At Camp Nightwing in 1978, campers are stalked
and killed by a maniac after an ancient evil is released. HORROR
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Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021)Directed by Leigh Janiak
Written by Zak Olkewicz and Leigh Janiak Starring Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Ted Sutherland, Ryan Simpkins, McCabe Slye, Chiara Aurelia, Kiana Madeira, Benjamin Flores Jr., Gillian Jacobs, Brandon Spink, Jordana Spiro Sequel to 2021's Fear Street Part One: 1994 Based on the book series by R.L. Stine |
I never read the Fear Street books, so I don't have a lot of expectations for this Netflix trilogy. All I ask is for three decent horror flicks that don't continuously rip off better stuff. I felt the first one borrowed heavily from better films and lacked any luster to jump start a surprise franchise. While this second installment is a touch better, it fails to move the story forward until the very end and uses its entire runtime to tell us a flashback (via a character who was absent for a good chunk of the story she's telling) that treats already told info as giant revelations. That reads to me as a lack of faith in the audience, which is always bad news.
We meet C. Berman (Jacobs), the lady that Deena (Madeira) called in the first film to help her save Sam from possession. Berman tells Deena and Josh (Flores Jr.) about what happened to her and her sister at Camp Nightwing in 1978. While heavily inspired by Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp among others, the nods never feel like straight-up theft, which is good. But the story isn't great, and the characters are all one-dimensional "camp horror movie" knockoffs. You've got rich kids, bitch kids, snitch kids, and even bewitched kids all populating this camp with zero adults present apart from a psychologically distressed nurse. There's also a completely unnecessary "crawling through the outhouse" scene that will just make you gag. Overall, while I didn't think it was great, I did enjoy Fear Street 2 a bit more than the first film. I think the teaser for the third film was awesome and looks like something wholly original. As a franchise, this one isn't breaking any new ground or staying on my radar long enough for me to consider it memorable. |
As promised by Netflix, here we are with the second part to their horror event trilogy. Coming off a pretty successful, and strong, first film which flooded the social media feed for a while there, especially in regard to the bread slicer death; the anticipation was pretty high for this second entry. Going further back in time, this looked like an entry which was going to both continue the 1994 storyline while having fun playing in the classic summer camp slasher sandbox. With the change in setting also came a more era-appropriate soundtrack and seeing some of the older characters in the first installment as kids here. So, let’s see how our extended night in Camp Nightwing fared this week.
Thankfully, many of the elements from the first installment are carried over here. The characters continue to be just unique enough, while still having fun with the known stereotypes, to make for an entertaining cast to watch. It also helps the performances continue to be strong. The gore and brutality are thankfully intact as well. While it does suffer from not having a lot of unique kills, they make up for it by having the blood spill freely. The era-appropriate soundtrack is also just as stellar with some of the more recognizable and catchy tunes of the decade. Where this film suffers for me is the overall storyline not feeling like it was advanced all that much. See, this is a story essentially being told as a flashback. This would work if I learned anything new about the witch at the center of this, but it’s mostly just a retread from what we learned the week prior. Also, if they can lighten up the cinematography at night, that would be great. Getting tired of having issues seeing what’s happening on my screen due to way too dark night lighting. For the most part, I had a lot of fun with this installment. It is clearly having fun with itself and the setting. To the point where it does show in the final product. Nut of only they could have made this trip down memory lane more worth it to the overall story and brighten up the cinematography, this could have been that much better. Still, my good time with this event continues this week and I look forward to the finale. |