Fear Street: 1978 (2021)

(Netflix Streaming, May 2022) Slasher nostalgia gets a mildly amusing twist in Fear Street: 1978, the second instalment of a series that began in 1994 and promises to keep going in 1666. In the middle of a 1994-set framing device, we travel back one generation in time to find ourselves (where else?) at camp, on the shores of a lake not named Crystal. A new cast of character sets the stage for another camp slasher, with the links to the 1994 being more mythological than anything. This camp, after all, is the destination for both the scarred survivors of the small-town murder capital of the United States Shadyside, and their privileged neighbours of Sunnyvale. Characters are introduced (one or two of them younger versions of people we’ve met in 1994, although the film allows itself some identity-blurring shenanigans for good measure), then spooky events happen, one unfortunate murder is swept under the rug and everything climaxes on a blood-soaked night when the witch and her acolytes come back once more to murder everyone in sight. While 1978 revels in the fashions of the late 1970s like its slasher predecessors, writer-director Leigh Janiak once again isn’t interested in being too faithful to the period in terms of themes or technique: despite the beige, it feels like a 2021 film and there are clear hints that the mythology is moving toward an explanation about its witch antagonist rather than outright destruction. Sadie Sink makes for a good lead, and the result does have enough to keep interest even if this all feels like a drawn-out tangent from the story begun in 1994. This being said, Fear Street: 1978 will be far more effective for viewers who actually like the first wave of late-1970s camp slashers – I found them intolerable in the first place, and the only thing keeping me interested here is in seeing how we’re going to go to 1666 for the series’ conclusion.