Fear Street Part 2: 1978 – criticism attached to its position on Netflix
Fear Street – Part 2: 1978 continues exactly where the first part left off, at the gates of postulates that are as compelling as the mythology presented. Without surprise, his successor reproduces the same defect identically, correcting certain aspects to better fail others. We checked its release on Netflix before the arrival of the third and final installment.
FRIDAY THE 13TH HELD
If the slasher genre ever shines, that’s when good directors take advantage of a very clear concept to go above and beyond with their claws. As a reminder, slasher consists of confronting a group of young people, often between the ages of 15 and 25, with a bloodthirsty assassin, often a more expressive silent giant with a knife. It is possible to include it with a feeling of pervasive terror, a huge dose of bloody and gory pleasure, to turn it into a gruesome tale of the origins of Evil… in short, anything is possible, everything is conceivable.
read more
No imagination here because we have the same killer figure crossed in all fake Halloween, mask night, Friday the 13th… If we remove the origins of his killing urges, this new butcher brings absolutely nothing. Ironically, the only murder that’s even a little funny is… his (never take “rack your brain” literally). Half of the murders take place off-screen and the others make the minimum wage blood and blood. Above all, he rarely threatens as he always shows up for the needs of the scenario, seemingly waiting around the corner for his services to be needed.
Underutilized the main antagonist, but also the other characters from the first feature film. All emerge in the final act, suggesting an ending that should have been longer, drier, tightening the issue of survival around our two protagonists fighting for their survival. But the film only employs them as extras of luxury and extra power that results in the final double-kill on the edge. Each additional punch caused an even louder burst of laughter as the situation went from touching to overbearing.
And this is definitely the biggest critique for the film: instead of digging its own plot by hybridizing its mythology with the contributions of the elders, it prefers to create a gentle loop. He stutters the scenes and clichés we’ve seen elsewhere in a more eloquent way. We end up with the same summer camp, the same clichéd animators (shallow handsome boys, drug-savvy babpos-hippies, etc.) and the same cold buffet of guts and brains to slaughter. But the desire isn’t really there, everything seems once again placed on predictable rails.
NETFLIX UBER ALLES
Once the different characters appear on the screen, it’s hard not to guess in advance who will be there and who will survive. This is one of the main challenges of slasher, to give interest to these distinct deaths. But Netflix’s specs still seem surprising as the different characters and their relationships (competition, romance, etc.) only exist to fulfill a function, before their deaths are swiftly dispatched. The film also takes the opportunity to slip in some scenes of eroticism worthy of a Moldovan morgue, and some drool exchanges that will only excite young college students.
read more
In terms of mythology, this film turns the Sunnydale/Shadyside division into an eye-catching scriptwriting spring. The people of Sunnydale are handsome and arrogant, and all the time calling the Shadysides “nerds” when they are good, but are crippled by a curse that turns people into bloodthirsty killers. The Manichean divide is particularly damaging when we see the way this film exploits questions of social vulnerability and degeneration through the conflictual relationships of the two sisters/main characters. The latter is one of those rare film successes and one of the keystones of this shaky cinematographic edifice.
The actors and actresses are undoubtedly the only feature film quality. Even though they have to struggle with characters and lines that aren’t always smart, most of it is really invested and it shows even in the worst written parts. The original sin of the feature film may lie in its writing, thinking halfway between a TV movie and a series. Some important information for general context and beyond seems to be introduced with forceps, such as the rough asterisk placed on the side of the screen. Beyond that, the mention of mythology seems only to be there to lead to the next section.
putRemote-controlled twists and turns, a purely illustrative achievement, though less shy than the first part… Fear Street has finally suffered from a major flaw: its marketing calibration. The trilogy appears to be a purely product aimed at a teenage public who knows little or no slasher code, but is more familiar with the series universe and its operations.
The climax that announces the third chapter fits perfectly into this continuity, with the ending finally giving hope to the apocalypse worthy of its name. The universe is now established and nothing can stand in the way of the terrible fate of Sarah Fier, a hectoliter choice of blood and a hundred year old curse. It remains to be proved in Fear Street – Part 3: 1666 with more craziness, scope and sincerity to save this doom.