I adore the original Fright Night from 1985. Heck, I'd even go so far as to call it my favorite vampire flick of the 1980s, followed by Near Dark and The Monster Squad (it counts dang it). I'll even defend the often-thrashed remake from 2011, but I think that's mostly because of its very stellar cast. And yet, I had never bothered to watch the sequel to Tom Holland's o.g. picture, mostly due to bad word of mouth from a majority of older horror movie critics. But at this point in my life, there are very few movies that I'll say 'no' to, so the time was right to finally sit down and hope that this follow-up (directed this time around by Tommy Lee Wallace of Halloween III and Stephen King's It fame) wouldn't tarnish my memory and adoration for that piece.
My apologies to those of you reading this, because spoilers are unavoidable when describing Fright Night Part 2. Several years have passed since teenager Charlie Brewster and TV host Peter Vincent defeated the vampire Jerry Dandridge, and while the latter has returned to his late night hosting duties, the former has undergone extensive psychotherapy and now believes that the entire ordeal was exaggerated. Dandridge wasn't an undead bloodsucker, but merely a mass murderer with delusions of grandeur. In the meantime, Charlie has entered college and even has a new girlfriend named Alex. Things seem to be going swimmingly, until while visiting Peter one evening, he notices several large crates being loaded from a truck into the house next door. Catching only a glance of these new neighbors, Charlie finds himself instantly drawn to the beautiful Regine. It doesn't long at all for familiar events to start unfolding, which unlocks Charlie's repressed memories and the belief that these new faces may be a little stranger than anyone would suspect, and that Regine in particular has a connection to our two protagonists.
If some of those plot details sound eerily similar to the events in the first Fright Night, it's because they absolutely are. Much of Fright Night Part 2's story unfolds the exact same way as its predecessor did, though in some scenes the roles are reversed. Peter having to convince Charlie that vampiric beings are still afoot is quite amusing (Roddy McDowall is yet again one of the highlights of these pictures), and seeing the main character's girlfriend not just be a damsel in distress this time around is refreshing. Julie Carmen's Regine and her cohorts (including Brian Thompson of Mortal Kombat: Annhilation fame as a bug-eating connoisseur) are certainly more charismatic and deliberately comedic than Jerry ever was, and Carmen in particular oozes pure sex appeal like very few can. Still, they never feel very menacing or dangerous like the other Dandridge did (I did warn you about spoilers, didn't I?), and that's kind of a downer. The aforementioned Charlie also feels like he's been written to be a bit more irritating this time around as well, and there were several moments where I felt like just reaching through the television and slapping him. Thankfully the effects work shines enough to make you forget about some of these weaker character moments, and the final fight features some nice makeup work. Heck even if this didn't bare the name of "Fright Night" it might warrant a serious recommendation from practical effects fanatics.
Is Fright Night Part 2 deserving of a hearty recommendation? I say sure. I wasn't wowed by the product as a whole, but if you can manage to disconnect yourself a bit and realize that you probably aren't getting a rare case of something ala A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, then you'll probably enjoy the flick a lot more. Also, it's kind of a shame that the Menendez Brothers essentially stopped the possibility of a third film being released (no, seriously!), so for now we're stuck with just these two entertaining, blood-filled romps. Fright Night Part 2 can be streamed on YouTube, which is essentially the best way to view it at this point unless you're willing to shill out a LOT of money for the DVD or wait an inevitable Blu-Ray release in the states.
Then again, I'd be willing to spend a pretty penny or two for a Blu-Ray quality version of this scene.
Tomorrow, it's time for another "bump-y" tradition of this yearly marathon!
No comments:
Post a Comment