Fear Street: Part 1 (1994) | Recap & Ending Explained

Fear Street Part 1: 1994 was funny, thrilling, violent, and ridiculous. Altogether, it was a lot of fun. We learned a lot from a rewatch, so let's dive deep into the story's details, starting with everything we learned from the intro credits.

Fear Street: Part 1 (1994) | Recap

The story centers around the Trial of the witch: Sarah Fier. Sara was hung, but according to a nursery rhyme, before the witch's final breath, she found a way to cheat her death. By cutting off her wicked hand, she kept her grip upon our land. She reaches from beyond the grave to make good men her cruel slaves. She'll take your blood. She'll take your head. She'll follow you until you're dead.

Samantha's visions show that the nursery rhyme is true. Sarah Fier's hand was cut off before she died by hanging. The witch has haunted Shadyside ever since, turning ordinary people into killers.

In 1904, Grifter guts girls. In 1922 child killer Billy Barker bashed his brothers' heads in while they slept. And in 1935, the Humpty Dumpty killer. As you'll see, there's an underlying pattern of the killers being spurned suitors.

Cyrus Fuller gutted three women at a tavern. In 1953, Harry Rooker, a deviant milkman slew seven women between 22 and 35. In 1965, Ruby Lane murdered her boyfriends and her friends. Then she cut her wrists. She died singing a song about her boyfriend, accusing him of being adulterous.

In 1978, the Camp Nightwing massacre occurred. The closing scene may have been tied to boy drama of some form, involving and possibly even between C. Berman and her sister. In the current timeline, Heather rejected Ryan and killed her. Similarly, Samantha and Deena both felt rejected, which may explain why both of their noses bled. And at the end, Samantha had flown around her, she was possessed, and she tried to kill Deena.

So it is quite possible that rejection factors into the original story with the witch, Sarah Fier. Since the witch often possesses spurned suitors, the witch herself may have been a spurned suitor. And one has to wonder if Josh's online friend, the Queen of Air and Darkness, is the witch, Sarah Fier. If so, let's hope that Josh accepts her since she seems to have a thing for him.

Now let's discuss the two towns, the Goode family and the first recorded tragedy in 1666. In 1666, Pastor Cyrus Miller snapped. He killed kids and cut out their eyes. This article clipping states that Solomon Goode pledged assistance to the families. As you can see by this kid's jersey, the Millers are still local. And so are the Goodes, which we will get to in a minute.

In 1978, 16 years before the story, 12 people were killed at the Camp Nightwing Massacre. And who owned the camp? The Goode family. After the massacre, the Goode family demolished the old camp and made way for the Shadyside Mall. That is where the opening scene took place. Heather rejected Ryan, a fly landed on him, he was possessed, and then he killed seven people, including Heather. Then the Sheriff killed Ryan. And not just any Sheriff, but Sheriff Nick Goode of the Goode family. Sheriff Goode is the Sheriff of Shadyside, a town with so much violence that it has earned itself a nickname: Killer Capital, USA.

The neighboring town is Sunnyvale, a town that has not had a crime in 30 years. Sunnyvale's Mayor is Sheriff Goode's brother Will Goode. Mayor Will Goode's name is interesting, not just because of Goode, but because his first name is Will. And a will is something that one writes before their death.

After the bus and the car crash scene, Sheriff Goode told Deena:

I'm on your side.

which is the kind of thing a police officer would say to everyone. But there may be more than that. The Sheriff may have referred to Peter as a snobby Sunnyvale kid, whereas Deena was from Shadyside. And there may even be a familial divide between Sheriff Goode and his brother, Mayor Goode, possibly even originating back to camp.

And we may have had two clues as to what happened at the camp massacre. Sheriff Goode asked Deena if:

Maybe you were goofing around. Things got out of hand.

And literally, the very first line of Fear Street Part 1 is:

It began as a prank. And ended in murder.

Let's see if those two lines turn out to be allusions to what happened at the Camp Nightwing Massacre. Speaking of the massacre, there was one Shadyside survivor: C. Berman. Amidst the carnage, C. Berman saw the witch, just like Samantha saw the witch. That was 16 years ago, and C. Berman is still alive. So how did she do it? Technically, she died. Her heart stopped, and a local boy performed CPR, bringing her back to life. The nursery rhyme says She'll take your blood. She'll take your head. She'll follow you until you're dead. So when C. Berman died, the curse against her was broken.

And the same thing happened to Samantha. When Deena drowned Samantha, the killers disappeared. Then Deena and Josh brought Samantha back to life with the EpiPens. And CPR, just like with C. Berman and Simon's brother. But Samantha's temporary death didn't finish off the witch. The witch still has power. So she possessed Samantha and tried to kill Deena.

Deena was able to detain the possessed Samantha, and now Deena and Josh have met up with C. Berman, who is telling them what happened at the camp in 1978.

Some questionsin Fear Street Part 2

We will get details as to what happened in Fear Street Part 2. But in the meantime, let's review the outstanding questions. We know the identities of Skull Mask and Ruby Lane. But who is the man behind the Nightwing mask? The man behind the Camp Nightwing massacre? And more importantly, who is the person in this robe? The person has two hands, so it may not be the witch but someone assisting the witch. Could these little hands be Mayor Will Goode's hands?

And what about the note that Sheriff Nick Goode left saying: "It's happening again." Whose house was that? And why did they stop himself from knocking? Something's up with whoever lives there. And what about Deena? Samantha's nose bled both times that she had visions of Sarah. But Deena's nose bled first. Was Deena possessed at that time? Is that why she threw the water cooler? And even if not, is Deena connected to the witch? Will Deena be included in Part 2?

Janitor Martin has been locked up for spray painting something at the mall. What did he spray paint? Did he unknowingly summon the witch by painting something like this little symbol here? If so, then Josh may regret giving him the paperclip because Martin may paint that same sign again. And last but not least, how can they stop the witch?

Maybe it's her missing hand.

That might be it. Maybe they need to find the missing hand and return it to Sarah Fier's resting spot.