Tagline: N/A
Back tagline: LIGHTS…CAMERA…MURDER…
Summary: Kody Frasier always swore she’d come back to 99 Fear Street. She knows the spirit of her dead sister, Cally, is trapped there, waiting to be set free. Now Kody is starring in a movie about the evil that murdered Cally, set in the very house that destroyed her family. If she can just find Cally, she can help her…
But Cally doesn’t want to be saved. She’s been waiting all this time for revenge. And once the movie camera is rolling, Cally is going to give Kody the surprise ending of a lifetime!
First impressions: A movie about the evil of 99 Fear Steet being filmed at the property itself?! This sounds like a lot of fun. There must have been a time jump, so I wonder how many years have passed since Kody lived at the house. Did anyone move in after the McCloys, or has it stood empty since then? Is Kody a genuine actor, or was she scouted for the role because of her lived experience in the house?
The cover is spooky, but I’m not sure why Cally is dressed like Little Red Riding Hood and has yellow hair. The house, once again, looks pretty good compared to the descriptions the books give it, too!
It seems like it’ll be an entertaining conclusion to a pretty good trilogy, but will Kody be able to save her sister’s spirit so she can finally rest in peace, or will she join Cally as a victim of the 99 Fear Street? Let’s find out!
Recap
As always, we’ll start with the role call:
Kody — Our heroine who’s returning to 99 Fear Street to play her dead sister in a movie.
Cally — Kody’s dead twin who’s spirit has been corrupted by the house’s evil.
Persia — A bitchy actress playing Kody in the movie.
Bo — The movie’s director of the movie who is determined to go ahead with the production.
Rob — An handsome actor playing Anthony in the movie.
The book begins with Kody Frasier arriving at 99 Fear Street for the first time since her family moved out. It’s been two years since her siblings were killed by the evil occupying the property, and the house is largely unchanged from how the 18-year-old remembers it. As she moves towards the front door, it swings open and a blonde girl steps out, smiling at Kody. Kody initially thinks it’s her dead sister, Cally, but it’s actually Persia Bryce, an actress the same age as Kody, in a blonde wig.
Persia had been a child star on a family sitcom and now that she’s an adult, she’s ready to breakout into movies. She seems like a kind, sweet, modest girl in interviews, but Kody has discovered that away from the cameras she’s a stuck up, spoiled brat. Her two assistants are kept on short leashes, and Persia’s always barking orders at them and complaining that they’re not moving fast enough. Persia had greeting Kody warmly in the casting director’s office in Los Angeles when they first met — ‘”It’ll be fun working with you, actually playing you in this movie,” Persia told her. “We’ll be playing sisters, and I hope we can get to be like real sisters.”‘ A few days later though, Kody learned Persia had tried to get her removed form the movie, not wanting to work with an amateur. [Wow, I hope she dies] Now, three months later, here they are to film the movie of Cally and Kody’s lives, titled ’99 Fear Street’, and Persia doesn’t bother to hide her distaste. When they’re not rehearsing, Persia shoots Kody dirty looks and doesn’t say a word, only ever speaking to movie director Bo Montgomery and her two assistants. [Again, I hope she dies]
Anyway, Persia’s looking for Bo and scans the front yard, where film crew workers are are setting up cables and equipment. She orders Kody to to let Bo know she’s looking for him if she sees him, then disappears into her trailer. Kody turns back to the house, her thoughts returning to her dead twin. Is Cally still in there? Will Kody find her? [I’m sure Cally’s watching from a window already!]
We jump over to Bo and his short ponytail now, who’s sussing out the attic with beefy associate producer Sam McCarthy. Bo complains that his career depends on the success of ’99 Fear Street’ — his last two movies were bombs and he thought he’d never get the chance to direct again, so this is probably his last chance. Sam, who also worked on the bombs with him, says ‘”What could go wrong?”” [Has anyone in real life ever said those words? I know I haven’t, because something always goes wrong] which prompts Bo to complain about the lack of budget. Not only is the studio forcing him to film in this crappy house instead of a studio lot in LA, but they also stuck him with Kody Frasier playing Cally; ‘”I’ve got to use a total amateur in the starring role because they were too cheap to get me a real actress.”‘ [Even real actresses start out as amateurs, Bo. Margot Robby was on Australia soap opera ‘Neighbours’ for a while (and her character was iconic!) before moving to Hollywood and making it big a few years later, and look at her now!] Bo thinks the role has Winona Ryder written all over it,[It’d be Jenna Ortega now] but Sam’s more optimistic about the whole situation, pointing out that that both filming at the house where the horrors took place and casting Kody in the film is great for publicity. Kody tested well and has had acting lessons, and they’ve even got a spread in People magazine because of her! [Who even wrote the script? How did the screenwriter know anything that happened?]
