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.