Fear Street, Part Two: 1978 (2021)

Welcome back for part two of a three-part story!  Today we're reviewing Fear Street, Part Two: 1978 (2021).  The review of this film will be spoiler-free; however, there will be some spoilers for Fear Street, Part One: 1994 (2021), as it's a direct continuation of that film's plot.

SYNOPSIS:
Deena had succeeded in stopping the supernatural serial killers who were after her girlfriend, Sam.  But now Sam is possessed and out to kill Deena!  Deena turns to the only person in town who successfully survived a Shadyside serial killer spree: a recluse known as C. Berman.  Hoping to uncover how to save Sam, Ms. Berman recounts her horrid tale, taking place at Camp Nightwing in 1978...

Prim and proper Cindy Berman and her wild, rambunctious sister, Ziggy Berman attend camp in the summer of '78.  But some of their fellow campers find a map with the infamous Shadyside witch, Sarah Fier's name written on it nearby the camp.  They sneak off to explore the location, until one of them becomes possessed and starts murdering campers...

REVIEW:
Like the previous film, this one draws a lot of inspiration from the old horror films; specifically, the Friday the 13th films of the '80s.  Except we know the killer this time.  This is the only one of the supernatural serial killers we get to know well in this film trilogy, as the others are only explained via news articles or word of mouth.  Or in the case of the first film, killed right away before we've gotten to know them.

We also discover a whole cave network under the camp that stretches on for a ways. Our heroine, Cindy, spends most of the film down here, trying to find a way to escape while people are being murdered above ground.  She's more than a pretty face; they gave her a bit of decent backstory. She dresses and acts better than her fellow Shadysiders because she hopes to one day escape the awful town.  Her sister, Ziggy, has instead embraced the town and lives by her own set of rules; a source of contention between the two sisters.

In the first film, we met the sheriff of Shadyside, a guy named Nick Goode.  He seems to be the only one in town who believe the teenagers when they say there's a supernatural killer out to get them.  In this film we see that he and Ziggy started getting close at summer camp back in 1978.  So he dealt with a possessed serial killer up close and personal in the past, which explains why he's so willing to believe the teens in 1994.

Like I said in yesterday's review, R.L. Stine does not make an appearance (or even a mention) in these films, which are based on his popular Fear Street novels from the '90s and '00s.  But there are several direct references to legendary horror author Stephen King in this film.  Specifically, one of the campers decides to "Carrie" another camper.  This is in reference to the famous novel/film of the same name (which came out in '74/'76, respectively, close to the setting of this film).  In that story, a girl, Carrie, is doused with pig's blood after being crowned homecoming queen.  That was also a supernatural serial killer story, as Carrie has a psychotic (and psychic) break from being doused in blood and she ends up murdering most all of her classmates with her mind.

One of the things that bothers me about this film is that the campers play a sort of "capture the flag" game that lasts way into the night.  I've attended several summer camps growing up and if there's one thing camp counselors don't want, it's kids hiding in the woods after dark.  Sunset is when they start rounding up kids and doing accountability.  I feel like this was just an excuse to get a bunch of people running around outside at nighttime.  A summer camp murder spree isn't as interesting if everyone's just sleeping in their bunks.

Something interesting that I noticed in the first film is that the people who abused drugs (either using or peddling them) did not survive the film.  Even attempting to use drugs was met with consequence; Sam attempted suicide by taking a handful of pills, but was unsuccessful, as she just vomited them back up.  And she survived the film, but ended up possessed by the end anyway.  I made an off-hand comment to my wife that the film was making a subtle statement about "drugs are bad, mmkay?"  But again, in this film, we see drug abusers get their "comeuppance" as well.  I think we have a running theme for this trilogy: drug abusers don't succeed in life.

RECOMMENDATION:
As with the previous film, this one left off with a cliffhanger ending, forcing me to watch the finale for resolution.  But 1978 told a decent story on its own. The majority of this film took place in 1978, giving us some much-needed exposition to help along our 1994 heroine, Deena.  It was a great sequel, seeing a modern-day camp killer horror flick.  Go check it out on Netflix, after seeing the first film in the series of course.

Fear Street, Part One: 1994 (2021)

Boy, it's been a over a year since I did a review!  But my wife and I just watched the Fear Street trilogy on Netflix and it was so good, I felt I needed to talk about it.  I will post a review for each film, one a day, so come back tomorrow for the sequel! But today, we're checking out Fear Street, Part One: 1994 (2021).

