“Fear Street Part Two: 1978 is an excellent sequel.”
It was a bloody good time with the first part of the Fear Street Trilogy in 1994 that premiered on Netflix two weeks ago. That movie revealed that a horrible witch with a vendetta can still have some diabolical and sinister powers beyond the grave that conjured up sadistic killers and boogeymen through the ages to wreak havoc on teenagers in 1994. The end of that film had Deena and Josh chain up their possessed friend at C. Berman’s house where they went for help against the witch. Fear Street Part 2: 1978 picks up exactly there where C. Berman tells them the story of the events that took place at Camp Nightwing in 1978, relating to the masked killer with an ax in the first film. Packed with great songs from the ’70s and some excellent slasher throwbacks, Fear Street Part 2 not only continues the horrifying story of Sarah Fier but is also a bloody great time.
Director Leigh Janiak is behind the camera again as the story takes place at Camp Nightwing and follows a young early teenage C. Berman and her sister who attend summer camp. The sisters are Ziggy and Cindy Berman and are not too popular at camp. The stereotypical teenage situations are afoot here with bullies, sexualized camp counselors, and more. There are some great winks and nods to the Friday The 13th franchise and even Sleepaway Camp here. The witch known as Sarah Fier is still talked about where a couple of campers end up pulling a prank, but end up underground and find a satanic burial ground that possesses Cindy’s boyfriend Tommy Slater, which turns him into that ax-wielding killer.
One by one, the campers and counselors meet their untimely and somewhat satisfying bloody demise as Cindy and Ziggy explore and research how to reverse the curse on Sarah Fier and stop all the madness. Once this flashback of a story is over and it’s revealed who everyone is, the film cuts back to 1994 and furthers the story into the final part of the trilogy which will take place in the year 1666. For the second film in this series, there are plenty of great scares, blood, and laughs, along with another great soundtrack of ’70s music.
Part Two takes its time introducing everyone, but once the killer is brought to life, it’s almost non-stop carnage. Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) is brilliant as Ziggy Berman here. Her performance is entertaining as it is dramatic and fun as she navigates the wilderness of horror. Again, these films are not for the very young R.L. Stine crowd who read Goosebumps. This is the adult version that is very much rated R, which is a breath of fresh air. Janiak has a great feel and eye for horror and has shown how much fun and nostalgic making a horror film set in the ’70s can be without overplaying the nostalgia factor. Fear Street Part Two: 1978 is an excellent sequel. Bring on the third film.
WATCH FEAR STREET ON NETFLIX
Written by: Bryan Kluger
