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Fear Street Part 2 1978 follows on from Fear Street Part 1 – 1994… or follows back in time. Something like that.
NOTE: This review assumes you have seen the first film.
The plot starts off in 1994 – as C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs), Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr) discuss the events of what happened, before going back to 1978, a time when Ms Berman was back at summer camp and it all began to kick off.
The music includes David Bowie’s The Man Who Saved The World, Moonage Daydream and Kansas’ Carry On My Wayward Son, plus The First Cut Is The Deepest (after a load of knives are shown). Okay, so not every song is from 1978, but that doesn’t really matter, and even if these films aren’t great, the soundtrack is.
As we go back to the ’70s, we see how Ziggy Berman (Sadie Sink) – who’s grown up to be C. – is at endless loggerheads with another girl, Sheila (Chiara Aurelia), but when she teams up with her own sister, Cindy (Emily Rudd), can they all come together when the blood begins to flow?
Publicity shot used because every still actually taken from the film is in the dark, so you’ll barely be able to see it.
On a positive note for the youngsters, that night, the Color War is taking place – starting with Capture The Flag, so, just silly campsite high-jinks, but to dampen their spirits, Nurse Lane talks about how her daughter, Ruby, once killed 8 people, including herself, setting things up to kick off, but after spending far too long on the set-up, showing the students faffing around at camp, it takes 40 minutes before the camp mates make a discovery – so, another 40 minutes for the film to begin proper, like the first film. They really could’ve shortened this down to about 15 minutes.
At least it has more action than the first film, but when that does come, it mostly relies on one individual stomping round with an axe.
Overall, Fear Street Part 2 – 1978 has a higher body count than the first film, but it is quite plodding at times.
I would like to hope they can pep things up for No.3, but apparently, this second movie was filmed AFTER they made not only Part 1, but also Part 3!
Fear Street Part 2 – 1978 is on Netflix from Friday July 9th, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 110 minutes
Release date: July 2nd 2021
Studio: Netflix
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (Anamorphic Panavision)
Rating: 5/10
Director: Leigh Janiak
Producers: Peter Chernin, David Ready, Jenno Topping
Story/Screenplay: Zak Olkewicz, Leigh Janiak, Phil Graziadei
Based on the Fear Street books by: RL Stine
Music: Marco Beltrami, Brandon Roberts
Cast:
Ziggy Berman: Sadie Sink
Cindy Berman: Emily Rudd
Sheila: Chiara Aurelia
Young Will Goode: Brandon Spink
Becky: Marcelle LeBlanc
Annie: Eden Campbell
Young Nick Goode: Ted Sutherland
Kurt: Michael Provost
Gary: Drew Scheid
Joan: Jacqi Vené
Tommy Slater: McCabe Slye
Alice: Ryan Simpkins
Arnie: Sam Brooks
Nurse Mary Lane: Jordana Spiro
C. Berman / Adult Ziggy: Gillian Jacobs
Mayor Will Goode: Matthew Zuk
Deena: Kiana Madeira
Josh: Benjamin Flores Jr
Samantha Fraser: Olivia Scott Welch
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.