This week's movie nights involved the Fear Street series, three movies based on the teen horror books by R. Stine. In the first, some teens discover that a witch named Sarah Fier (pronounced "fear") was killed in 1666. Ever since she has cursed the town with regular bouts of economic depression and marital discord. Plus every decade or so, someone "snaps" and kills lots of people. Except this time, all of the previous killers return and chase It-Girl Sam (and everyone who has touched her blood). Then, just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, It-Girl Sam gets witch-possessed and starts snarling.
In Part 2, the surviving duo seeks out a lady who who survived a "snap" attack at a summer camp in 1978. The movie is a flashback to that day.
Two sisters are in their last year as campers: strait-laced, virginal, non-druggie, stick-in-the-mud Cindy, and rebellious rock star Ziggy. To keep them distinct, I will call them Good Girl and Wild Child.
For some reason the Wild Child draws the ire of the other campers -- they literally try to burn her to death. The response: Head Camp Counselor (Ted Sutherland) blames Wild Child, and threatens to kick her out of camp! Wouldn't you want to leave anyway, with the other campers trying to kill you?
One day the camp nurse goes beserk and attacks Tommy (McCabe Slye), Cindy's good, kind, nice, gentle, "doesn't mind if we don't do it" boyfriend. She is arrested, Tommy gets first aid, and all the adults leave. Top photo: Someone whom Google Images identifies as Mccabe Slye. If it's actually someone else, complain to Google, not to me.
Meanwhile, Good Girl catches counselor Alice having sex and doing drugs with her boyfriend, Arnie (Sam Brooks). Nice butt.
Left: a photo entitled "Sam Brooks on Twitter: Riding in a car with (mostly straight)..." Warning: it may not be the guy from the movie.
They all search for clues to the nurse's beserk spell, and end up in "the devil's mark," vast labyrinth of tunnels that lead from the woods to the latrine and finally to the mess hall. Either the witch created it herself in 1666, or it was created by her death.
Suddenly Tommy goes beserk, and kills Arnie and traps the two girls, Cindy and Alice, in the labyrinth. They spend most of the movie there, trying to find a way out, while Tommy continues his rampage, killing several of the campers (he thankfully kills kids off camera).
Future town sheriff/police chief Nick and wild child Ziggy notice the body count, and yell for everyone to gather in the mess hall, and then get on a bus and drive away. Unfortunately, it happens to be "color night,' a late-night "capture the flag" contest, and many of the kids think that the warning is a trick.
Amid all the uproar, Nick and Ziggy have time for a heart-to-heart talk and some smooching.
Left: A photo that Ted Sutherland posted to his instagram page.
Gary (Drew Scheid) gets sliced while trying to get all the campers to safety. Left: a photo that Drew Scheid posted to his instagram page.
When Ziggy and Cindy are reunited, they figure that, since Sara Fier's hand was cut off, if they reunite it with her body, she will be satisfied and leave them alone. But they are mistaken; she sends a lot of her previous serial killers, who stab both girls multiple times.
They both die, but Ziggy miraculously comes back to life when Nick administers CPR (who knew that CPR worked on stab wounds?). But ever since, she has been afraid of the witch sending her serial killers to finish the job. She is especially concerned with the hour of 7:00 pm, for some unexplained reason.
Beefcake: Some boys' chests and butts. Boys die right away or are background slasher fodder, while girls take center stage.
Left: a photo from Michael Provost's instagram. He plays Kurt, whom I don't remember.
Gay Characters: No. Deena and Sam from the first movie are lesbians, but in 1978, it's boyfriends and girlfriends all the way down.
Changing the Rules: First the killers ignore everyone but the target girl, and then they don't. First the witch is upset over her grave being disturbed, then she's upset because her hand and body are separated, and then she's just upset.
Spoiler Alert: C. Berman is Ziggy, not Cindy! I have no idea why they went through all the trouble of this psych-out. Who cares?
My Grade: B. Extra points for Sam Brook's butt.
See also: The Top 10 Hunks of Fear Street
IN "Fear Street Part 3: 1666," the lesbian characters return, but it's still mostly boys dying or evil, and girls fighting the good fight.
ReplyDeleteIt makes a big difference who C. Berman is. Cindy ends up dying. Knowing that C. Berman lives, the audience would be surprised to see Cindy dying.
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