept her grip upon the land.” “Cut off” here means slicing open her palm and using her blood to cast her demonic enchantment that has plagued the town for 350 years.
The first victim was a pastor named Cyrus Miller, who murdered children and cut off their eyes, also in 1666. Considering the date, it’s likely that he was involved in Sarah’s hanging. In the ensuing centuries, deranged murderers have popped up in Shadyside in regular intervals — from the grifter who butchered girls in 1904 to Billy Barker who killed his brothers with a baseball bat in 1922 to Milkman Harry Rooker who killed several homemakers in 1950 to Ruby Lane who slashed her friends and boyfriend with a razor in 1965 to an ax murderer who killed several teenagers at Camp Nightwing in 1978. Ryan Torres is the latest addition to this list.
The film reveals that Sarah possessed them while they are still alive and used their bodies to go on a murdering rampage, exacting vengeance from her original tormentors and their descendants. But as Kate points out, something is decidedly different about what they are experiencing than all the things that happened before. The three killers chasing them, Ryan, Ruby, and the ax murderer, are all dead. When Deena and her friends kill them again, they just come back. Even exploding their bodies in thousands of pieces is not enough. Like T-1000 in ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day,’ only with more blood and gore, the thousands of pieces start to coalesce and reform body parts.
It is revealed that Sarah’s only target this time is Sam, who touched the witch’s bones with her own blood after the accident. The youths go back to the crash site and discover that the crash happened right on top of Sarah’s grave. They reinterred the bones, hoping that it will stop the killers from coming after them, but it doesn’t.
Are Simon and Kate Dead? How Do Deena and Sam Stop the Killings?
Yes, Simon and Kate are dead. After they figure out that the only way to stop the killers is for Sam to die, they come up with a plan. Remembering what happened to Simon’s older brother, they suggest that they should get Sam to overdose on drugs, and when the killers are gone, bring her back with adrenaline shots. But the killers arrive before Sam can take all the drugs, so Deena is forced to drown her in an aquarium.
Meanwhile, the Skull Mask kills Kate, and the Ax Murderer kills Simon. As all three undead killers start approaching Deena, Sam, and Josh, Sam dies, and the murderers immediately vanish. Deena then desperately tries to bring Sam back and eventually succeeds. Deena and Sam went to the police after their first encounter with the Skull Mask, but Nick didn’t listen. This time, they and Josh say that they have witnessed nothing, claiming that all their injuries are from falling on “some glass.” As Nick warns them, Kate and Simon are then blamed for everything. Although Deena and the others acknowledge how unfair that is, they accept it because their friends are ultimately dead.
Why Does Sam Attack Deena? Who Is C. Berman?
At her home, Deena gets a phone call from C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs), the sole survivor of Camp Nightwing, who tells her that it’s not over. Deena earlier tried to reach out to her, but she didn’t respond at the time. Nick also visited Berman to tell her what was happening. Berman asks Deena if she touched the bones and warns her that the vindictive witch is still after her and her friends. The scene then shifts to some altar in what looks like a cave. A person in witch’s attire casts a spell, and Sam’s name appears in one of the stones in front of the person, right under Ryan’s name. Sam subsequently becomes possessed and stabs Deena.
Fortunately, Deena manages to tie Sam up with a telephone cord. She gets Josh and promises Sam that she will get her back. The movie’s final scene depicts Josh and Deena visiting Berman, who begins to tell them the events that transpired in Camp Nightwing in 1978, effectively setting up the sequel, ‘Fear Street Part Two: 1978.’
Read More: Where Was Fear Street Part One: 1994 Filmed?
