Fear Street Part 2: 1978 8.7/10 [SPOILER]

The second installment of the Fear Street franchise is my pick for the strongest of the trilogy. 1978 is a classic teen slasher film with a clear influence from the original Friday the 13th. The film takes place at a summer camp that could pass for Camp Chrystal Lake. There are obvious supernatural elements at play in the film, but at its core, 1978 is a slasher film. The film has the most cohesive storyline of the trilogy, telling a self-contained story of one crazy ass day during the summer of 1978. The film stars Sadie Sink of Stranger Things as Ziggy Berman, an outcast who in the beginning of the film is erroneously labeled a witch – a foretelling of the fate of Sara Fier in 1666.

The film takes place at Camp Nightwing in 1978. It begins with Ziggy, a Shadysider, being accused of both stealing and being a witch by other campers. She’s bound and close to being burned as torture for the accusations before camp counselors intervene and release her. Ziggy is obviously an outcast who fully represents how Shadyside is depicted in 1994. This element carries over into the second film, even though it’s set in the past. Ziggy’s older sister, Cindy, in contrast, attempts to distance herself from Shadyside by adopting a persona similar to Sunnyvalers. This creates a strong schism between the sisters, as Ziggy thinks older sis is being fake, while big sis thinks Ziggy is a Negative Nancy who finds the bad in everything because she’s looking for the bad in everything.

The fractured relationship between sisters Ziggy and Cindy give the film personality outside of the scares and violence - something void in most horror films. Many horror movies try in the beginning to give its characters depth in establishing them, but a lot of characterization gets left by the wayside as the scares get going.

1978 is about the friction between Ziggy and Cindy just as much as it is about Sarah Fier. 1978 explores topics on identify and becoming someone new. It discusses people living in shitty places questioning if they’re destined to die that way. Ziggy reflects the hopelessness of people in poverty and dire situations who believe that no matter what they do they’ll always wind up in their own version of Shadyside. Cindy, in contrast, is far more optimistic and reflects the “master of your own destiny” mindset. She attempts to assimilate into the ways of the more desirable locale, Sunnyvale. The pushback she receives from Ziggy reflects the animosity for being fake and trying to become someone people believe she shouldn’t be based on where she’s from.

These elements give the film life and distinguishes itself from typical horror films. However, this is still most definitely a horror movie and a good one at that. Miss Fier continues to wreck shit, this time possessing Cindy’s boyfriend, Tommy, turning him into a hooded axe murderer. Tommy’s rampage is one of the best chase-and-kill slasher sequences that I’ve seen in some time. It was a bit jarring because kills, especially graphic ones, are reserved for older teenagers in teen slashers. Not the case in 1978. Younger kids, some appearing less than 14, wound up on the wrong end of Tommy Slater’s axe.

Tommy kills indiscriminately throughout the camp. I love a great horror cat-and-mouse game and you get one as Ziggy avoids Tommy while trying to find her sister, Cindy. 1978 fucks with your emotions and is all gas no breaks. It does a great job of luring you into thinking the character’s can catch their collective breaths before someone dies. Alice, an estranged friend of Cindy’s, is murdered not soon after patching things up with her former friend. It’s a pretty devastating emotional blow, that comes unexpected but makes the film enjoyable unpredictable.

1978 is a surprisingly bleak film that has a depressing ending. Cindy sacrifices her life for Ziggy, who we later find out is Christine Berman from 1994, who is rehashing the story to Deena and Josh. The film ends on an unhappy note because not only is Cindy dead, just after repairing her relationship with Ziggy, but no one believes Ziggy when she explains that the carnage is a result of Sarah Fier’s curse. Poor Ziggy is going to need an obscene amount of therapy as the worst day of her life somehow got even worse. The film ends with a depressing ending because it’s allowing itself to breathe for the third and final film. 1978 stands out because usually it’s the bad guy getting away that leads to the sequel. Fear Street is unique in that it’s going back in time to tell its story, so the mystery behind the witch is still unfolding.

I’m writing this review after watching the entire trilogy and 1978 is probably the strongest film of the three. It’s definitely between 1994 and 1978 and I initially chose 1994 because I love horror movies that switch settings. 1978 is exclusively set at Camp Nightwing, so I’m a bit partial against that but objectively speaking, 1978 is a little bit of a better film than 1994 and significantly ahead of 1666. 1978 is reminiscent of teen slashers from the 80s, 90s, and early 00s. It’s a throwback to the gold and silver age of teen slasher flicks. The difference between 1978 and many of its predecessors is the level of violence. 1978 is pretty violent film that doesn’t spare anyone -even the young kids who have frequently been spared in the past. I wouldn’t go so far to say the violence was gratuitous but it’s definitely not prude.

1978 is a very good, dare I say, even great film. It establishes Fear Street as the newest strong horror franchise, and it also jump starts the teen slasher genre. Found-footage films have taken over horror in the past 10 years, casting slashers, particularly teen ones, as fair-headed step-children. Teen slasher, maybe even teen horror overall, has been relegated to tv. Not a bad spot to be at all, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen a major teen slasher. 1978 brings it back. I978 is a classic teen slasher that’s perfect for the summer and a love letter in sorts to Friday the 13th. It’s a highly entertaining movie with some brutal moments, yet it tells an emotional story of identify and loneliness.