Fear Street Part Two: 1978 – REVIEW

Here is my second review of Fear Street for Part Two: 1978 – the second part of a very interesting 3 part trilogy based on the books written by R. L. Stine. You can read my first review of part one right HERE (which I highly recommend) so your up to speed on where we are at with everything.

Part Two: 1978 is set in Camp Nightwing which is a camp for young teenagers who attend from both Shadyside and Sunnyvale. I will admit right now that I wasn’t as into this movie as the first. I did find it a lot slower and a lot more predictable than the first. I would say a slow start that does pick up and get more exciting as the movie progresses. There is a lot more emphasis on the Witch and black magic in this movie than the first.

On July 12, 1978, a beautiful redhead names Ziggy Berman (played by Sadie Sink) who is from Shadyside is accused of stealing by Sheila (played by Chiara Aurelia) and taunting her for being possessed by the “Witch”, who is a Sunnyvale camper, with her minion friends. The scene opens with them roping Ziggy to a tree. I found this scene a bit disturbing especially when Shelia is about to burn Ziggy with a lighter. Luckily for Ziggy, camp counselors Nick Goode (played by Ted Sutherland) and Kurt (played by Michael Provost) intervene. Ziggy’s older sister, Cindy (played by Emily Rudd) and her boyfriend Tommy Slater (played by McCabe Slye) are cleaning the mess hall together. Ziggy and Cindy couldn’t be more different and it’s clear from the start that they heat each other, but why? the reason is revealed in due time and explains a lot. Out of nowhere the camp nurse, Nurse Lane (played by Jordana Spiro), comes into the mess hall and attacks Tommy totally out of the blue!

SIDE NOTE: Nurse Lane is the mother of Shadyside killer Ruby Lane – she is one of Shadyside serial killers – feature in Part One: 1994, the attractive young knife killer with a beautiful voice.

As Nurse Lane attacks Tommy, she tells him that he will die that night she has seen his name on the stone … what stone? this is confusing for Tommy he doesn’t understand, but you can tell he very worried and rightly so. Cindy just freezes and watches it play out. The police arrive and remove Nurse Lane from the camp and chalk it down to crazy that just runs in the family but we all know that that’s just not it, there’s definitely more to this … The talk around camp amongst the teenagers from Sunnyvale are that she was possessed by Sarah Fier which at first you kind of believe but then you follow the plot and certain things begin to unravel that get you thinking. Confused and a little bit shaken, Cindy and Tommy decide to do their own investigative work at the infirmary to try and figure out Nurse Lanes motive. Alice (played by Ryan Simpkins), who is a camp counselor and Cindy’s former friend from Shadyside, and her boyfriend Arnie (played by Sam Brooks) also a camp counselor, end up meeting Cindy & Tommy in the infirmary. They came to get high on whatever they could scrounge but end up finding Nurse Lane’s diary. This is where it starts to get interesting. The diary contains information about the Witch, Sarah Fier, and that she made some kind of deal with the devil (here comes the black magick) by cutting off her hand on Satan’s stone and earning eternal life to curse the town of Shadyside for as long as the curse remains unbroken. The diary also contains a picture of the witches mark which later becomes very useful to the teens. The diary also offers up a map which will eventually lead them to the Witch’s house and of course, what group of teenagers wouldn’t take up this opportunity to venture off into the dark woodlands!

When Cindy, Tommy, Alice and Arnie get into the woods they stumble across some freshly dug graves, which really spook them out. Arnie has to pee and this is where is accidently uncovers the Sarah Fiers house. With reckless abandonment Alice is the first to dive in (her character is that of a deeply troubled teen who has a lot of pain that she is hiding) the others follow her in. Once inside, they discover the “witches mark” the same symbol that was drawn in the diary, is this where the Witch did her deal with the devil? Exploring the underground house further, Alice and Cindy find a stone wall with the names of all the Shadyside killers carved into it, and Tommy’s name included (just as Nurse Lane told him!).

Tommy is not doing too good and has separated himself from the group, he is sat down, not himself. This is the part I liked the most as we enter the “possession” – Tommy becomes possessed like all the previous Shadyside killers and poor Arnie meets a gruesome ending as Tommy’s first victim. Cindy & Alice, chased by the possessed Tommy manage to escape but not at all in the best way, far from it. They are faced with a new problem as the tunnel they climb through collapses.

In the meantime back at camp, totally oblivious to the horrors that are unfolding in the woods, Nick helps Ziggy get revenge on Sheila. The two bond and share a kiss. This makes Ziggy feel less like a “monster” and gives her hope that life could actually work out for her, maybe. Tommy eventually makes it back to camp and murders several Shadyside campers in your typically horror movie, crazy axe man style. Counselor Nick takes as many of the campers as he can to the mess hall to save them from the axe murderer. Ziggy, feeling guilty for pranking Sheila, goes back to get her. This results in an angry fight and Sheila gets knocked unconscious. Many of the campers do escape but not all of them are so luckily.

Meanwhile, Cindy and Alice still underground are trying to escape using the picture of the witch’s mark. They have figured out it is actually some kind of map of the underground cave system they have found themselves trapped in. They come across this gross pile of beating organs (very alien-ish) Alice being Alice touches the beating flesh which gives her flashbacks. She see all the past killers, their victims and what they did – a truly terrifying experience for her. Scared out of her mind, Alice runs hysterically trying to escape the flashbacks and falls, injuring her leg. This results in Cindy and Alice having a heart to heart moment when a lot of truths about Alice and Cindy coming to light and you as the viewer get to put a lot of things together.

Cindy and Alice try to escape through a cave opening beneath the outhouse after hearing her sister up there. Ziggy and Gary try to rescue them, but as the try to rescue the two girl, pyscho Tommy arrives and it doesnt go well for the teens. Ziggy escapes and hides with Nick, but are soon found by Tommy. Ziggy escapes again to the mess hall after realizing the bus has left them behind. Cindy finds her way to the mess hall with Alice following behind (slowly though because of her injured leg). Ziggy uses her smarts and turns on the music (Carry On My Wayard Son, by Kansas – from Supernatural – one of my other fav series) she knows Tommy is hot on her trail. She just about gets the drop on Tommy when an unfortunate event happens … It’s a close call for Ziggy but Cindy intervenes and kills Tommy (maybe?). Alice finally arrives and has some good news to share which falls upon welcoming ears after this horrify, nightmare night that isn’t even over yet!

Alice had found the Wich’s hand, Ziggy suddenly starts to bleed on the hand and sees a vision of Sarah Fier. Oh no, Ziggy has triggered the curse, now she has several of the Shadyside killers coming after her. Tommy kills Alice, Cindy decapitates him but he just wont die! Running for their lives, Ziggy and Cindy run to the tree where the Witch was hanged to finally place the hand with body and break the curse forever. They frantically dig. But they find something else and not what they expected … The resurrected killers catch up to them and Cindy realizes they are only after Ziggy. I don’t want to spoil this part so I won’t. All I can say is the killers disappear, Nick arrives and only one of them makes it (but who?)

This movie has a great ending, which ties all the first part very nicely together. It has a great twist and an interesting way to lead you to the next part, Part 3: 1666 where Deena sees a vision, it’s 1666 and she IS Sarah Fier. I am very much looking forward to watching the final part to this trilogy tonight! And, rest assured, I will be following up with my final review for all of you who are interested and are enjoying this trilogy as much as me 🙂