A Return to "Fear Street Part Two: 1978"

Platform: Netflix

Release Date: July 9, 2021

Just one week after the premiere of "Fear Street Part One: 1994," the R.L. Stine adaptation returns with the bloody entry of this trilogy event. Where the first explored the curse of Shadyside in the setting of the town's high school, this next entry takes us to a familiar setting of the slasher genre: summer camp. Building on the foundations set in "1994," this entry found itself struggling a bit to set itself apart in its details.

Continuing the story told in “1994,” we revisit the end of that first entry, with Deena and Josh meeting with C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs), who shares with them the tale of what happened to her at Camp Nighthawk in 1978. Ziggy Berman (Sadie Sink) has a difficult enough time living in Shadyside, with many residents of the town resentful of her rebellious nature. Camp is no different story for her, as she finds herself terrorized by Sunnyvale bully, Sheila (Chiara Aurelia), and her minions. In complete contrast to Ziggy is her responsible, non-swearing virgin sister, Cindy, who is attending camp as one of its counselors. For the most part, the camp experience has been tolerable for her, until she helps thwart off a murder attempt on her boyfriend, Tommy (McCabe Slye) by the campe nurse, Mary Lane. The campers believe that Nurse Lane was possessed by Sarah Fier, just as her daughter, Ruby Lane, was possessed to murder people years ago. When Cindy and Tommy, along with fellow counselors Alice and Arnie, go to investigate, they find Nurse Lane's diary which housed information on Sarah Fier and a map to her house in the woods. While there, something is released upon one of the counselors, turning Camp Nighthawk into an all-you-can-eat murder buffett. Using the knowledge contained in the diary, Cindy fights to save the life of her sister and the other campers, while they are hunted down by an axe-wielding assailant.

The middle entry of the Fear Street trilogy has the most daunting task since it loses the ease of focus that the first and last entries benefit from: to set-up and end the story. Rather, this has to serve as the bridge between the two and bring enough cohesion and entertainment to stand on its own but in a manner fitting the story as a whole. The movie was moderately successful in balancing both of its responsibilities, though I think some of its bridging from the first movie comes off as too repetitive. Carrying the strands from “1994” is mostly relegated to the continued rivalry between Shadyside and Sunnyvale demonstrated through the campers' animosity towards each other. Another thread is the introduction to younger versions of some of our already known characters, such as Sheriff Nick Goode and C. “Ziggy” Berman. I found it harder to connect with most of the characters in this movie, when compared to the first, and, thus, was not as invested in the happenings. Don't get me wrong, it had a strong cast and there was not a problem with the performances, it was that the movie was more focused on further establishing the series' lore than its character depth. With that, there was a bit less impact and unpredicability when it came to deaths and character moments. Maybe most obvious of the introductions is the origin of one of the killer spirits chasing down the kids in “1994”. It all feels pretty fluid in how the story is told, but certain details, like having to revisit certain aspects of Sarah Fier's history, came off like a simple rehash. The Shadyside versus Sunnyvale was an unnecessary character structure that felt like a copy/paste, plus, it had no real bearing on the story, other than influencing the relationship between Ziggy and Nick Goode.

Just as “1994” pulled influences from the popular slashers of that decade, “1978” did the same, inspired mostly by “Friday the 13th” which was a given considering its setting. There was a lot of the typical forest-slasher techniques, such as through the trees camerawork, antagonists appearing out of thin air, and the brutal hack and slash that Jason Vorhees brought to his franchise. Many of the kills in this movie met or exceeded the visceral nature of those from the first film. But with many of the victims being young kids, the majority of kills were implied and left off-screen, only showing us the remnants. I think this “in your face” nature of how the kills are framed and choreographed continues to bring a high quality feel to the franchise. Where I think the movie hit a weak spot, though, was in how it handled the music. There was a mix of popular songs from that era with classic tension-building scores, but I don't think they mixed well together. It was almost as though they respresented the signs that are held up to live studio audiences of when to applaud, but instead signaled the division between the fun and the scary. The movie has no real tension to build, as it brings a real fast-paced nature of violence, leaving no time for the score to have an impact. The musical choices were very enjoyable and had me singing along at times, which is in direct opposition to the score and felt more conflictual than complementary.

Even with its faults, this movie succeeds in standing on its own in regards to entertainment value alone. The problem is, it gets caught up in meaningless details aside from its main plot that are included simply for the purpose of drawing parallels with the first film. Even so, this was another fun entry for the slasher genre, though, it may have been too close of an homage to the “Friday the 13th” franchise because in some ways, it feels like an inferior knockoff. That said, I think this turned out just as good as “1994,” as it continued the overall story of Deena and Co. and still had enough to say about its own story. Just a bit more individuality (maybe not going back down the slasher route) and a straying away from its more odd supernatural elements (looking at you weird blob thing), could have pushed this to a more prestigious rating.

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RATING: 🪓 🪓 🪓 🪓. 25 / 5

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