Netflix's trilogy of Fear Street movies, based on the collection of spooky tales by R.L. Stine, has kicked off with Fear Street Part 1: 1994. Set in the cursed town of Shadyside, 1994 sees a group of teens trying to survive a terror-filled night as they're pursued by undead killers in the thrall of a vengeful 17th century witch. The cliffhanger ending sets up the continuation of the story in Fear Street Part 2: 1978, and along the way there are plenty of other clues about the Camp Nightwing massacre.
According to the lore of Fear Street, Shadyside's nightmare began when a witch called Sarah Fier was lynched by the townspeople in 1666. Her hand was cut off before her death and is still hidden somewhere in the town, allowing her to keep Shadyside in her deadly grasp. Every decade or so, a Shadysider becomes possessed by the spirit of Sarah Fier and goes on a brutal killing spree, and the town has earned a reputation as one of the murder capitals of United States. To make matters worse, the nearby town of Sunnyvale is wealthy and prosperous, and Sunnyvalers look down their noses at their Shadyside neighbors.
Before the Skull Mask Killer's killing spree at the local mall, the last massacre in Shadyside was the work of an axe murderer at Camp Nightwing. Fear Street Part 2: 1978 will be an homage to 1970s slashers like Friday the 13th and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and will star Stranger Things' Sadie Sink. Here's how Fear Street Part 1: 1994 sets up the sequel.
Camp Nightwing's Body Count
The opening credits sequence of Fear Street Part 1: 1994 features newspaper cuttings that tell the bloody history of Shadyside, and offer some insight into what to expect from the horrors of Camp Nightwing. One headline reveals that 12 people were killed in the Camp Nightwing massacre, and that only one Shadyside teen survived. This is C. Berman, played as an adult by Gillian Jacobs, whose survival gave Deena and her friends the clue they needed to save Sam from Sarah Fier's undead killers. It's currently unclear whether Jacobs' survivor is Cindy Berman (the character played by Sink) or her sister, Ziggy Berman (played by Emily Rudd). However, the trailer for Fear Street Part 2: 1978 reveals that only one of the Berman sisters will survive the Camp Nightwing Massacre. The movie will also feature a family connection to Fear Street Part 1; when the teens are discussing the summer camp murders, Kate says that her mom's sister was among the teens at the camp and that the massacre messed up her family for a long time.
Camp Nightwing's Location
Another interesting detail from Fear Street Part 1's opening credits is that the mall where the opening murders take place was built on the site of Camp Nightwing by the family of Nick Goode, the local sheriff. Fear Street Part 3: 1666 will reveal that the Goode family has been in Shadyside since the hanging of Sarah Fier, and the family may even be responsible for the witch's undying wrath. Regardless, it appears that demolishing the summer camp didn't do much to dissuade the witch from taking more lives. During the discussion of what to do with Sarah Fier's bones, Fear Street references the 1982 horror movie Poltergeist, in which a family learns that their haunted house was built on the site of an old cemetery - and the bodies were never moved. With at least two massacres happening in the same place, it appears that the site of Camp Nightwing and Shadyside Mall is a focal point for Sarah Fier's curse.
The Camp Nightwing Killer
The sack-masked axe murderer of Fear Street Part 2: 1978 makes his first appearance in Fear Street Part 1, as one of three former servants of Sarah Fier who return from the grave to hunt down Sam. It's actually possible to spot which Fear Street Part 2 character will become the axe murderer in the trailer for the sequel (keep an eye out for a character wearing the killer's unique yellow shirt). In addition to the axe murderer, Fear Street Part 2 may also bring back more undead killers from previous massacres, such as the housewife-murdering milkman Harry Rooker, the deformed boy Billy Barker, and the girl-gutting Grifter.
C. Berman's Escape
C. Berman is the sole Shadyside survivor of the Camp Nightwing massacre, and her survival provides a major clue to getting rid of the undead killers of Shadyside (at least temporarily). According to the newspaper clipping that Deena and Sam read, C. Berman was found in the woods and her heart had stopped, but her life was saved when a local boy performed CPR and revived her. Though she may have gotten out of the camp alive, it doesn't look like C. Berman had an easy life after the massacre. In her phone call to Deena at the end of Fear Street Part 1: 1994, C. Berman says "it's not over. It's never over." Rather than getting a second chance, C. Berman appears to have spent the last 16 years being haunted by Sarah Fier. But while C. Berman was the only Shadysider who survived the Camp Nightwing massacre, there was at least one other survivor.
What Sheriff Nick Goode Knows
Sheriff Nick Goode was one of the teens who attended Camp Nightwing in 1978, and a younger version of the character will appear in Fear Street Part 2, played by Ted Sutherland. The trailer for the sequel shows that Nick and Cindy Berman appear to be dating, which would be something of a Romeo and Juliet romance given the animosity between Shadyside and Sunnyvale. Nick doesn't seem to be particularly surprised by the latest murders in Shadyside, and after discovering the bloody scene in the hospital he visits C. Berman's house and slips a note under her door saying "it's happening again." It seems likely that Nick is the "local boy" referenced in the newspaper clipping, who found C. Berman in the woods and gave her CPR. Clearly, Sheriff Goode knows more than he's letting on.
