We’re now throat level deep into Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy. After “Scream“ing our way through Part 1 in 1994, RL Stine’s story takes another step back in time to 1978, and takes us on a summer vacation to sleepaway camp. This, more tree lined Fear Street finds a nice sweet spot as the middle film, walking a tricky storytelling tightrope to get us to the 1666 conclusion in Part Three. After yet another camp killer movie, I continue to thank my parents for never even considering sending me on one of those trips, cause I certainly would have been a goner.
After the events of 1994, Deena (Kiana Madeira) and her brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) go to the house of Christine Berman (Gillian Jacobs) to get her help to stop the witch Sarah Fier from haunting Deena’s girlfriend and the town of Shadyside Ohio, murder capital of the US. In hopes to find clues to defeat Sarah, Christine recounts the story of her younger self (called Ziggy, played by Sadie Sink) and her sister Cindy (Emily Rudd) and their unfortunate roles in the Camp Nightwing massacre of 1978.
Fear Street Part 1 got the 90s slasher movie homage. Part II is a loving murder spree conducted in a 70s/80s slasher movie style: think Halloween crossed with a Friday the 13th movie. A lot of the same ideas/effects from those films are used here: obviously the summer camp location with an axe murderer with a bag over their head is straight up Jason Voorhees Crystal Lake plagiarism. The sex = death rule holds true here, as does the creepy voyeuristic camera angles lusting through windows, certainly putting the audience at unease. The movie finds the right amount of restraint, as a large number of innocent 13 year olds get pretty violently murdered offscreen but the counselors get the hyper gory deaths people probably tuned in to see. But this Fear Street cleans up some of the hot garbage generated by those craptastic slasher flicks. For one, the “virginal” teen is used in a particularly twisted darkly funny way here. All the female characters have some sort of agency here, taking charge and rising to the occasion early and often, with the boys playing back up most of the time. Most importantly, Ziggy and Cindy are much more well written than the vapid bimbos of those 80s films, with real thoughts, feelings, and in all solid character development together and apart: Cindy and her friend Alice (Ryan Simpkins) have a wonderful heart to heart journey underneath the camp and Ziggy and the now Sunnyvale police chief Nick (Ted Sutherland) have this cute little bond over the maligned but interesting creatures of the forest. This all means the rush to save each other and attempts to get out of the camp actually MEAN something, making you sympathize with our protagonists instead of rooting for the killer like those dumb 80s films.
While all of this is going on, there’s the 2nd layer of storytelling and worldbuilding of Shadyside that Part 2 is doing to deepen the tale and fuse past and present. Gillian Jacobs is a wonderful addition, instantly making Christine your irascible but loveable survivor just wanting to live in peace. All the books and stories introduced in the first movie get their prequels here: now we know how the axe murderer got a bag on his head, and how Ziggy survived her witch encounter. There’s further Shadyside and Sunnyvale conflict as well, showing how deep this rivalry/hatred for one another’s towns is, which will probably play a role going forward. Plus, aside from Sadie Sink’s presence, there’s lots of Stranger Things like supernatural phenomena teased out as well, with terrifying layers below the surface both figuratively and literally. All of these little additions are weaved into the slasher flick above, making the movie work on a couple levels at the same time, impressive juggling act by Leigh Janiak the writer/director.
I’m sufficiently hyped for 1666 now! I suppose I can wait a whole 7 days for the next one of these movies to release on Netflix. Damn you, Netflix algorithm, you win again! Now I’m gonna have to give a chance to those strange animated releases you have or all 87 of your Christmas specials next year to reward you/throw you off my scent.