Rating of
3/4
One Killer Summer
Chris Kavan - wrote on 07/25/21
The second part of the Fear Street trilogy is the one that feels most like a classic slasher - you have the summer camp setting, of course - which you can't help but equate with the father of all slasher films, Friday the 13th - and you have a group of young, pretty people just waiting to get slaughtered.
The premise opens up where part one left off, our survivors of the Shadyside curse have tracked down a survivor of the camp massacre, a woman who is now trapped in her own home, setting alarms for just about everything and not at all happy a group of teens have tracked her down, including one who is under the influence of the curse. But she tells her story anyway and we are whisked away to 1978, and another bitchin' soundtrack, as we join sisters Ziggy Berman (another Stranger Things alum in Sadie Sink) and Cindy Berman (Emily Rudd) who couldn't be more different. Whereas Ziggy has resigned to her fate as a Shadyside outcast, and is about to be kicked out of camp for various infractions, Cindy is trying everything to ignore her origins and fit in witch the better half - and even has a snazzy polo shirt to prove it. She even has a solid boyfriend in Tommy Slater (McCabe Slye). But while the camp gears up for the annual red v blue capture the flag event, something sinister lurks just below the surface. First, Tommy is nearly killed by the camp nurse - who is turns out is the mother of former Shadyside killer Ruby Lane, and seems to have amassed a mountain of information on the Shadyside curse trying to make sense of her daughter's actions.
But that's just the beginning as Cindy, along with former friend Alice (Ryan Simpkins) and stoner boyfriend Gary (Drew Scheid) and Tommy follow the clues the nurse has left behind in order to track down the supposed missing hand of Sarah Fier and perhaps finally undo the curse of the Shadyside. But it turns out our nurse had a reason for trying to take out Tommy earlier - as he becomes the next possessed killer - and though the girls manage to escape, he heads towards camp with an axe and murder in mind.
Meanwile, Ziggy has managed to make a connection with future sheriff, a young Nick Goode (Ted Sutherland) even managing to prank fellow Sunnyside camper Sheila (Chiara Aurelia) who has made camp hell for Ziggy. But the good times won't last long as the bodies begin to pile up. While many campers escape via bus, Ziggy won't leave without her sister - who has managed to find the missing hand and now just needs to reunite it with Fier's body - on the campground. Thus begins a harrowing final journey for the two sisters - and, as we know, only one will survive.
Much like every other slasher film set in a campground, this one has what you would expect: sex, drugs and rock n roll - but it does so in a nice mix that doesn't feel forced (okay, maybe Cherry Bomb and Carry On Wayward Son are a bit overdone) - and though some characters aren't fleshed out enough, most of the main characters are at least given some emotional heft with Sink and Sutherland standing out. And while most slasher films tend to focus more on young adults - it's much more impactful when a lot of the victims here are on the younger side - showing just how scary and unforgiving the Shadyside curse can be.
Of course, this being the second part of a trilogy, it ends on cliffhanger - in present day, Deena (Kiana Madeira) has found the hand right where it was left in 1978 - and now knows exactly where Fier is buried. Thus she makes it her goal to complete what was started in the past - bring the hand to the body and end the curse - but, of course, it can't be that easy and as soon as Deena makes contact with the body, she finds herself transported into the past - 1666 to be exact - and into the body of Fier herself - and she's about to find out what really happened - and we will too - in Part Three.
