In Fear Street Part 2 we leave 1990 and travel back to Shadyside in 1978. Surprise!  We find that horrible things were happening in that year also. However, many viewers like me feel grateful to the filmmakers for making it easier to tell what’s happening on screen as well as to appreciate the atmospheric cinematography. And that also means we feel even more frightened as the scary film unfolds. Kudos to director/writer Leigh Janiak and co-writer Zak Olkewicz. Part 2 may be more confusing and complicated than Part 1, but it’s also an improved viewing experience.   

This time we meet lots of teens from downtrodden Shadyside and prosperous Sunnyvale – all participating in the annual Camp Nightwing summer experience. They are divided into two groups, with Shadyside labeled the Blue group and Sunnyvale the Red. Rivalry among these two groups seems a bit too intense in a “catch-the-flag” game. But when the witch’s curse takes over the camp, both groups need to work together to fight it. Will they succeed? 

The key characters to watch include: Mary (Jordana Spiro), a morose nurse; two sisters Cindy and Ziggy (Emily Rudd and Sadie Sink respectively), who don’t get along; Cindy’s boyfriend Tommy (McCabe Slye); Alice (Ryan Simpkins), a rebellious teen; and Nick (Ted Sutherland), a Sunnyvale citizen who grows up to be the sheriff.              

Bloody events in Camp Nightwing!

The witch’s curse goes in full swing.

Horror and gore before our eyes.

How can we stand those screams and cries?

Two sisters try to save their friends.

One even wants to make amends.

Many will die in this chiller.

Guess who’ll be the next cursed killer?

“Part 2” shows us more in many scenes.

And we learn what witch’s hand means.

Does second film get us all set

   for last installment? You can bet!

Some of the most eerie and exciting scenes take place in caves beneath Camp Nightwing. This is the place where Sarah Fier (Elizabeth Scope) supposedly cut off her hand on Satan’s stone in exchange for eternal life, and this action ended up bringing darkness upon the land.

Fier's hand gets discovered in this outing, and we find out that joining Sarah’s hand and the rest of her body together might be the only way to defeat the witch’s curse. We might learn more about this in Part 3. There’s also something important about blood and the hand, but I’m not sure about how that works. I’m glad we don’t have to wait long for Part 3 of this Fear Street trilogy. That particular travel back in time will take us to the year 1666 for the origin of Sarah Feir’s curse.       

My warning about Part 1 still stands for Part 2 . Just because these films are based on the Fear Street books by R.L.Stine, don’t expect light-hearted humor and fun similar to Stine's Goosebumps works. These movies definitely earn their “R” ratings.

Some people ask why people would go into a dark room to be scared. I say they are already scared and they need to have that fear manipulated and massaged. I think of horror movies as the disturbed dreams of a society. --- Wes Craven

(Released by Netflix and rated “R” by MPAA.)