The two men explore the basement next and are soon bombarded by rats that creep out from the walls and surround the men in a tight circle. The men quickly flee up the stairs, and out of the house to the front yard, fighting off the rats that have clung to them. Bo explains to Kody, who’s still out front and wants to know what’s going on, that there’s a rat problem and orders a crew member to call an exterminator. [Where’s Mr. Hankers when you need him?] Kody recalls the rat problem from when she lived here and quickly pushes the memory from her mind. She tells Bo that Persia’s looking for him, and he quickly heads over to her trailer.
Rob Gentry, a handsome, athletic actor playing Anthony, Cally’s love interest who we never saw again after his hand was mangled in the garbage disposal, appears and asks Kody what’s wrong. The son of a Hollywood studio executive, Kody only met him a week ago, but he acts like everyone’s an old friend and is super flirty. After grabbing coffees from the catering table, they sit on the grass and Kody confesses how nervous she is. Rob can relate — he’s had parts in TV shows and commercials, but this is his first movie role. Kody complains how awful Persia has been, and Rob reckons she’s bitter about being cast as Kody instead of Call, the lead role. Rob also thinks that Kody’s not really upset about Persia, but about being back at the house where all the horrors happened. [Seriously, who wrote the movie script? It would have had to have been someone in Kody’s family who lived through it. It hasn’t been mentioned though?] Kody agrees, explaining that her family’s lives were ruined by this house, with her father never regaining his sight [Damn] and her mother never being the same after 2 out of 3 kids died. After high school, Kody studied acting, desperate to be anyone else, and when she auditioned for this movie and was offered the lead role, she knew she had to take it. But she confesses that there’s another reason she took the role — the day her family left, she saw Cally in the window and promised to come back and save her somehow. She looked so lost and sad, and it’s haunted Kody ever since. [It’s been two years, why didn’t you come back sooner if it was so important?]
Rob’s called away by a crew member and Kody starts stressing about tomorrow, the first day of shooting. What if she freezes up as soon as the camera is on? Rehearsals went well in LA, and Kody had found Bo to me a patient, kind and understanding director, [At least he’s hiding how he really feels when he’s around her lol] but standing in front of cameras and the crew is totally different. She decides to fetch her script and work on her lines, but as she approaches the house, she spots a blonde figure in the living room window. She thinks it’s Cally again, but stops herself from running inside, wondering if it’s actually Persia once more.
It turns out it is Cally this time as we jump to her over to her watching from the window, unsure how long it’s been since Kody left because she has no sense of time. She wonders if Kody has come back to find her, but dismisses that because it’s obvious Kody’s only returned to be a movie star — ‘You’ve come back to play the role you always wanted to play, haven’t you? You’ve come back to play me!’ Kody’s looking good, with longer hair that’s the same light colour Cally’s was, and as Cally stares, she realises Kody can see her too! Cally vows that Kody won’t be a movie star, but she will be famous as the actress who died while making a movie about her sister’s life! As Kody continues towards the front door, Cally heads over there too, forcing the door to stick with just her gaze. She’s one with the house and has complete control, and silently urges Kody to put her back into opening the door. As Kody tries toshove the door open, Cally summons more evil energy and shoots a dozen pointed steel spikes through the front door, listening gleefully to Kody’s screams of terror. [Where’d the spikes from? Did they just materialise from thin air?]
On the other side of the door, Kody stumbles backwards, the spikes barely missing her. Bo comes over to check why she screamed and gets pissed when he sees the door, assuming one of the special effects have gone off prematurely. He calls Sam over and reminds him that he needs a list of what effects are in place and what aren’t, because Kody accidentally sprung the spikes and could have been ‘”skewered like a roast on a spit.”‘ Sam’s confused because these spikes aren’t on their checklist, and apparently no-one thinks anything else of it, because they immediately move onto the garbage disposal effects. The first scene they’ll be shooting is Anthony’s injury, so Bo calls Rob over. Bo wants Persia present too since she’s in the scene, but she’s not coming out of her trailer until she has her own fruit basket, complaining that it’s unsanitary that everyone else has pawed through what’s on the table. But if Persia’s been in her trailer all this time, who did Kody see in the window?!
Bo, Sam, Rob and Kody leave Persia in her trailer and head into the kitchen, where Kody expects to be flooded with awful memories but is relieved to find that the whole thing has been remodelled, making it much easier on her emotions. Over at the sink, Sam explains that there’s a rubber glove inside the garbage disposal for Rob to stick his hand in. The glove is covered in blood and the fingers are chewed up, so it’ll look just like a mangled hand when Rob pulls his hand out for the scene. Bo wants to try it out a few times so they can make sure the scene will run smoothly, but Rob is extremely hesitant to stick his hand in the garbage disposal, confessing he has a really weird feeling. [No one says if the garbage disposal actually works or not, but they do say the sound of it will be added in post-production, so maybe it works and it just won’t be turned on? I’m sure ghost Cally will see to that, though!]
