Fear Street Part Two: 1978was not filmed at the same camp shown inFriday the 13th Part VIafter all. This month, Netflix debuted their all-newFear Streetmovie trilogy based on the book series of the same name by R.L. Stine. The second installment,Fear Street Part Two: 1978, centers on a group of teenagers at summer camp coming together to survive a killing spree.
Given the summer camp setting, the horror movie naturally appears to pay homage toFriday the 13thand similar slasher movies of the 70s and 80s. Rumors have since emerged that the connections even went so far as to share a filming location with aFriday the 13thmovie. Earlier this week, the Netflix Film account on Twitter posted a behind-the-scenes “fact” about the secondFear Street. According to the streamer,Fear Street Part Two: 1978was shot at the very same summer camp shown inFriday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.
As exciting as this connection seems to be, it’s unfortunately not quite accurate. Horror documentarianSean Clark(Horror’s Hallowed Grounds), who’s known for visiting the actual filming locations seen in various horror movies, took to YouTube to debunk the now-viral rumor after it had been picked up by various publications. In the video, Clark theorizes that someone on the Netflix team must have misinterpreted a fan-made rumor as fact, as the two movies were not filmed in the same location.
It was easy for Clark to notice the problem with Netflix’s claim, as the real shooting locations of both movies are still fresh on his mind. TheFriday the 13thsequelJason Liveswas shot at Camp Daniel Morgan at Hard Labor Creek State Park in Rutledge, Georgia. Clark was recently there filming the locations for hisHorror’s Hallowed Groundsseries for aFriday the 13th-themed episode to drop on August 13. The 1980s comedyLittle Darlingswas also mostly filmed at the same camp, and Clark used some of the footage for aHollywood’s Hallowed Groundsvideo about that movie as well.
Those two movies might have shared a filming location, but where does theFear Streetsituation come into the picture? As Clark says in his debunking video, parts ofLittle Darlingswere filmed at Camp Rutledge, a neighboring camp around 20-25 minutes away, andthiswas whereFear Street Part Two: 1978was primarily filmed. In other words, the secondFear Streethas much more in common withLittle DarlingsthanJason Livesas far as sharing shooting locations.
In the interest of being thorough, Clark was able to find a brief snippet shown inFear Street Part Two: 1978that appears to be actually from Camp Daniel Morgan. One quick shot shows a teenage boy hopping off the deck into the creek, and this appears to be the only link between theFear Streetsequel andJason Lives. Technically this means there may be a second or two of footage from theJason Livescamp shown in the movie, though Clark feels that the Netflix tweet is misleading, as it suggests thatFear Street’s Camp Nightwing andJason Lives' Camp Forest Green are the same campground.
“Is [the dock shot] enough to make a whole story out of it and say that the film was shot at the camp fromFriday the 13th Part VI? No,” Clark explains, using Google Earth imagery to show just how far away the two camps are from one another.
Clark adds: “As a huge filming locations nerd, I had to get the correct information out there for the people, because if you’re a fan of this movie and you went all the way out to Camp Daniel Morgan looking for Camp Nightwing, you’d be sorely disappointed. It’s at Camp Rutledge. So, I hope this helps somebody out.”
The good news here is that you can still visit both of these filming locations with a fairly short drive separating the two of them. It’s just better for fans to know what they’re looking for going in, and when it comes to the accuracy of filming locations, there’s no bigger expert than Sean Clark. You can keep up with his visits to various filming locations for different movies by visitingMalfuncsean on YouTube.
