The Beginning: Part 1 (Fear Hall)

I re-read the two books four years ago, and suddenly the Fear Hall arc became two of my favorite Fear Street books of all time. Come visit Fear Street Monday, April 20, Fear Hall: When I was younger, I never read the Fear Hall books.

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Fear Street all growed up and in college? What kind of trouble can we get into in an evil dorm? Four girls in one room? Hope is a fairly ordinary girl, but a bit chubby, which is pretty much the only thing she talks about. Angel is the slutty sexy one. Eden is sarcastic, plain and grungy, and writes to her mother every night. She also takes no notice of her appearance, and has never expressed any interest in boys ever. I was wondering if R. Jasmine is beautiful but shy, and no one knows much about her, despite them all being friends since high school. Hope is shaken awake in the middle of the night by Darryl, her boyfriend.

Yikes, WAY overreaction to that.

Recap #74: Fear Hall Part 1 – A.K.A. “Fear Street: The College Years”

All the other girls wake up and freak out hearing the news. A know at the door freezes them all, and Hope makes the split second decision to hide Darryl, instead of turning him in. The 3 Ms are weirded out, but a bigger commotion outside the Hall distracts them all. Hope goes back upstairs to confront Darryl, who is feeling very little remorse. He tells Hope if she does go out with another guy, he just might do it again.

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He runs before the police come to question Angel. Jasmine is working her job at the campus coffee shop. You get the sense that Jasmine is smart, hard working, and poor — a tragic combination by R. Angel and Eden come in to discuss Hope — they all want to turn Darryl in to the police, and are worried Hope is losing it.

Her boss keeps glaring at her suspiciously, so they decide to confront Hope later, and she goes back to work. Later, while walking home, Jasmine is accosted by Darryl, who threatens to kill her or someone else if she tells the police. Eden is writing to her mother, like always. Hope comes over and tells her a story about why she does not get along with her own mother. One day, when Hope was nine, she served herself and some friends big bowls of ice cream on a hot day, which sounds delish. Once she was done that, her mom forced her head into the carton and made her eat the whole thing — without her hands, just lapping it up like a dog.

That story made me sick to my stomach, because I could actually imagine that happening. So, it stands to reason that Hope has some body image issues.

Fear Hall: The Conclusion

Not to mention some mother issues. Eden takes Hope to a pub to cheer her up, but Eden immediately meets some fun guys and Hope takes off without her noticing. Eden goes home, wanting to see where Hope got off to hours ago. She finds Darryl in their room, reading her mail. Darryl sounds like a stellar guy. But then things take a strange turn. She does have an idea that Darryl is behind it all, and is so frustrated, she goes to call the police — only to be interrupted by Hope, who pleads with her to wait a bit longer. Eden is unwilling to wait any longer, but is interrupted by Dave who appears around the corner.

You think you might want to lay off the clothing of the girlfriend with the murderous abusive boyfriend, but nope, Eden went for it. But Eden cares about nothing but Dave. They go for a romantic date at an abandoned driving range … I was going to make fun of that, but that would actually be kind of fun. They are flirting something mad, getting all kissy, when … Darryl shows up. Always there to ruin a party. As she lays sobbing on the bed, Hope tries to convince her not to call the police. She tells another lovely story, about her mother, and how she always made her wear clothes that were too tight for her, so that her bulging fat was on display for everyone.

Pathetic, yes, but still call the cops, I think. Eden cries herself to sleep. Darryl shows up, with the intent to strangle Eden. When Eden wakes up, Hope knocks her out with a blow dryer, then ties her up and stuffs her in the closet. She starts to freak out about what she did to her friend, and goes to release her and finds that she … is still in bed. Darryl sneers, threatening Eden for possibly telling her mom about what he did. Eden is outraged at Darryl for looking through her things when Darryl grabs her arm and forces her to tell him what she was gonna write. After Darryl lets Eden go he crumples up her letter and throws it at her.

A knock on the door distracts Eden and Darryl saunters off through the window in the bathroom. Eden tells them she just had the radio on too loud. The one guard, Ollie, is always asleep at his desk. Eden departs the classroom feeling totally embarrassed. First Eden asks about the class mix-up, and then she tells Hope she was going to tell the police Darryl killed Brendan.

Hope feels betrayed Eden would try that behind her back. Eden reminds Hope Darryl killed someone and needs to pay for it, but Hope begs Eden to wait and talk about it with the other girls first. Eden gives in, but knows Angel and Jasmine feel the same way she does. Well thanks for the spoilers, Eden! In B Hope helps Eden get ready for her night out, and lends Eden an outfit to wear. Eden meets Dave on the campus, and they run into the Three Ms. The girls quickly leave and Eden tells Dave about the class mix-up when suddenly, Gideon pops up and scares the two as part of some dumb joke.

Dave promises to one day get Gideon back for that, but, well, you know… anyway, the two lovebirds grab dinner and talk about themselves. Wanting to spice up the evening, Dave suggests they do something different and brings her to a local driving range. Unfortunately, while Dave is focusing on showing Eden the proper way to hit a golf ball, [Wing: What, not the proper way to hold his club?