Sam jokes that Rob’s nervous because he’s read the script and knows what happens in the scene, which gets a laugh from everyone. We also learn here that no-one has a copy of the last 10 pages of the script except Bo, who wants everyone to be surprised by the ending. To prove that the garbage disposal is perfectly safe, Sam decides to practice it himself and plunges his hand into the drain. Kody lets out a cry as she feels a sudden push from behind and bumps into the front of the sink…turning the garbage disposal on. [Seriously, why the hell would they use a working garbage disposal for this? It’s just asking for something to happen, especially in this house! Why wouldn’t they just unplug it in the first place?] Sam pulls his hand back, screaming, and the glove drops to the floor, revealing his mangled hand. Blood spurts everywhere, and Kody realises it’s all happening again…
In Bo’s trailer later that day, he tells Kody, Rob and Persia that Sam is resting comfortably at the hospital, but the doctors couldn’t fix his hand and he’ll lose all of the fingers. He asks Kody if she stumbled, having seen her fall forward and hit the switch, and instead of explaining she felt a push, Kody says she doesn’t know what happened. Bo assures her everyone is in her corner and they all know she’ll be terrific, and she’s an important part of the film. Kody realises he blames her for what happened to Sam but is giving her a pep talk instead of throwing accusations around, but she promises to do her best anyway. Persia points out that Kody was only hired for the publicity, and although we know Bo isn’t happy about Kody’s casting either, he insists Kody was hired for her talent.
Persia also complains about the tacky wig she has to wear, but she supposes it’s meant to be tacky, since it’s Kody’s hair. Rob defends Kody, and Persia throws a dig at him about a dog food commercial he’s done previously. Bo stops the arguing, pointing out they all need to work together, and informs them they’ll be working on close up shots tomorrow instead of the kitchen scene, since it’ll take a while to clean up. A face suddenly appears at the window, and Kody recognises him but can’t quite remember who he is. Bo explains it’s a local real estate agent by the name of Lurie who rented them the house. He heads outside to talk with him, and Kody vaguely recalls that Lurie may have been the man who sold her family the house.
The actors exit the trailer too, and Persia apologises for her nasty sense of humour when they reach the street. Kody accepts the apology, but quickly realises it’s not genuine when Persia tells her everyone will understand if she’s too freaked out to continue on with the film. Kody’s not going anywhere, and soon the argument turns physical. It’s not clear who started it, because Kody isn’t even sure, but Bo and Rob quickly intercept.
Persia insists she was just getting into character; the two sisters are competitive, after all, so she’s just trying to get her angry juices flowing. [I hope Persia dies, she’s annoying] She insists she was just acting and practically says Kody’s an idiot if she thinks otherwise, but Kody knows Persia’s just trying to make her look bad in front of everyone. Persia heads off to her car, opting to stay in a rented house instead of the hotel everyone else is staying at, and Bo tells Kody to save her anger for when they shoot. As Bo leaves, Rob comforts Kody and suggests they go back to the hotel, but Kody wants to mellow out alone in her trailer for a while, so she tells Rob to send their car back for her. She’s pleased that he seems disappointed, and even more pleased when he leans forward and kisses her hungrily. She eagerly kisses back, until he finally pulls away and heads to the car, announcing he’ll be in his room later if she wants to call him. [That’s not all she wants to do!]
As she heads to her trailer, Kody wonders if Rob actually likes her or if he was just getting into character; he’s an actor after all, and he’s super friendly with everyone. Inside, she lays down on the couch and accidentally falls asleep, only to be woken sometime later by a knock at the door. She reaches out to turn the lamp on, but stops short when the knocks come again. Three short, soft knocks, followed by a pause, then three more knocks. A chill runs through her body as she recalls knocking the same way on Cally’s door two years ago in an attempt to convince her the house was haunted. She calls out, asking if it’s Cally, and pushes it open as soon as the knocks come again.
As expected, there’s no-one at the door, and the yard is empty except for one of the night security guards heading around the side of the house. Kody steps out onto the grass and approaches the house, staring into a window. She notices that a light seems to be on in the kitchen, and thinks maybe the clean-up crew is still working. Or maybe it’s Cally, waiting for herQ She decides to investigate and is surprised to find Mrs. Nordstrom standing at the sink, scrubbing away at the blood. Kody makes herself known, and at first Mrs. Nordstrom thinks it’s Cally, but Kody corrects her. Kody’s surprised to see that Mrs. Nordstrom looks exactly the same, [It’s only been two years, how different do you think she’d be?] and the pair make small talk, with Mrs. Nordstrom revealing the family who moved in after the Frasiers had a teenage son, Brandt, who died in the house.
Kody soon lets the housekeeper get back to work and wanders into the living room, which has brand-new furniture. She whispers to Cally, insisting she knows she’s here, and when a cold chill washes over her she’s sure it’s her sister’s spirit. The presence she feels grows stronger and Kody gets excited, listening closely for some kind of signal or noise that would prove Cally’s with her right now…and then a hand grips her shoulder!! It’s just the security guard, which disappoints Kody, and he asks for her autograph upon realising she’s an actor and not a burglar.
