When it comes to horror, women dominate. We’re the scream queens, the final girls, and the ones who come back again for the sequels. And even when we’re killed off, our presence remains pivotal to the storytelling. This is at the heart of why women love horror. And it’s also at the heart of Netflix’s Fear Street: Prom Queen.
Fangirlish sat down with the cast of Netflix’s Fear Street: Prom Queen to talk about why women love horror. Part of the Fear Street series on Netflix, Prom Queen tells the story of the “it” girls competing for prom queen at the iconic Shadyside High. But they’ve got a couple problems stopping them. One, outsider Lori Granger (India Fowler) is trying her hand at the crown. And oh yeah, there’s a stranger in red killing the candidates.
“Well, isn’t being a woman a horror show in itself?” Rebecca Ablack told Fangirlish when we interviewed her. She plays Debbie, one of the minions to head mean girl Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza). And even though this is a high school setting, it still tells a story with many similarities to the complexities of women’s lives. Female friendships, betrayal, disappointing parents, and the pressures of growing up and figuring out where you fit into everything.
“There’s so many intersections, especially in this high school setting that we have that surround the intricacies of being a woman and having female friendships. And female competition and how scary it is to be so vulnerable especially as a teenage girl,” Ablack said, comparing how it feels less scary to be watching a horror movie where someone is chasing someone with a knife than being a teenage girl.
Ariana Greenblatt, who plays bad girl and local rebel Christy Renault, agreed with Ablack. Like Debbie, Christy is just trying to make it through the ups and downs of being a teenage girl. That includes coming face to face with the mysterious killer in red. For Greenblatt, “women are drawn to watching horror movies because we’re ten steps ahead of the game all the time that we like to just yell at the screen and be like, “No, don’t go there! That’s not the smart thing to do.”
That readiness, that vigilance, no matter if you’re a teenager or a grown woman, it stays with you. It makes look at the world a little differently, hundreds of possibilities running through our heads at what can happen or will happen. And horror, oddly enough, feels like a safe space where women can “scream and release all of their feelings” according to Greenblatt. It’s a place where we control the outcome and are encouraged to fight, rage, and take down the bad guy to become that final girl.
From Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween to Lupita Nyong’o in US, horror is a woman’s opportunity to show our range. Greenblatt added, “I think, unfortunately, in the industry, a lot of women are just to be pretty and do nothing, which is the goal. It’s like horror movies allow women to be brutal and be gruesome. And if they’re the evil, if they’re not, if they’re the victim, whatever, it’s like they get to do anything, say anything, be whatever. And it’s just a full release for women watching and getting the chance to be in it.”
That ability for women to be anything they want in horror also spoke to Ella Rubin. She plays Melissa, another one of Tiffany’s minions. And it spoke to Suzanna Son, who plays Megan Rogers, the leads best friend. To hear their thoughts on Fear Street: Prom Queen and why women love horror so much, watch our interviews with them below!
Fear Street: Prom Queen is on Netflix now.
