2 Fear 2 Street

Plenty of horror movies spawn cash-in sequels (usually with diminishing creative returns). But Fear Street was a novelty: a trilogy of horror films made all at once, and released across just three weeks on Netflix. Part One was good-but-not-great, enough so that I moved on to Fear Street Part Two: 1978. And I found myself rewarded for it.

The title promises exactly what's "inside the box"; this movie is set in 1978, at a summer camp where a bloody killer goes on a murderous rampage. Yup, where "Part One: 1994" used Scream as its main touchstone, this installment in the trilogy is drawing on Friday the 13th.

Once again, director Leigh Janiak let's you know that she's studied these classic horror movies and is able to adjust her own style to match them. Part Two doesn't have the "chewed up and spit out" grind house quality when it comes to the actual "film stock" (you have to really want that in an age of 4K digital photography), but in every other way that matters, the movie is using the cinematic language of a Friday the 13th or Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Violent as both Part One and Two are, there was something about Part One that felt a little more "juvenile." The characters felt like I'd imagine those in an R. L. Stine book to be (except that they curse), and there seemed to be more time for teen drama. Part Two seems more adult, and once things get going, there's precious little time for angst. I don't always go for horror movies that are premised on lining up lambs for the slaughter, but I enjoyed this one more than usual.

With a new time period comes a new cast, and I generally found the actors of Part Two to be just a cut above the Part One ensemble. Sadie Sink stars as the protagonist of the piece, and I think it's not just good vibes from recognizing her (from Stranger Things) that made me like her here. I could go on and list a half dozen more performers you certainly won't recognize by name (but you've probably seen one or two of them somewhere you can't quite place). Suffice it to say that I find this group believable and enjoyable -- a useful thing for getting the audience to care once the blood starts flying.

At the same time, while Part Two is a well-made slasher movie, it's not as well written as Part One. There really aren't any clever twists here, no novel take on a time-honored formula. It's a very straight-forward "if you like movies like this, you will like this movie." Which really isn't something you can always get away with, except that people haven't exactly made movies just like this in a while. (But to stress: you have to be enough of a horror fan to appreciate that it's the particular "throwback slasher" niche I'm talking about here.)

I'd say I enjoyed Fear Street Part Two: 1978 a touch more than Part One, so I'll give it a B. And yes, of course I went on to finish the trilogy. I'll catch you up on that soon.