Maya Hawke Fell Victim to One of the Best Opening Kills Ever in This Netflix Horror Movie (2024)

Before voicing Anxiety in Pixar's Inside Out 2, Maya Hawke was one of the first victims of the Shadyside Killer in Netflix's Fear Street Part One: 1994. In a scene that clearly pays homage to Casey Becker's (Drew Barrymore) death in the opening of Wes Craven's Scream, bookstore clerk Heather (Hawke) is stalked through a dimly lit shopping mall before meeting her demise in a costume shop. The opening balances characterization with action, almost acting like a short film on its own. This self-contained narrative is the perfect introduction to show there is something not quite right about Shadyside, giving just enough intrigue to tease the mystery. However, the main focus is the phenomenal kill sequence, with fake-outs, jump-scares, and a thrilling chase. The beginning of Fear Street Part One: 1994 has all the elements of a great slasher opening and packs so much into 10 minutes, with Hawke making for perfect slasher fodder.

Fear Street: Part One - 1994

R

Horror

Drama

Mystery

Release Date

July 2, 2021

Director

Leigh Janiak

Cast

Kiana Madeira , Olivia Scott Welch , Benjamin Flores Jr. , Julia Rehwald

Runtime

107 minutes

Main Genre

Horror

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The Opening of 'Fear Street Part One: 1994' Pays Homage to 'Scream'

With Maya Hawke being the biggest name attached to the first movie in the Fear Street trilogy, her death in the movie's cold open raises obvious comparisons to Scream. Each movie in the trilogy plays tribute to a different era of the horror genre, with the second movie riffing off '70s/'80s summer camp horror such as Friday the 13th, and the final movie, set in 1666, focusing on folk horror and the occult. As this movie is set in the middle of the '90s and is inspired by the era of self-aware slashers, the opening kill's similarities to Scream are a firm introduction to what Fear Street is trying to do: using ideas and themes horror audiences are familiar with but adding a new interpretation to them. Promotion for the movie even saw Maya Hawke seek advice on how to survive a horror movie from Drew Barrymore herself — cementing her fate. Why would you go to someone who gets killed in the first 10 minutes for advice!?

The scene manages to be both conventional and inventive. It replicates the closed environment from Scream, where Casey Becker truly feels trapped, and her house seems inescapable. However, it replaces the home environment with the interior of a shopping mall. An empty shopping mall is so unnerving because it is a space that we usually associate with bustling human activity. It is the first sign from the movie that the threat isn't confined to the home — it is the whole town. The setting offers enough distinction that the scene doesn't feel like a total replica of Scream; however, the scene still offers some similarities. The choreography of the chase scene feels very similar to the '90s classic, with the fake-out scares and the killer appearing out of the shadows. Even the design of the killer, with the long black robe and skull face mask, is reminiscent of Ghostface.

Maya Hawke Makes Use of Her Limited Screen Time

The opening of Fear Street owes a lot of its success to Maya Hawke's performance as Heather. Despite her limited screen time, Heather is well-developed and doesn't feel like a stereotypical helpless victim. The movie opens with Hawke describing a horror book to a customer in her shop, evoking genuine appreciation for the genre, but she is relaxed in her tone of voice. There is an effortlessness to her mannerisms; it's not that she doesn't care, she's just easy-going. Hawke's delivery is subtle, but she still portrays Heather's disdain towards rude customers, particularly the woman she is serving in the opening, who describes the book as "low-brow horror." The actual script is a standard retail exchange, but through her physical acting, she shows exhaustion towards those who are just arrogant for no good reason. Heather is instantly likable and relatable to the audience.

The construction of Heather's character is important as it gives her death an impact. Unlike Drew Barrymore, there was no surprise to Hawke's death, as the opening scene was released online a few days before the first movie hit Netflix. Casey's death had an impact because all the promotional material for Scream implied that Barrymore would have a big part in the movie. It wasn't common for a big name to not even survive the opening credits. Fear Street couldn't replicate that shock — barely any movie can — so Hawke's death has to carry weight differently, and this is achieved through Heather's characterization.

It's not to say Casey Becker isn't likable, but she is fairly archetypal: a popular girl dating a boy on the football team. Heather's persona is much more interesting, and she is set up with the characteristics of a final girl. She is more resourceful and doesn't immediately shy away from the situation, setting up a trap for the killer. However, she is still shown to be scared, offering the ideal balance between fear and composure. Through this, Hawke creates a character who is engaging and easy to support. Even though you only spend five minutes with her, when she is stabbed, you really don't want her to leave the movie.

The Opening of Fear Street Sets Up the Mystery of Shadyside

One of the most important characters in the Fear Street trilogy is the town of Shadyside itself. The uneasy aura of the town has to be present right from the offset to make it clear to the audience that something isn't quite right. The later comparisons to Sunnyvale, a place unaffected by the curse of Shadyside, fill in a lot of context later down the line, but retrospectively, Maya Hawke's character makes a lot of sense. The first victim in Shadyside wouldn't be a perky high-schooler but an apathetic outsider — Hawke represents the average Shadysider and is the ideal introduction to the town.

However, the town is never portrayed to be devoid of feeling, and this same quality is shown in Heather through her relationship with her friend and fellow mall worker Ryan (David W. Thompson). The two have great chemistry with their sharp, kinetic line delivery. Their humor is slightly vulgar, with Ryan scaring Heather with a naked blow-up doll, but their interaction is joyful and natural. It makes Ryan's fate as tragic as Heather's, as he is also consumed by the curse. Both Heather and Ryan show that the people of Shadyside are not bad people, but they have been affected by the town's dark history. This all culminates in the final shot, which is a near exact replication of the end of the famous opening scene from Scream where Casey Becker is running through her garden only for Ghostface to grab her from behind and stab her in the stomach. In Scream, Casey takes off Ghostface's mask to reveal the killer, but this is all kept a secret from the audience to play into the murder mystery aspect of the story.

However, in Fear Street, after Heather is stabbed, she takes the mask off to reveal Ryan's face, both to herself and the audience. Her shock is palpable as moments earlier the pair were joking together, and it tells the audience that while it pays homage to classic slashers, Fear Street is doing something different. The news reports later in the movie assume Ryan was a kid who just cracked under the conditions of the town, but the opening introduces him as charming and a little bit dorky, so how could he have become a brutal killer? It sets the groundwork for the trilogy's main mystery and, as a whole sequence, the opening showcases everything the Fear Street movies do well; blood, characterization, and tributes to the horror genre.

Fear Street Part One: 1994 is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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