Fear Street, Part Two: 1978

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Moving right along with the 'Fear Street' trilogy, here we have something I very much prefer over the first chapter. Not that I thought the first one was particularly bad or anything, it's just that the slashers this chapter pays tribute to are more reminiscent of one of my favourite horror series - 'Friday the 13th', or *insert camping horror movie here*. This felt more intense, the kills were actually pretty brutal (in a good way - straight to the "point", like Jason), and I guess to give some honesty, I'm just a bit bias towards that style.

We pick things up with the twist ending to '1994', in which Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) seek out a woman named C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs). She's known to have had visions a long time ago of the so called Fier Witch who supposedly cursed the town of Shadyside. The reasons behind it spoil the ending to 'Part One', however, so I'll hold off and just say they need her help. Berman brings us back to Camp Nightwing on the night of an infamous incident known as the "Nightwing Massacre" (which honestly sounds more like the title to a 'Batman' comic, but here we are).

We are then introduced to Ziggy Berman (Sadie Sink) who is chased down by a crowd of Sunnyvale bullies, accusing her of stealing. Things start to get pretty dark until counselors Nick Goode (Ted Sutherland) and Kurt (Michael Provost) step in. Almost right away, we see an unspoken thing between Ziggy and Nick. Meanwhile, Ziggy's sister, Cindy (Emily Rudd) and her boyfriend, Tommy (McCabe Slye) are cleaning the mess hall when Nurse Lane (Jordana Spiro) warns Tommy that he will die that night. Sunnyvale campers believe her to have been possessed by the witch, but no one gets how real things are about to become.

When Cindy and Tommy stumble on her former best friend, Alice (Ryan Simpkins) and her boyfriend, Arnie (Sam Brooks) in the infirmary to investigate Nurse Lane's motives, the group soon unveils something that leads them to the Fier's house. Soon enough, this leads to one of them getting possessed and wielding an axe while the others make their escape. From there, a generous body count starts to rise that leads back to Camp Nightwing, ultimately putting Ziggy and Nick in danger. And what can I say? The result is that I had more fun with this one than the last one. This felt a bit more like a love letter to movies like 'Friday the 13th' than a straight up mimic of 'Scream'.

My only real complaint moving forward with this is that the characters still aren't particularly likable. Most of the characters portrayed throughout this series are pretty much assholes, and if I can't have a character to get behind and route for, it's not quite as entertaining. However, I suppose in this case, I have a tendency to route for the killer. Not because violence is good or anything, but those kills are what make movies like 'Friday the 13th' and 'Halloween' earn a whole bunch of sequels. We're not in it for the teenagers so much as we're in it for the killer. All in all, I had more fun with this than the last one. It was a pleasant surprise, and I'm curious to see where they are going to take it next.

4/5

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