The next morning, Kody arrives on set for the first day of shooting, where reaction shots will be filmed in the backyard. Bo and the crew are setting up for a zoom-in shot where a camera will slide down the boom and stop a foot away from Persia’s face. Persia’s still in makeup, so they use a stand-in, Joanna, for now:
Joanna raised both hands in the air and let out a shrill scream as the big camera started its slide.
It slipped down slowly at first, then moved faster. Faster.
Joanna’s scream stopped abruptly as the camera smashed into her face with a sickening crack.
Her arms shot straight out.
Like everyone else, Kody stared in silent disbelief.
For a few seconds Joanna seemed suspended there, her head impaled by the protruding lens.
Then she toppled back and fell heavily to the ground, leaving the camera soaked with her bright red blood.
[Oof, poor Joanna. Wouldn’t they have tested the boom before having someone stand in front of it, though? Seems weird] An ambulance is called and Ernie, the boom operator, tells Bo the bolts on the catch had been all loosened. The security guard from last night has a brief discussion with Bo, who calls Kody over and confronts her about being on set when everyone had left. Kody realises he thinks she sabotaged the boom camera, but Bo doesn’t know what to think. Paramedics arrive and take Joanna away, apparently still alive, [The camera impaled her head, surely she can’t survive that] before Bo asks Kody if she knew Persia was supposed to be on camera first this morning — did she mess around with the camera, trying to get revenge on Persia? Kody quickly denies that, insisting she doesn’t know anything about cameras to be able to pull that off. Bo apologises and heads off to deal with the crew, and Kody goes into the house to get away from everything. In the kitchen, she notices that the fridge is half open and crosses the room to close it. She can’t resist having a peek inside first though, and screams when she finds nothing in there except a mouldy human head… Cally’s head!
Expect it’s not Cally’s head, but a prop one, [And I’m sure it looked like a prop one too!] placed in there so it can harden, as explained by Bo and one of his assistants who come running in. It’s been a stressful day, but Bo’s going to make this movie no matter what and he really needs Kody on this shoot, so he instructs her to go lie down in her trailer for a bit. On her way to obey his command, she hears Persia gloating loudly to one of her assistants that Kody can’t handle the stress and isn’t a pro after all.
In her trailer, Kody’s contemplating quitting the movie when the familiar, rhythmic knocking begins on her door again. Flinging the door open, she finds Rob standing there, wanting to check on her. [Why did he knock like that?? It’s very specific. Or is that specific knock mentioned it in the script?] She impulsively throws her arms around him and kisses his lips, needing him to hold her, and soon they’re tongue wrestling on the couch. Persia barges in and informs them the shoot is breaking for the day because ‘”the girl died”‘ and the police are all over the set, investigating. Kody’s upset by the news of Joanna’s death, and Rob wraps her in a hug as Persia leaves.
The next morning, Kody arrives on set and joins everyone in the living room of 99 Fear Street, where Bo’s called a meeting. Before he begins, a man appears in the doorway to tell Bo he’s heading down to the basement to deal with the rats. It’s Mr. Hankers, who quickly disappears, and Kody tells Rob that he’d worked for her family two years ago dealing with the basement rats. Bo begins the meeting, but Kody isn’t listening because she can’t stop thinking about how strange it is to see Hankers and Nordstrom still working in the house two years later — ‘it was as if time had stood still.’ Again, she wonders if Cally’s still here too, silently begging her to make her presence known, and then Kody feels a hand on her shoulder…
It’s just Bo, and we shift to his perspective as he apologises for startling her. [I guess the meeting’s over? It wasn’t acknowledged at all lol] He feels bad for how he accused her yesterday, although he doesn’t admit that to her or apologise, and knows he needs to keep her onside so the movie can continue. [And yet, a few paragraphs later, he’s wondering if the studio will give him a real actress if he begs hard enough!] He suggests everyone will feel better once the investigation is over and they start shooting tomorrow, and he wants to start with the attic scene, where Kody and Rob will be stuck in green goo. Kody corrects him that she had been with Cally during the green goo incident, not Anthony, and that it happened in the bathroom, but Bo explains that the bathroom is too cramped and the attic will be much more dramatic. The trio are interrupted by Persia, who wants some quality time with Bo — after all, it was her stand-in who died, and it could have been Persia! Bo almost laughs at her attention-seeking behaviour, but puts his arm around her and leads her away.
Back to Kody’s perspective, and Rob tells her he’s rented a car and suggests they go for a long drive. So off they go, leaving Shadyside and driving through other small towns and miles of farms. They don’t talk much, both just enjoying the scenery and being away from 99 Fear Street. They have lunch at a diner, and Rob tells her what it was like growing up with a father in the film industry. [I like Rob, I hope he doesn’t die] They family never worried about money, and Rob got everything he wanted, but his parents weren’t around much and he ultimately felt like one of their possessions than their kid.
