Fear Street 1978: Why Doesn’t Ziggy Get Re-possessed Like Sam?

When Ziggy Berman is briefly killed at the end of Fear Street 1978 she is freed from Sarah Fier’s curse once revived, so why does Sam end up possessed by the witch after she temporarily died at the close of Fear Street 1994? Fear Street 1978 is the second installment of Netflix’s horror trilogy adapted from the novel series of the same name by R.L. Stine. A summer camp-set slasher, Fear Street 1978 is gorier and darker than its predecessor, the similarly retro Fear Street 1994.

Fear Street 1994 is a teen horror that sees its young heroes hunted by a trio of undead killers after accidentally desecrating the grave of a local witch, Sarah Fier, thought to have cursed their small-town home. By the end of the movie, all but three of the teens are dead and one is left possessed by the witch’s spirit. The closing scenes of 1994 see the movie’s heroine Deena intentionally drown her love interest, Sam, to throw the witch off their trail, only for Sam to still end up possessed by Sarah Fier.

This leads Deena and her brother to enlist the help of Ziggy Berman, the sole survivor of an earlier massacre committed by another of the witch’s targets, Tommy Slater. So beings the story of Fear Street 1978, a Stephen King-referencing slasher that transports viewers back to the eponymous year to tell Ziggy’s story. A rebellious teen, Ziggy is one of only two campers to survive Tommy’s bloody Camp Nightwing massacre – although only on a technicality. Ziggy does die briefly, but is revived by fellow camper Nick Goode and stays alive long enough to see the action of Fear Street 1994. So, why was Sam possessed by Fier after dying temporarily while Ziggy didn’t? There are two reasonable answers available here, but only one is depicted in Fear Street 1978 (with the other being a fan theory). Firstly, Ziggy is killed by one of Sarah Fier’s acolytes, the murderous milkman, while Sam is killed by her girlfriend Deena and not by Ruby Lane, Skull Mask, Tommy Slater, or any other disciple of Sarah Fier.

One of Fear Street 1994’s lingering unanswered questions was why Sarah Fier possessed Sam, or Ryan Torres before her and Tommy Slater before him, with the witch’s modus operandi being a mystery so far. What is clear, however, is that the witch did not possess Ziggy herself in Fear Street 1978, but rather Tommy. Thus, when Ziggy is killed by one of the witch’s killers, Fier may consider her blood debt paid. In contrast, Deena’s clever workaround that avoids Sam being killed by one of the witch’s slashers – by killing Sam herself – may have just avoided the inevitable in Fear Street 1994, as the witch may not consider her beef with Sam over until her minions get to kill the girl.

Another fan theory notes that Ziggy may well have made a deal with the witch, and her survival could be predicated on working with Sarah Fier to avenge her death. However, some of Fear Street’s most ferocious villains brutally killed Ziggy’s sister, so revealing she is working with the antagonist may be a bridge too far. After all, the ending of Fear Street 1978 saw both Ziggy’s sister and Ziggy herself brutally butchered by the witch’s followers, meaning the sequel’s heroine is unlikely to make a deal with the villain.

About The Author

Cathal Gunning
(1431 Articles Published)

Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies and TV online since 2020. His obsessions include The Simpsons, Stephen King, the Scream series, and the horror genre in general. He has spent more time thinking about Stranger Things than the writers of Stranger Things, and he has never seen a Star War.

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