SYNOPSIS:
The town of Shadyside, Ohio is known for brutal serial killings every few decades.  A random citizen of town will randomly go nuts and murder a handful of people before they're killed themselves (or commit suicide).  Local lore blames it on possession by a witch named Sarah Fier, who swore revenge on the town before she was hanged for witchcraft in 1666.

But for local high schooler Deena Johnson, the only drama in her life is her girlfriend, Sam Fraser, moving to Sunnyvale, the perfect town next door.  That is, until Sam experiences a vision of a witch.  Suddenly, a former serial killer in a skeleton mask - who's supposed to be dead - shows up, tracking Sam everywhere she goes and trying desperately to murder her.  It's up to Sam, Deena, and their friends to discover the secret behind this supernatural stalker before he succeeds in taking Sam's life.

REVIEW:
Notice: This review is spoiler-free, but I can't guarantee the next two films will be without spoilers, as I will eventually need to talk about plot points from this film and the next.

I used to read R.L. Stine's Fear Street books when I was a teenager.  They're young adult horror stories, a bit more mature, gory, and violent than his famous Goosebumps series.  So you can imagine my excitement to discover that there was a trilogy of Fear Street films releasing a couple weeks apart from one another!

At first glance though, the story appeared to be moving in reverse.  The first film was titled "1994," the second "1978," and the final film "1666."  So I assumed we'd get three unique stories set in different eras piecing together a full story arc.  Nope - it's all the same story with plot details creatively revealed through the past.  So if you watch one film, be prepared to sit through all three if you don't want cliffhangers.

This film takes place in the era that Fear Street was mostly written, the 1990s.  In the opening scene, we're in a mall bookstore (remember those?) in 1994.  There's a whole display of horror books by Robert Lawrence on sale.  A lady is buying one of the books, but comments how it's trash; low brow horror that she's only buying for her stepdaughter.

I immediately recognized the book covers.  They're Fear Street books!  And Robert Lawrence, as you can guess, is R.L. Stine's first and middle name.  Sadly, this is the only reference to R.L. Stine in the trilogy.  He doesn't even make a cameo!  He made a cameo in the Goosebumps movie, where he plays a teacher named Mr. Black and greets Jack Black, who plays R.L. Stine in the film.  That kind of meta humor is what I love from my horror genre.

Also missing from this trilogy is Fear Street itself (except for a brief establishing shot of "Fier Street" in the third film).  In the books, Fear Street was where most of the supernatural horrors that plagued Shadyside came from.  But these films instead chose to focus on the witch Sarah Fier, the source of all the horrors in the town.  She was also the origin of supernatural happenings in Shadyside in the books, although she wasn't the sole cause of them all.  There were various other types of horrors that cropped up throughout the books (some of them not even supernatural!).  Sarah Fier was just the original horror in the town.

I'll admit, it took me a while into this film before I came to the conclusion it was a supernatural story.  I know the Fear Street books (usually) dealt with the supernatural, but the way this film played out, you couldn't tell if it really was paranormal happenings or if it was just a psyche out with a guy in a mask or something.  It didn't help that the serial killer was literally a guy in a mask.  It wasn't until a good ways in that we saw some legit paranormal activity that couldn't be mistaken for "smoke and mirrors."

Honestly, that was one of the things I loved about supernatural horror stories when I was younger.  The fear of the unknowable made it that much more frightening for me.  Yeah, zombie viruses made the zombie plague realistic and that was frightening... at first.  But now it's just another obstacle to overcome in those kind of films.  Find a cure and you're good!  Build a fortress to keep the zombies out and you can live a happy (fenced-in) life again.  But supernatural horrors are so much more scary for me because there's no way to know if you're safe or not.  Ghosts can walk through walls.  They can suddenly appear in the room with you.  Bullets can't stop them.  You have to always be on your toes.

RECOMMENDATION:
This film was an excellent throwback to '90s horror films.  You have a masked serial killer stalking our heroines, you have a supernatural mystery to solve, and you have plenty of blood and gore to supplement the genre.  Even the opening scene was a nice homage to Scream's opening scene.  Yes, this is very much an adult film; put the kiddies to bed before you start this one.

If you enjoy supernatural horror, this is a superb tale to fill that hole in your life.  Go check it out!  It's a Netflix exclusive.