Eden tells Darryl to leave, but he ignores Eden, grabs her golf club, and proceeds to beat Dave to death. Part 4 — Hope: Hope helps Eden wash the blood from her body and puts her to bed. Eden tells Hope Darryl killed Dave just like he did Brendan, and Hope decides to reveal another anecdote from her miserable adolescence.

Eden begs Hope to just call the goddamn police, but Hope ignores her protests. This went on even when Hope was in high school. Hope never had a say in what she could wear, and was forced to wear clothes specifically two sizes too small. Mathis would threaten to make Hope go to school naked if she ever complained about her clothes.

Eden tries to protest but Hope shushes her and tells her to go to sleep. After Eden finally falls asleep, Darryl appears and tells Hope now they can kill her. Hope decides she has to talk to Eden now and convince her not to report Darryl. Hope agonizes about her next course of action when she realizes Melanie is standing in the doorway to B, shocked speechless. Melanie stammers she wanted to remind Hope the meeting to discuss dorm security is this evening.

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The college higher-ups and local police will be there. For a while, because she looks out the window and sees someone who might be Darryl being accosted by the police! Hope rushes to get dressed so she can alibi Darryl, but remembers the roommate she JUST assaulted and tied up in the closet.

Part 5 — Jasmine: Jasmine rushes to Campus Corner, having lost track of time and worried Marty will dock her pay for being late. Jasmine about where she was yesterday. Jasmine is unable to answer Marty, having no memory of the previous day. Jasmine stumbles into the student cafeteria, ordering some coffee and trying to recall her movements the previous day. She dredges up some bits about Hope being upset when Darryl drops in next to her. He tells her some cops questioned him and Hope wants him to hide somewhere for a while.

Realizing Margie and some other girls are watching them, Jasmine asks Darryl what he said. Fuck, this story is going terrible places. Part 6 — Hope: Hope is in B, crying and miserable, when Jasmine rushes in. He called Hope names, making fun of her weight and calling her a cow. Hope declares she wishes Darryl had hit her instead, and Jasmine agrees with Eden they have to call the police.

Part 7 — Angel: Angel muses on her habits of finding guys to spend time with, where she can feel some warmth and tenderness if only for a little bit, because is that so wrong? Especially with how fucked up things have been lately. You get it girl. But, surprise surprise, Darryl shows up and starts threatening Angel.

Part 8 — Hope: Hope returns to Fear Hall, getting admonished by Melanie for missing the dorm meeting. Hope only barely pays attention to Melanie as she talks about doing some laundry to take her mind off the murders. Hope heads back to B and her roommates arrive a few moments later. They finally discuss the Darryl situation. Well, Eden makes the actual phone call, giving the cops her information and where Darryl lives. The officer on the phone tells Eden to lock her door and someone will arrive to take her statement in person. The girls admit they reported him, and Darryl loses it, screaming at Eden and grabbing her with both hands.

Hope and the others yell at Darryl to let her go, but he picks Eden up… and brings her down on his knee, snapping her back in two and killing her. And then he just throws her body out the fucking window! Angel and Jasmine are screaming at Darryl, and when the police finally do show up, instead of opening the door, Hope just shoves Jasmine and Angel out onto the fire escape.

The police burst into the room, followed by the Three Ms, and Hope overhears them from outside the room. The officers tell Melanie they got a call from Eden about one of the boys living in Fear Hall. They always see Hope having loud arguments with herself in public, and can hear her arguing in her room by herself all the time. At Campus Corner she worked as a waitress, and they once saw Hope sitting in a booth and talking to herself. Margie saw her arguing with herself just that afternoon. Which means Darryl never killed anyone, Hope did. They had no idea who Hope was talking about, and this is why people kept confusing Angel and Eden for Hope.

Hope gets so mad she decides she wants to make the Three Ms suffer for telling such lies about her and her friends. She even gets Darryl to agree, mentioning how he always appears whenever she thinks of him. But then the police see her on the fire escape! So that was our first trip to Fear Hall. I know I was when I re-read this. I wish Angel got more focus time, and Jasmine too. And hey, the guy she falls for is a scruffy redhead, just MY type well kind of. The Three Ms were a nice aversion to the typical Alpha Bitch characters.

Okay, that is legit funny. Speaking of the split personality bullshit, have some criticism of a recent story that used it terribly, too: I admit to enjoying this one back in the day. Your email is never published nor shared. You may use these HTML tags and attributes: Evil twins, Wing and Dove, and their friends recap Point Horror and other teen genre fiction. Powered by WordPress and based on the Shape theme using this very helpful tutorial.

Fear Hall: The Conclusion

Where evil twins and friends come together to lovingly snark Point Horror and other teen genre fiction. Snark at the Moon! Silent Stalker by R. Fear Hall Part 1 — A. The first part of a shocking two-part special! Now Hope is about to find out that life at Fear Hall can be a real scream! Slinks around in tights and midriff tops, slim and beautiful with straight blonde hair. Worries about everything she eats. Goes out with lots of guys.

Practically purrs when she talks. Curly brown hair, a scratchy voice. Always makes jokes and has a good relationship with her mom. She wears sweatshirts and chinos and flannel shirts from L.