It’s a rainy evening by the time they get back to Shadyside, and Kody guides Rob up to River Ridge, the popular makeout spot for high schoolers. After kissing for a while, Rob suggests they go back to his room and rehearse their lines for tomorrow, which is surely code for sex, [At least it would be in a book not aimed at teens!] and Kody asks to go to her trailer first so she can get her script. Rob waits in the car while she to her trailer, but as she grabs her script, she hears the familiar 3 knocks. There’s no-one at the door, though, and she also realises Rob’s car is no longer out there! She heads outside searching for him, and soon hears the voice of her dead sister calling to her. Simultaneously filled with fear, excitement and happiness, Kody follows the voice through the pouring rain and into the house, where the voice sounds louder. For some reason, Kody is surprised that it sounds like Cally, [Does she think your voice changes when you die?] and the voice lures her down to the basement. She doesn’t turn on the basement’s light for some reason, but in the darkness she can see a wisp of flickering light behind a stack of crates. She ends up tripping over another crate as she approaches, and notices a dark shadow that rolls over her. Before she can scream, a hand clamps over her mouth.
It’s Bo, demanding to know why she’s here, his suspicions once again raised. She says it’s hard to explain, but he insists on hearing it because he’s not going to let anything ruin his movie. As she’s about to explain, Bo’s penlight flashes on the crates and she notices the label warning of their contents — explosives! Bo reveals he moved the crates down here tonight because he didn’t want anyone to know that he plans on blowing up the house at the end of the movie, which is why no-one has the last 10 pages of the script. [I don’t think you can just blow up a house in the middle of a residential street, can you?] He makes her promise to keep it a secret, because he wants to capture the genuine horror and fear on the actor’s faces when the house goes up.
Kody’s character Cally dies before the end of the movie, so Bo’s not too fussed that she knows the plan, and he suggests that they could maybe show Cally blowing up with the house in the ending. [Like her ghost in the movie, you mean? Or her already dead body?] He quickly apologises when he notices Kody’s discomfort, realising she’s got a lot of traumatic memories here, and offers to let her step down into a lesser role and have Persia take her spot if it’s all too difficult for her. Kody declines because she simply has to play Cally, and Bo gets back around to asking why she’s here. Kody explains that she was following Cally’s voice, and it becomes obvious Bo thinks she’s making it up. He wants her to keep going, though, because it could be another storyline for the movie, and as Kody starts to insist what she’s saying is true, a rat appears on top of the crate and leaps at her, aiming for her throat. Kody manages to avoid the rat and kicks it away when it lands on the ground, and Bo quickly leads her upstairs, unhappily muttering that Mr. Hankers was supposed to get rid of the rats. If one more bad thing happens, Bo isn’t sure what he’ll do! Unbeknownst to them, Cally floats up from the basement just in time to hear this, and she promises that one more bad thing can be arranged — ‘”How about tomorrow?”‘ [Sounds great, Cally!]
The next day, Kody confronts Rob on set in the attic about abandoning her last night, but he insists she ran back out to the car and told him to go back to the hotel, promising she’d meet him later. [That pesky Cally!] Next, Bo and Ernie, who is apparently the special effects person as well as a boom operator, explain how the scene will work — Cally and Anthony have snuck up to the attic to make out, and then green goo will be pumped through four ducts at their feet. They won’t realise until it’s up to their knees, and then they need to thrash about and panic a lot. The crew need to take their break before filming the scene though, so everyone heads downstairs except for Kody and Rob, who want to rehearse. They start with the kissing, despite already having a lot of practice at that, but break apart when the attic door slams. They turn to see who had come in, but no-one’s there. Then there’s a click, and the machine that pumps the goo through the ducts hums to life!
The goo quickly spreads out over the room and the two have no luck turning the machine off, with the lever stuck in the on position. Despite Ernie assuring them the goo has no scent, the stuff stinks, and it’s also burning hot as it begins to rise over their shoes. They’re barely able to move, with the goo keeping their feet in place, but Rob manages to reach the door, which turns out to be locked. They scream for help, but no-one comes to their aid and although they remember Ernie had said there’s only enough goo to go up to their knees, the green stuff is actually rising higher. Kody realises that this goo isn’t from the machine, and the house’s evil is to blame! Eventually Kody remembers the attic has windows, [I don’t know how this didn’t cross their minds earlier, idiots] and she struggles against the goo until she reaches a window. It won’t open though, so she uses one of the film lights to smash the glass out, too focussed on the job at hand to realise Rob hasn’t spoken for some time. She makes it outside onto the roof and turns back to find Rob floating face down in the goo. [What? All he had to do was stay upright. And how is he even floating if the goo is that thick that it was sucking them down?] He’s just inches from the window, and Kody realises he must have tried to swim, but the goo held him under. [That makes sense I guess, although I don’t know why he thought he’d be able to swim in it] Kody heroically climbs back into the goo and manages to drag Rob back through the window and out onto the roof. Wiping the goo away from his face, she gives him mouth to mouth until he’s breathing on his own again.
