Horror Movie Review: Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021)

“In Shadyside, the past is never really the past. This was July 12th. The summer of 1978. The first day of camp. A week later, my sister was dead.”

Fear Street Part Two: 1978 is a 2021 American teen slasher film directed by Leigh Janiak. Based on the book series of the same name by R. L. Stine, it is the second installment in the Fear Street trilogy, and a sequel to Part One: 1994.

In 1994, Deena and Josh Johnson restrain Sam, Deena’s girlfriend who is possessed, and travel to C. Berman’s house for help. Berman recounts to them the events of the Camp Nightwing massacre.

On July 12, 1978, Ziggy Berman from Shadyside is accused of stealing by Sheila, a Sunnyvale camper, and her friends. They rope her to a tree and begin to burn her before camp counselors Nick Goode and Kurt intervene. Ziggy’s older sister, Cindy, and her boyfriend Tommy Slater are cleaning the mess hall. Nurse Lane enters, the mother of Shadyside killer Ruby Lane, and attacks Tommy. She says that he will die that night, before she is removed from camp by police. The Sunnyvale teens believe she was possessed by Sarah Fier, as was her daughter.

Cindy and Tommy encounter counselors Alice, Cindy’s former friend, and her boyfriend Arnie. They find Lane’s diary which says that Fier made a deal with the devil by cutting her hand on Satan’s stone, thereby earning eternal life. They also find a map in the diary leading to Fier’s house.

At the house, they find empty graves dug up by Nurse Lane and discover the witch’s mark below the house. There is also a wall carved with the names of all the Shadyside killers and Tommy’s name is included. Tommy, now possessed, kills Arnie and chases the girls but they escape into a cave. At camp, Nick helps Ziggy prank Sheila and lock her in the outhouse. The two bond and share a kiss. Tommy reaches the camp and murders several Shadyside campers.

Can they stop Tommy? Can Ziggy’s story help Deena save Sam? Watch and find out.

Fear Street 1978 is definitely the best one out of the trilogy, in my opinion. Despite the fact it’s just a classic summer camp slasher story, it executes that concept as well as you can. If you’ve never seen a single slasher in your life you’d think this was amazing but I’ve seen far too many. This movie follows the same beats and stereotypes and is exactly what you would expect. Although you have to admit it’s clearly an effective formula so why change it up.

I enjoyed the higher body count and the balls to kill anyone off, even children (although they did pan away). The gore looked great, albeit some CGI wounds for some random reason. I felt it showed off as much gore as a teen could allow.

The overarching Fier storyline continued well and flowed nicely. The plot of the trilogy is evenly spread out.

I enjoyed the story between Ziggy and Alice, but like the first movie I felt we could have seen more of their relationship leading up to the events at camp. Additionally, adult Ziggy is terribly cast. She looks absolutely nothing like Sadie Sink. You don’t lose ginger hair and freckles with age. Also, I honestly didn’t get Ziggy and Nick’s romance. It didn’t feel organic, it was awkward and meaningless.

Overall, the best movie in the trilogy but ultimately, doesn’t matter much to the overall story. A solid slasher that unfortunately had to go back to Deena and Sam’s boring relationship.