[Film Review] Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021)

We’re back in the world of Fear Street with Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021), with the second instalment in the story picking up pretty much right where we left off last time. This time, we get to meet C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs), the sole survivor of the Camp Nightwing massacre. Hoping they can discover the secret as to why C. has survived for so long, Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) head to her house to see what went down during the massacre, bringing a very possessed Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) with them and tying her up in the bathroom. 

C. Berman lives pretty much like you would expect the sole survivor of a massacre to. She locks herself in her house every night, lives alone with her dog, and needs a complicated series of alarm clocks to set the reminders she needs to provide basic care for herself. After a little convincing, she decides to share her tale with Deena and Josh, in the hope it can be of some help. 

And so we’re back in 1978, and also back at Camp Nightwing. Fear Street Part Two: 1978 doesn’t have the immediately-placeable decade opening of Fear Street Part One: 1994, but once we’re back in the ‘70s, Camp Nightwing is reminiscent of every classic camp horror movie there is. 

Sisters Ziggy (Sadie Sink) and Cindy Berman (Emily Rudd) are both enjoying a summer away from home at the camp. While Cindy is a responsible camp counselor alongside boyfriend Tommy (McCabe Slye), Ziggy has been classed as a troublemaker, and is on the receiving end of constant bullying from her fellow campmates. Even in 1978, the urban legend of Sarah Fier is on everyone’s lips, especially because singing murder Ruby Lane’s mother (Jordana Spiro) works as a nurse at the camp. 

After Mrs Lane attacks Tommy, claiming that he’s going to die today one way or another, Cindy and Tommy, alongside fellow counsellors Alice (Ryan Simpkins) and Arnie (Sam Brooks), find a notebook packed with witch-related notes in the medical suite. They decide to head out into the woods to investigate, and see if they can find out what connections Sarah Fier has to Camp Nightwing. 

While Fear Street Part One: 1994 was light on brutal deaths until the closing act, Fear Street Part Two: 1978 gives us a campground massacre with style. So many people get brutally murdered with an axe, but it never gets less shocking. Due to the fact the campers are played by actors who look like actual teenagers, rather than 30-year-olds pretending to be young like so many other horror movies, the level of death and dismembered body parts is quite alarming. 

Most camp horror films, such as Friday the 13th (1980) and The Burning (1981), have an element of urban legend to them, so when Fear Street Part Two: 1978 leans into this heavily with the Sarah Fier stuff, it doesn’t feel out of place. Even though we know Camp Nightwing is going to spawn the terrifying sacked-faced killer who liked sprinting after our main characters in the first movie, it’s still fun to see his origin story and watch the massacre play out in front of us. 

Ziggy and Cindy are brilliant lead characters, and it’s interesting to watch their stories crossover and also play out independently as chaos starts to take over at the camp. Sadie Sink has already proved herself as a terrific actor in the face of danger with her role in Stranger Things (2016), and so it’s delightful to watch her stepping away from other-dimensional monsters and taking on slasher killers instead.

As with the first movie, there are plenty of needle drops to let you know what decade you’re watching, including Don’t Fear the Reaper adding yet another horror movie to its CV. We also get to see a little more of some of the other killers mentioned by Josh from Shadyside’s history, which is what makes the Fear Street series so interesting. I would honestly watch an origin story for all of these killers, and I’m delighted at how freaky Billy Barker and the Milkman are. It’s sometimes very hard to design just one iconic slasher killer, but Fear Street is nailing it with multiple killers. The Camp Nightwing Killer gets me right where I live because anyone who runs with an axe is terrifying to me. 

Overall, Fear Street Part Two: 1978 does a great job of introducing us to new characters, telling us a very different story to Fear Street Part One: 1994, and giving us more of Sarah Fier’s story, while still leaving plenty to be told in Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021). There were enough brutal deaths to shock even the most die-hard slasher fan, but I do wish we’d got to see a little more action from the rest of the killers as well to mix things up a bit. 

As with the first movie, the ending of Fear Street Part Two: 1978 is not going to leave you feeling particularly optimistic about life, and there’s a ham-fisted reveal that really makes me wonder about C. Berman’s storytelling technique, but the last few seconds set up the last movie perfectly. I had so much fun with this dip back into ‘70s horror, and I feel like watching this whole trilogy as one huge movie event in the future will be an epic experience.

Read [Film Review] Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021)

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