If Leigh Janiak’s Fear Street: 1994 was her Scream riff, then the second film in the series is a love letter to the summer camp subgenre. As Freddy vs Jason taught us that Camp Crystal Lake was but a few miles from Elm Street, so we find that Shadyside has its own equivalent. Enter Camp Nightwing – a summer camp straight out of The Burning, Sleepaway Camp and Friday the 13th.
Like its predecessor, this is a horror film designed to appeal to horror fans without alienating a wider audience. A killer is on the loose in Camp Nightwing, influenced by the witch Sarah Fier (these are books for kids and teens, remember). Troubled teen Ziggy Berman (Sadie Sink) is either responsible or set to be a victim of the killer(s) – an outcast, bullied mercilessly by her fellow campmates. Meanwhile, in the present day (well, 1994), Deena (Kiana Madeira) tracks down Ziggy’s sister (Gillian Jacobs) in the hope that she can help fend off the still-persistent witch’s advances. The film’s bookends tie it back to 1994, but this sequel largely stands as its own entity, with its own distinct tone and atmosphere.
With the audience already hooked, the pace is a bit slower, the story more mystery focused than it is concerned with gory kills and flashy action sequences. While it retains the R-rated splatter, there’s nothing to match the first film’s bread slicer sequence – no one expected Fear Street to go that hard, and it’s impossible to capture that sense of surprise for a second time.
With less time spent on references and nostalgia (save for a lot of Stephen King talk and a very familiar-looking burlap sack), Janiak uses 1978 to get on with making a taut, effective slasher movie. Like its predecessor, it could use fewer needle drops (yes, we also remember seventies music), but gives good homage to the subgenre it imitates. It’s darker, more mature and less winkingly ironic. Horror fans who already lived through the first wave of summer camp slasher films won’t find anything particularly new here, but Fear Street: 1978 is an enjoyable throwback. Next up: the swinging sixties. Witch-swinging sixteen-sixties, that is.
