Alright, boys and girls… this one got me all excited. It’s no secret I love the Friday the 13th movies (yes, even the crappy ones.) So, when I saw the trailer for the R.L Stine inspired Fear Street event on Netflix and saw glimpses of 1978, I immediately saw the parallels to the Friday the 13th film series.
A summer camp with unlucky campers and camp counselors and an axe-wielding killer with a burlap sack on his head; I knew exactly what kind of movie this was going to be. A good old retro slasher!
It had everything, from the mean girl, the impure side characters who die badly, and the pure-hearted final girl. Though, there was some surprise rule-breaking here and there. This installation was full of easter eggs.
The entire trilogy of Fear Street was one big celebration of horror pop culture and they went to town with this one, much like the killer did to the campers. There were even some Stephan King references!
Brutality
While I’m normally on Jason Voorhees’ side in the Friday the 13th films due to the dark slapstick humour approach with all of the creative ways Jason dispatches his victims. It always makes it curious to see how the next person is killed. That wasn’t the case here.
The Camp Nightwing killer was utterly brutal and I had a sense of fear when he appeared on the screen. Unlike Jason from the older films, this killer takes more inspiration from the modern 2009 Friday the 13th film with his quick sprints and aggression.
This is one slasher I wouldn’t want to tango with. The way the camera follows his axe as he chops down a door also just added to the sheer rage that this character embodies.
Out of all of the Fear Street movies, this one is my favourites.
Though things got a little freaky in the final instalment as expected with a name like Fear Street Part 3: 1666.
Chi-chi-chi-ah-ah-ah
