When it comes to the Netflix original horror Fear Street trilogy, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. The first is that the series isn't necessarily trying to plow new ground. In fact, this particular franchise appears to be trying to do stuff that horror fans have seen before, but with its own spin on it. That means Fear Street Part 1: 1994, Fear Street Part Two: 1978 and Fear Street Part Three: 1666 are all going to try and take some well-known tropes from movies and television shows that came before them, but still offer up something new enough that viewers will want to come back. On that score, the first two installments seem to have hit the mark.
Fear Street: 1978 picks up where the first installment of the trilogy left off. As is goign to be the case with the third movie in this limited run, being released on Netflix every Friday, the story quickly takes viewers back in time. This time around, the two survivors and one possessed victim head over to the house of C. Berman (the adult version played by Gillian Jacobs) because they believe she has a way to beat Sarah Fier. The Shadyside witch that's been cursing the town for centuries almost (or did) kill Berman's sister when she was a teen attending summer camp.
However, if Deena and Josh thought Ziggy was going to have all the answers for them, they were sorely mistaken. It turns out she's really just got another horrifying story teed up. Most of the rest of the movie takes place in this particular narrative, showing another chapter of the witch's reign of terror.
Campy Horror Fun In Fear Street: 1978
The action in the second installment of the Netflix original horror series all takes place at a 1970's summer camp known as Camp Nightwing. At first glance, the film is very reminiscent of other teen horror movies that were both shot and set in this particular story beat older. There are the older teens that are all camp counselors. There are the younger, blossoming teens that are the campers. There are rivalries among both groups that seem to be born from knowing each other very well.
Ziggy (played by Sadie Sink) is apparently a bit of an outsider whose older sister is both a camp counselor and a bit of a surrogate mother. Again, the similarities to this particular film and other slasher horror movies viewers have seen is intentional. Fear Street Part Two: 1978 does the same thing that Fear Street Part 1: 1994 did before it. The series wants those watching to feel as though they've seen this kind of story before. The familiarity of the story allows the audience to settle into the action and not have to spend time trying to figure out what exactly is happening. Much like the first installment in the trilogy, Part Two also blends two very different horror genres in order to get its own spin.
Sex, Drugs And Rock And Roll All Prevalent In Fear Street Part Two: 1978
Because Fear Street Part Two: 1978 is looking to capture the look and feel of other horror movies like Friday the 13th, there is plenty of teens doing teen things. Considering this is a movie series based on R.L. Stine's young adult books, it's a little jarring just how much sex there is in this film. That doesn't make it bad, and it definitely helps fit the world the film is trying to create. What is interesting is how much further it goes than its predecessor. The first Fear Street had some teen love, and went in a direction viewers wouldn't have seen in a movie that was actually shot in 1994 with the lesbian love angle, but while there were a few heavy petting scenes, sex was mostly hinted at. In 1978, one of the first scenes in the film involves some rather raucous sex between two counselors. Another scene between two other counselors is equally rousing.
Drugs are everywhere as well in the second installment of the Netflix original horror series. One thing that this film seems to avoid, to its credit, is that there aren't overt morality tales to be told here. Friday the 13th was known for making it very clear that having sex or doing drugs in its universe was why a teen got killed. Later installments leaned into that so heavily that it was just a given that if characters were having sex, they were going to die five minutes later. Certainly, characters that have sex or do drugs in Fear Street Part Two: 1978 die, because almost everyone dies in the end. But it seems less like a punishment for "immoral" behavior and more just "everyone is going to die."
There is, however, one particular scene that appears to be right out of a movie of the week. Because most of the rest of both Fear Street's are not really heavy-handed at all, it seems likely that the ham-fisted nature of the scene where a character explains both sex and drugs are really not that fun at all, was intentional in order to stay within the theme of movies of its type.
Unknowns Continue Getting The Job Done In Fear Street
One of the things that make both Fear Street Part 1: 1994 and Fear Street Part Two: 1978 really refreshing is that neither film leans on big-name actors to try and carry the plot. It seems rather intentional that all of the stars of the series so far are relative unknowns. Interestingly if there are actors that are going to stand out as "well known" to Netflix fans it's going to be Maya Hawke and Sadie Sink, who also both happen to star in Stranger Things. Whether this is intentional or just a happy accident isn't yet known but most of the rest of the cast aren't anywhere near household names.
Hawke's role in 1994 is quite a bit smaller than Sink's. She's basically there to set the stage and be the first on-screen murder victim. Sink, as the teenage Ziggy, is front and center for almost all of 1978, and is in fact the "final girl" in that installment. Even those actors aren't yet really that well known to the general public. There's something about the fact that audiences are largely meeting all of these teens for the first time - some for the very first time - makes the story a little more compelling. This isn't like watching Chris Pratt never really have his life put in danger in The Tomorrow War.
In this Netflix original, the lack of big stars means that literally, every character's life is in danger. That makes the story more interesting and allows the audience to feel more invested in guessing who will be left standing at the end. As is the case with the first installment, Fear Street Part Two: 1978 is a fantastic standalone tale that also builds excitement for its sequel.
Fear Street Part 1: 1994 and Fear Street Part Two: 1978 are available on Netflix now with Part 3: 1666 releasing on July 16th.