Warning: This article includes SPOILERS for Fear Street: Prom Queen & R.L. Stine's The Prom Queen!

Although Fear Street trilogy captures the essence of R.L. Stine’s YA horror series without actually adapting specific books. Instead, the trilogy mashes together storylines, settings, and characters from seven different books.

However, the new standalone movie loosely adapts the fifteenth book in the series, The Prom Queen. In both the R.L. Stine book and the Netflix slasher movie, a killer in Shadyside starts taking out prom queen candidates. Fear Street: Prom Queen’s characters have different names but mostly parallel to the book's characters in personality. That being said, the 2025 film still makes major changes to R.L. Stine’s book.

12 The Fear Street: Prom Queen Timeline Is Different From The Book

R.L. Stine's The Prom Queen Has A Longer Timeline

One of the most fundamental aspects of Netflix’s Fear Street: Prom Queen is the fact that most of the story takes place over the two days leading up to prom. The first murder takes place the night before prom day, and the film ends shortly after prom ends. However, this is a significant divergence from R.L. Stine’s The Prom Queen.

The book starts six weeks before prom and ends on prom night. None of the murders in Stine’s story actually take place during the titular event, with the last attempt by the killer taking place the day before. Ultimately, the change makes sense because six weeks would’ve been far too much time to cover in an hour-and-a-half-long movie.

11 The Potential Victims Know About The Killer In R.L. Stine’s Book

The Prom Queen Candidates Get Paranoid About The Killer Coming After Them

In Fear Street: Prom Queen, nobody knows that a murderer is on the loose until halfway through the film. Everyone thinks that Christy ran away with an older guy, and the prom distracts everyone from the other disappearances. However, R.L. Stine’s The Prom Queen makes the potential victims aware of the killer from the beginning

This narrative approach creates more suspense and paranoia in the original story. The prom queen candidates recognize the pattern and start worrying that they’re next. This creates a few good jumpscares where Elizabeth, the main character, thinks that people around her will murder her.

10 The Fear Street Book Only Has 1 Killer

Fear Street: Prom Queen Makes The Whole Falconer Family Into Killers

Fear Street: Prom Queen pulls a card from the Scream playbook by revealing multiple individuals behind the red raincoat and mask. While Tiffany was at prom with Tyler, her parents were killing the competition. Then, at the end of Fear Street: Prom Queen, Tiffany tries to murder Lori herself.

However, R.L. Stine’s The Prom Queen only has one killer – Simone, the book counterpart of Tiffany. Her parents seem like perfectly lovely people, and they do not know about Simone’s murders until it becomes public knowledge at the end of the story.

9 Fear Street: Prom Queen Gives The Main Character A New Backstory

Lori Has A Tragic Background That Influences Her Actions

Netflix’s Fear Street: Prom Queen centers on a teenager named Lori Granger, who is desperately trying to fix her family’s reputation by winning the title of prom queen. She and her mother, Rosemary, wear a metaphorical scarlet letter because everyone in Shadyside thinks that Rosemary killed Lori’s father. She’s an outcast and hated by Tiffany and her friends.

The backstory for Lori in Fear Street: Prom Queen is created entirely from scratch for the Netflix film. Elizabeth is her counterpart In R.L. Stine’s The Prom Queen, and she doesn’t have a tragic life. She has a happy family who cares about her and a long-distance boyfriend. She’s even friends with the other prom queen candidates.

8 Lori Is Into Tiffany’s Boyfriend In Fear Street: Prom Queen

The Killer's Boyfriend Plays A Role In Both Stories

A source of tension within Fear Street: Prom Queen is the fact that Lori and Tiffany’s boyfriend, Tyler, are very into each other. They have stolen glances and an intimate conversation leading up to prom, giving Tiffany a major reason to hate Lori more than the other prom queen candidates.

However, the dynamic between Elizabeth and Tyler’s counterpart, Justin, is very different in The Prom Queen. Elizabeth finds Justin attractive, but she’s not romantically interested in him. In fact, Justin even asks her to prom, and she declines. All she wants is to go to prom with her boyfriend, Kevin.

7 The First Dead Girl Is A Stranger In R.L. Stine’s The Prom Queen

Christy Is A Prom Queen Candidate In Fear Street: Prom Queen

In Fear Street: Prom Queen, the Prom Killer makes Christy, one of the prom queen candidates, their first victim. She has a Scream-esque death, setting the tone for the rest of the film.

However, the first victim in R.L. Stine’s Fear Street book isn’t actually related to the rest of the murders in the book. The teen girl who’s taken out at the start of the book is a stranger from an entirely different town whose body is deposited in the Fear Street woods. It’s unclear who killed her.

6 The Killer Has A Different Motive In Fear Street: Prom Queen

The Killer Prom Queen Candidate Murder For Different Reasons

Although Fear Street: Prom Queen and R.L. Stine’s The Prom Queen both include a prom queen candidate turning into a killer, the motives are different. In the book, Simone takes out the other prom queen candidates because her boyfriend, Justin, cheated on her with all of them except Elizabeth. She wants Justin to feel the pain of losing everyone he loves.

On the other hand, the Netflix horror flick really does center around prom from both a setting and story standpoint. Tiffany’s parents and the prom queen candidate, herself, turn to violence so that Tiffany will win prom queen.

5 The Killer Fakes Her Kidnapping In R.L. Stine's The Prom Queen

Tiffany Appears In Fear Street: Prom Queen, But Simone Isn't In Most Of R.L. Stine's Book

Fear Street: Prom Queen reveals the Falconers as the killers, and even though it’s entertaining to watch, the identities of the Prom Killers are predictable. They have the most significant motive to kill, and the Falconers are cruel from the start. However, the identity of the killer in R.L. Stine’s The Prom Queen is extremely shocking because everyone thinks Simone is dead.

Simone is the first prom queen candidate to get “murdered” in the book. They might not have her body, but her room is torn apart, and there’s a pool of blood on her floor. However, Simone faked the entire incident.

4 More People Die In Fear Street: Prom Queen

The R.L. Stine Book Caters To A Younger Audience

R.L. Stine’s The Prom Queen is catered towards teens, while Fear Street: Prom Queen is rated R. The fact that they’re meant for different groups is most noticeable when it comes to the violence. In The Prom Queen, only three characters die – the stranger at the beginning and two prom queen candidates. The described violence only includes stabbings.

On the other hand, Fear Street: Prom Queen includes between 12 and 14 murders (range s for the principal, who will likely die from injuries, and Lori’s dad) – 13 of which happen onscreen. The violence is much more gruesome and varied. The Prom Killer does everything from attacking a guy’s face with a circular saw to hacking Christy up with an axe.

3 The Killer’s Lair Is In A Different Place

The Killer's Lair Hints At Her Identity In The R.L. Stine Book

In Fear Street: Prom Queen, the Prom Killer has a lair in the basement of the Shadyside High School, where they plan their attacks and hide the bodies. However, the killer in R.L. Stine’s The Prom Queen has a lair in a very different place that has significance to the killer.

After faking her kidnapping, Simone lives in the prop room up in the rafters of the auditorium. It’s an area she’s very familiar with as the star of all the school plays, and it gives her the ability to stalk her victims.