The next afternoon, Bo’s pacing back and forth in the living room, having called another meeting. He insists that they have to continue with the movie, and do it fast — Rob’s dad will probably sue the production for every single penny, and there’s no doubt he’ll win. Kody asks how Rob’s doing since the hospital wouldn’t tell her anything when she’d called to check on him, and Bo reveals he’s in shock but is otherwise fine. We also learn that despite Bo’s lengthy working relationship with Ernie, he’d had to fire him because it was his machine that almost killed Rob. Kody knows it wasn’t the machine but the evil of the house, but doesn’t try to argue that. [What confuses me is that they have a script which is apparently pretty accurate to what the Frasiers suffered back in The First Horror, so they’re aware of the goo stuff… do they just not believe that any of it happened?? Doesn’t all these incidents prove there’s something sinister at the house? Why would they continue? Why would the film studio keep making them film here?] As Kody glances up, she sees pale white mist outside the window with Cally inside of it, but it quickly fades away.
Bo announces they’ll be shooting the dinner scene tomorrow morning [I don’t know about that, you’ve legit got no other footage yet because something goes wrong every time] where Kody’s father, played by Burt Martingale, will somehow be stabbed with a knife. We also learn that Mrs. Frasier is being played by Marge Andersen, while 10-year-old Noah Klein will play James. The meeting ends, and Bo takes the Frasier family actors into the dining room to block the scene. Kody doesn’t feel like rehearsing, wanting to go find her sister instead because Cally must want to talk to her, but knows she has no choice and starts to follow everyone into the dining room. Persia intercepts to ask if it’s just the lighting, or is Kody’s hair a little green-tinted from the goo? Kody’s not in the mood for Persia’s crap right now, and Persia agrees that Kody looks really tired, but wants to run an idea by her that Bo’s apparently on board with. Kody and Persia are supposed to be seated across from each other at the table, but Persia thinks it’ll be more tense if they’re side by side and have an argument about the carving knife to show their competitiveness. Kody starts to agree, and Persia can’t resist getting one more dig in:
“I put myself on your left because that’s my better side,” Persia told her. “Is that okay, Kody? I wasn’t sure which is your better side!”
[Hahaha I hate her but that was funny] Kody heads into the dining room without replying because Persia’s the cruellest person she’s ever met. The room is cluttered with equipment, but Kody immediately notices the large carving knife in the centre of the table, the blade gleaming under the lights. She flashes back to the Frasiers’ first dinner in the house, where a carving knife plunged into Mr. Frasier’s side as Cally was moving behind him, as if pushed by an unseen hand. As she comes back to the present, she reassures herself this knife is just a prop, and no-one’s really going to get stabbed this time. But why does she have such a bad feeling about the knife? [Because someone’s going to replace it with a real knife, and no-one’s going to bother to check right before shooting]
Later, Kody hides in her trailer, waiting for everyone to leave for the day so she can search for Cally. She goes over the revised lines for the dinner scene tomorrow and can’t believe Bo liked Persia’s idea — ‘I can’t imagine two teenage girls who are so competitive that they argue over who gets to pass a knife to their father.’ [Same] But Persia and Bo are the experts, after all, and Kody’s just the freak who lived through the trauma they’re trying to portray on film. Finally it’s dark and everyone’s gone, [what about the night security guard? I would have thought he’d be even more vigilant since Kody has a habit of entering the house at night] so Kody ventures into the house and is once again lured down to the basement by Cally’s voice. She actually turns the light on this time though, and sees that the crates of explosives are connected by a long wire to a box with a plunger, which she realises is the detonator. She finds it strange that the explosives a wired already when they haven’t even filmed anything and they’re not being used until the end of the film, but is too eager to talk to her sister to dwell on it. She heads towards the far end of the basement where she discovers an open doorway she didn’t know existed. She heads inside, finding herself in a dimly lit room no bigger than a closet, a lightbulb on a frayed cord overhead and a three-legged stool near the back.
A wisp of pale light flickers above the stool, shimmering and growing until it’s a small cloud. Cally steps out of the cloud and Kody’s overcome with emotions. She wraps her arms around Cally and quickly pulls back, surprised by how cold Cally is. Cally’s smile grows wider and her eyes glow as she tells Kody she’s waited so long for this. Then the cloud sweeps over Kody, and Cally seems to fade behind it as it envelops Kody:
Cally became a shadow in the mist. The shadow loomed over Kody.
The billowing cold made Kody shudder. The shadow rolled down over her like darkness falling.
“Cally—no!” Kody managed to cry out. “Cally—what are you doing to me?”
