Fear Street Part 2: 1978

The Fear Street trilogy made me expect a trio of diverse films that would approach the slasher subgenre in different ways determined by their time period. 1994 was supposed to be in the vein of Scream with fun 90s fanboy winks, 1978 could have been a camp slasher renaissance along the lines of The Burning or Friday the 13th, and I imagined 1666 as gritty period horror with an atmosphere reminiscent of The VVitch. Yeah, I know, it was naive. All in all, they are your typical unpretentious Netflix genre films adapted to modern times and a young audience, where the style of each episode does not differ much from each other; it's the same thing over and over again, the characters behave the same way, it has the same easygoing style. In the end, a missed opportunity to bring something really special, but probably still worth sacrificing three evenings for. 1978 > 1666 > 1994. In my opinion the strongest episode, but it has its flaws (really unnecessarily long intro, the delayed "masking-up" of the killer). (07/24/2021)

The second part of Fear Street steps it up a notch. The setting at Camp Nightwing is more immersive, and you finally get a bit more backstory on the witch herself. The soundtrack is killer once again, with tracks from David Bowie, Nirvana, The Velvet Underground, and The Runaways, all perfectly complementing the slasher vibes, especially in the dark. The overall atmosphere in this installment is much stronger, and now I’m really curious to see what soundtrack they’ll pull out for the third part, set in 1666. (08/28/2021)

Although it’s a bit a exaggerated, which actually does the same thing several times as the first film, but it presents it to the viewer as a novelty. It’s still great, bloody and exciting entertainment, though. Instead of Scream, it (more than) nods to Friday the 13th, the characters are fine, the director is good.... I'm really looking forward to the end of this trilogy. (07/10/2021)

The second installment transports viewers to a sunny American camp on the cusp of the 1970s and 1980s, and it's worth noting that this change benefited the film! The presence of Sadie Sink, known from Stranger Things, was certainly a great marketing move, and she showcased her talent once again. However, I was a bit disappointed that the first hour didn’t offer much action. The film mainly focuses on depicting the era (with a fantastic soundtrack) and dialogues that weren’t the strongest. In the second half, the film dives into the typical slasher territory, with plenty of brutality (heads rolling and blood spraying in all directions). As for the story, while some questions were answered, the definitive conclusion to this intriguingly set-up trilogy will come with the third installment, set in 1666, which looks the most promising from the initial previews. Hopefully, they will wrap it up in a meaningful way. The second film earns a genre-above-average 6.5/10 from me. (07/13/2021)

The year 1978 is riding on the Friday the 13th wave, much like American Horror Story: 1984. It fits together nicely, the pace is fast, and the interest intensifies. It also has my favorite cliché of squabbling teenagers who were friends in childhood and new events force them to work together again. (12/05/2021)