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Fear Street Part Two: 1978 Movie Review

Fear Street Part Two: 1978 is a 2021 teen slasher film directed by Leigh Janiak and starring Sadie Sink and Emily Rudd. It’s a big improvement upon its predecessor.

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“She’s no thief.

She’s possessed by the witch“

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This is the middle chapter in this slasher trilogy that was released on Netflix a week apart from each other. Based on the titular book series, this middle entry takes the action from 1994 all the way back to 1978. The setting is a summer camp and once again the witch’s curse is here, taking possession of a teenager, leading to many gruesome deaths.

First off, the summer camp setting is very clichéd and basically a slasher convention by now. The movie does little to differentiate this camp from others and the basic premise is familiar. However, execution matters, and here everything is so well executed that I was having an absolute blast watching this fun exercise in brutal horror and franchise world building.

Let’s talk about the violence. The first entry was somewhat violent, but this one went into full-on R-rated brutal kills territory and even further. Unlike so many other slasher movies, this one doesn’t spare children. Their deaths aren’t shown on screen, but they happened, and that fact made this movie super disturbing. The suspense itself and the kills aren’t particularly scary and still this franchise is more fun than creepy, but at least the violence made it more memorable.

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The characters all worked for me and this is one of the rare horror franchises where the characterization is actually among the biggest selling points. That almost never happens, so it needs to be admired when it occurs. Sadie Sink is fantastic as Ziggy and Emily Rudd is also very strong as Cindy. These two sisters are the heart and soul of this movie and their fraught relationship is so well developed and genuine.

The fact that only Ziggy survived in the end made the movie very authentic as they did not stray away from killing each and every other character, and in brutal fashion no less. Tommy is underdeveloped, but memorable in the killer mode when possessed. Arnie is a typical stoner dude, but at least Alice got the much needed development in the second half, and that strained dynamic between her and Cindy as former friends was very interesting.

Fear Street Part Two: 1978 is also technically so well executed. It’s not as flashy as ‘1994’, but that more grounded color palette worked for this time period and setting. The make-up and costume department both did an excellent job on the actors. Speaking of whom, all of the actors and actresses did a very good job, surprisingly good for their lesser-known names.

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The editing is also very good, albeit the movie is a bit too long. Yes, it’s well paced, but some of the earlier summer camp establishing scenes could have easily been cut. But most of the action scenes are incredible, especially the ones underground. The red moss and the tunnels and the various witch insignia made for a very lived-in, intricate world. The connections to the first movie worked immensely and the movie is absolutely a blast to watch throughout. It’s also a great hook for the final chapter.