[Possessing your body, probably!] The next morning starts with Bo’s perspective as everyone sets up for the dining scene. Everyone seems to be in a better mood, and he’s hopeful they’ll actually get something filmed today. He’d spent an hour on the phone last night with the studio execs, lying that things were going well except for a few minor accidents. [Surely production can’t just withhold everything that’s happened from the studio, though? Like, someone was actually killed! And another person was almost killed!] Kody is last to arrive and as she takes her seat, Persia asks, ‘”Is my wig on straight? Yours is a little crooked,”‘ which would be nice of her if Kody was wearing a wig. With everyone in place, Bo asks Persia and Kody to improv the little fight over passing the knife to Mr. Frasier that Persia had come up with before they start shooting, to see if it will work. After more bitchiness from Persia towards Kody, they practice the scene, starting with Burt asking for the knife. Persia reaches for it, but Kody grabs it first. She raises it straight up then brings it down hard, ‘plunging it through the back of Persia’s hand, pinning Persia’s hand to the table.’ [Yeah, this is definitely Cally]
Everyone freaks out as the blood starts flowing, and Persia screams at Kody, who insists it’s not her fault because it’s supposed to be a prop knife. Paramedics arrive a short time later, and Bo spots Kody trying to sneak away and quickly pulls her aside. He tells her too many accidents have happened and while he’s not superstitious, it’s obvious the film is jinxed, and it’s related to Kody — ”’Something to do with the fact that you lived in this house, that you experienced it’s evil.”‘ [Now that I think about it, I guess it does make sense that he wouldn’t be blaming the house. Kody really was present for each incident, or had been alone on set beforehand, so Cally’s done a good job at framing her] He’s decided to remove Kody from the film and expects her to react with tears, begging for another chance. Instead, to his surprise, she reacts with anger! She insists she’s not leaving and picks up a big spotlight by its pole, then slams it into Bo’s face. He staggers back in shock as she keeps the light pressed against his face until his skin sizzles. When she finally tosses the light aside, the side of Bo’s face is smoking, and he lets out a weak sound before slumping to the ground — ‘Before he lost consciousness, he heard Kody’s cheerful shout to the others: “Okay, everybody! That’s a wrap!”‘ [Why didn’t he scream, his face was literally burning??? Also, I think this happened in front of everyone because it didn’t say Bo and Kody went to another room. But no-one reacted to her whacking Bo with a light?]
Cut to that little room in the basement, where the real Kody is tied up while Cally is pretending to be her upstairs. Kody’s been trying to loosen the ropes for hours and doesn’t know how long she’s been down here, but knows it’s day time because she can hear the voices upstairs. She now realises Cally is evil, no longer the sister she remembers. When Cally’s shadow had swept over her last night, Kody felt like she was floating in a cold bottomless cavern, and she felts the anger and hatred that filled her sister’s heart. When the darkness lifted, Kody was bound and gagged in this room. Cally had lured her down here so she could take her place, but what was she doing upstairs?! What’s with all the screaming? As Kody tries to listen to the commotion, she also hears the scuttling and shrieking of rats and realises it’s coming from a small crack on the wall down near the floor.
Kody manages to get her head down level with the crack and peeks through it to another secret room, where she spots several rats and hears a familiar woman’s voice that she can’t place talking to them — ‘”There, there, dear.”‘ Raising her eyes, Kody sees that it’s none other than Mrs. Nordstrom tending to the rats, and with her are Mr. Hankers and Mr. Lurie!!! [Are we surprised? I’ve called this since the first book] Kody is absolutely flabbergasted, which is followed by disgust when Mrs. Nordstrom lets some rats climb into her hands and nip her fingers. Soon, the three of get into a discussion about how obedient Cally is — ‘”That girl thinks she’s obeying her own free will.”‘
Kody realises that Cally’s being manipulated by those three weird people in the other room, [So what exactly is their story, then?] and although she doesn’t quite understand it all, she’s now afraid for Cally as well as herself. She closes her eyes, trying to think clearly, and loses track of time. When she reopens them, Cally’s standing in front of her, and moves menacingly towards her. [So the rest of the cast and crew didn’t try to restrain her or anything after she attacked Bo?? They just let her disappear??] To Kody’s surprise, Cally unties the ropes and points her to the door, telling her to go. Kody’s confused, so Cally informs her that she stabbed Persia and burned Bo’s face with a spotlight; ‘”I don’t think you’re going to be a movie star after all. I think you’re going to spend a lot of years in prison—or in a mental hospital.”‘ Kody refuses to leave and tries to convince Cally that Mrs. Nordstrom, Mr. Lurie and Mr. Hankers have somehow been controlling her. Cally’s not really interested in what Kody has to say, but Kody’s persistent, explaining the three of them are in the next room talking about how they’re using Cally. Cally hesitantly looks through the crack to the other room for a few minutes, but doesn’t answer when Kody asks if she saw them. Instead, she tells Kody she’s going to help her get out of the house.
