Fear Street Part 3: 1666 parents guide

Fear Street Part 3: 1666 Parent Guide

The point of this series is to wantonly butcher teenagers in gruesome ways for entertainment.

Overall C-

Netflix: The tiny colonial town of Shadyville in 1666 is entirely caught up in a terrible witch-hunt. Little do they know that the consequences of their choices now will doom the town for centuries to come.

Release date July 16, 2021

Violence D
Sexual Content D
Profanity D
Substance Use D

Why is Fear Street Part 3: 1666 rated R? The MPAA rated Fear Street Part 3: 1666 R for strong violence and gore, language, some sexuality and brief drug use

Run Time: 102 minutes

Parent Movie Review

Deena Johnson (Kiana Madeira) thought she had found a way to end the curse afflicting Shadyside. After learning about the massacre at Camp Nightwing from Ziggy Berman (Gillian Jacobs), she found the skeletal remains of legendary witch Sarah Fier and reunited them with her severed hand – but that didn’t end the terror. As soon as she touched the body, Deena found herself seeing life through Sarah’s eyes, over 300 years ago. Life in Union (as the town was known before it was split into Sunnyvale and Shadyside) wasn’t easy in 1666, and rumors of a witch threatened to tear the colony apart. Sarah shows Deena exactly what happened – but now Deena needs to find out how to stop it for good.

The history nerd in me spent most of the 1666 portion of this movie cringing. Based on historical context, Union is supposed to be a Puritan town, and Puritans in the mid-17th century were a lot less tolerant of…well, everything. What you get here are modern characters with 21st century opinions superimposed on colonial settings. Don’t try using this film as an educational guide to early America.

But you and I both know that’s not the point of these movies. If I’ve learned anything from the previous two films, the point is to wantonly butcher teenagers in gruesome ways for entertainment value. There is rather less violence in this film compared to the precedents, but unless you like seeing a pile of children’s eyeballs on a church floor, this still isn’t a movie for the queasy. I’d also recommend against eating, say, Fruit Gushers while viewing.

What distinguishes this film from the previous two is the volume of profanity, which has dropped precipitously. Since most of the film takes place in 1666, when cussing was much less acceptable than it is today, we’re down to about a dozen profanities. On the other hand, we’ve still got teen drinking, drug use, and sex, so this is unlikely to rank as a parent’s top choice for teen viewing.

All that aside, I have had a surprising amount of fun watching this trilogy over the past few weeks. It’s a perfect example of brainless summer horror, the kinds of movies that require no intelligent thought and a minimum of your attention. Sure, you’ll miss some of the fun details if you just zone out into this body-temperature bloodbath, but you certainly don’t need details to make sense of the films. Of course, this will only really appeal to fans of gory horror, but based on the popularity of these films, there seem to be a lot of you out there. Just don’t expect to lose much sleep over them – they’re still more gory than scary.

Directed by Leigh Janiak. Starring Kiana Madeira, Ashley Zukerman, and Gillian Jacobs. Running time: 102 minutes. Theatrical release July 16, 2021. Updated

Watch the trailer for Fear Street Part 3: 1666

Fear Street Part 3: 1666
Rating & Content Info

Why is Fear Street Part 3: 1666 rated R? Fear Street Part 3: 1666 is rated R by the MPAA for strong violence and gore, language, some sexuality and brief drug use

Violence: People are hanged, stabbed, impaled, shot, and struck with axes. A dog is drowned in a well. A pig eats its own young. A large number of children are seen with their eyes gouged out, with the eyes in a pile on the floor. There are flashbacks to scenes in previous films, including an individual going headfirst through a bread slicer. A woman’s hand is cut off. One character suffers a broken arm.
Sexual Content: Teens are shown having sex without nudity. One character has a visible erection, although fully clothed.
Profanity: There are nine sexual expletives, four scatological curses, and occasional uses of mild profanities and terms of deity.
Alcohol / Drug Use: Teens are shown drinking and eating psychoactive berries.

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Fear Street Part 3: 1666 Parents' Guide

What was life in the early Puritan colonies like? How does it differ from the portrayal in this film? What are some real-life examples of witch trials? What motivated those events?

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This film borrows from historical horror films like The Witch and Sleepy Hollow, as well as supernatural horrors like Hereditary and Midsommar. A more historically based option is the 1996 adaptation of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Winona Ryder. The 1994 section of the film is, as before, based on classic 90’s classics like Scream.

If you’ve got younger kids looking for this kind of spooky fun, they may enjoy Goosebumps and Goosebumps 2: A Haunted Halloween, both of which are also based on R.L. Stine’s work. The House With a Clock in its Walls is another good choice for younger viewers, and like Goosebumps, stars Jack Black. Teens might enjoy Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark or Freaky.

Related news about Fear Street Part 3: 1666

Coming to Netflix: July 2021

Coming to Netflix: July 2021

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