Fear Street: 1978

Leigh Janiak directed all three parts but shot this middle one last, so the trilogy’s ending had already been shot before she got here. Alex Ross Perry had been set for the second film in January 2019 and stepped down by March, at which point all three went to Janiak. Camp Nightwing was shot at Hard Labor Creek State Park in Rutledge, Georgia, the same park where Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives pitched its camp in 1986; Netflix’s own film account pointed out the overlap. Janiak describes the picture as working on two levels, a horror Goonies running underground and a Friday the 13th camp world above it, with Halloween, the Friday the 13th films and Nightmare on Elm Street named as her reference points. The trilogy was made for 20th Century Fox as a theatrical run spaced a month apart. The pandemic and Disney’s purchase of Fox redirected it: Chernin moved distribution to Netflix and the parts arrived a week apart instead. Janiak co-wrote this one with Zak Olkewicz. A good fit if you want the chase above ground and the expedition below it kept in two different keys rather than blended into one. Not for anyone planning to start here, because the curse picks up precisely where the first part set it down.