As Cally leads Kody into the main basement, Mrs. Nordstrom, Mr. Lurie and Mr. Hankers step out of the shadows and thank Cally for bringing Kody to them. Now they’ll help Cally get her revenge! Kody can’t believe that Cally would betray her like this, but then, surprisingly, Cally insists she wouldn’t betray her; [What have you been doing this whole book then?] ‘”You showed me the truth. Run to the stairs, Kody. Run now! I will protect you from them.”‘ Kody’s unsure if it’s just another trick but heads towards the stairs anyway, but stops and stares in horror as Mrs. Nordstrom and the two men begin to transform. Their skin bubbles and blisters, their faces stretch, and they shrink down until they’re nothing but three fat grey rats. They quickly lunge for Kody, who continues to the stairs as more rats slither into the basement from holes and cracks in the walls and floor. Cally makes her way to the explosives detonator, urging Kody to hurry, and Kody finally heads upstairs and flees the house into the night.
Kody’s halfway to the street when the force of the explosion throws her to the ground, and she turns to see 99 Fear Street overcome with flames. [Let’s hope there was no-one else inside!] As she watches, she sees rats thrashing wildly in the fire and rising into the air. And then human forms appear, black shadows, the tortured spirits of those buried under the house — ‘Men and women, wailing and howling, thrashing in the flames as they rose higher, higher, and disappeared into the starless black sky.’ As she continues to stare into the flames, Kody apologises to her sister for not getting a chance to say goodbye.
We jump forward three weeks to the Frasiers’ apartment in LA. We learn that the police can’t figure out what happened on set because everyone had a different story, each one stranger than the last. The police are still having trouble believing it was Cally who did all the horrible things and not Kody, but fortunately no-one is pressing charges, although she has to go to therapy twice a week. [This is probably the most unrealistic thing in the book lol. The police, and everyone else, are just accepting that it was a ghost who stabbed Persia and injured Bo? Come on. We don’t even find out if Bo died from his injury or not] Kody’s officially dating Rob, who’s visited every day to cheer her up. They’re waiting for a pizza right now and when the doorbell rings, Rob goes to answer it while Kody fetches some Cokes. When she returns to the living room, she’s surprised to find Rob holding a large brown envelope instead of a pizza box. He pulls out a video tape, and Kody reads the note taped to the box. It’s from Sam McCarthy, the associate producer whose hand was mangled by the garbage disposal, and states that this is the only footage they got at 99 Fear Street.
Kody and Rob decide to watch the tape, which is silent with a grey screen for a while. Then the screen is suddenly lit up with colour, and Kody realises they must have been shooting exterior shots of the house when the explosion happened. As the screen zooms into the glow of the fire, Kody notices the faded image of a girl inside the flames, her features too faint to recognise. Rob is horrified and asks if someone was caught in the fire, [Wouldn’t the camera have caught all the spirits and rat ghosts rising into the air too? Or was that only visible to Cally for some reason?] and the book ends as Kody rests her hand on his:
Her entire body tensed as she leaned toward the screen.
The girl in the fire raised one hand and waved it. A long, slow, sad wave.
“I don’t get it. What is that?” Rob asked impatiently.
Kody squeezed his hand. She let the tears roll down her cheeks.
“That’s my sister saying goodbye.”
[This book pissed me off]
Final thoughts
Unfortunately this was not a strong conclusion the the 99 Fear Street trilogy. I really wanted to like it and it sounded promising, but it’s significantly weaker than the first two entries. Like, Cally’s been filled with evil for two years and was actively trying to ruin her sister’s life and even kill her, but then eavesdrops on one conversation and does a complete 180? Like??? The ending just feels way too rushed, which is a common occurrence with Stine; it’s like he spends so long building a story and then realises he’s only got 20 pages left to wrap everything up. Maybe he has a fixed page limit or something, but you’d think he’d at least do some revisions and take some filler out so it feels complete!
It really feels like Stine pulled this out of his ass and didn’t do any research into how a film is made. I’ve got barely any knowledge on the process either, but I’m sure a lot of things that went wrong on this set would have been easily prevented if standard OHS procedures were followed lol. If it was an indie, low-budget film I could maybe understand, but this was a big studio film, so it doesn’t make sense, even in the ’90s. And to add further insult, Persia, the one character who deserved to die or have the most brutal injury at the very least, came out practically unscathed! And we don’t even find out what happened to Bo! And we never find out what the deal is with Nordstrom, Hankers and Lurie!!! Terrible choices here, Stine.
We also never get an explanation of how the script for the film came about, which was annoying. How did they know so many details about the Frasiers’ experience in the house? Was the family consulted on the script? Did one of them write it?? And while I accept that the most plausible explanation to everyone was that Kody was behind everything that went wrong, it’s weird to me that no-one stopped to think, “Wow, things are going wrong at this house plagued by death, could there really be something wrong with the place?” And then apparently everyone just accepts that Kody was innocent and not responsible for anything? The more I think about how this book was wrapped up, the more annoyed I’m getting!
I’ll leave it at that so I’m not ranting forever, but god this was bad. 47 OHS breaches on a movie set out of 111!
