Fright Night Part 2 (1988)

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nTitle: Fright Night Part 2 (1988)

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nDirector: Tommy Lee Wallace

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nCast: Roddy McDowall, William Ragsdale, Traci Lind, JulienCarmen, Jon Gries, Brian Thompson

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nThe very last minutes of Fright Night (1985) consist of thenclose up of a dark, lightless window. Now the window is dark because Charlienand Peter Vincent killed the vampire that used to live there, so the house isnnow empty; or is it? Suddenly we hear Evil Ed’s signature laughter echoing throughnthe darkness and two red eyes light up the dark room and boom, the credits roll,nthe movie is over and you’re left wanting more! Ending the film this way was ansmart move from Tom Holland, the director behind the ultra successful 80’snvampire flick. In this way, Holland left the window open (so to speak!) fornfuture films. Unfortunately, Tom Holland never returned because he went on to directnChild’s Play (1988) and since he took Chris Sarandon to star on that one, well,nthat’s why Jerry Dandridge never returned for a Fright Night sequel either. Butnfans of Fright Night clamored for a sequel! I wanted to see more of Evil Ed! Inwanted to see Charlie and Peter killing more vampires! So what happened? Well,nFright Night Part 2 ended up getting made eventually, but there was no Evil Ednanywhere in sight! The character that left us wanting more was not on thensequel! Why not? The answer to that question is that actor Stephen Geoffrey’sndeclined to star on Fright Night Part 2 because he decided to be a part of 976-EVIL (1988) instead; can’t say I blame him. Making 976-EVIL offered him thenopportunity to work alongside legendary horror icon Robert Englund, a.k.anFreddy Krueger himself!  

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nSo anyhow, for whatever the reason, this second film wasn’tnproduced by Columbia Pictures; instead Live Entertainment stepped in as thenproducers of this flick. Now this was a company that was run by Jose Menendez,na man who was famously shot gunned to death by his own two sons! So thatnanswers the question as to why there’s was no Fright Night part 3! And believenit or not, there was going to be a Fright Night part 3, unfortunately, thenmurders happened and so Fright Night Part 2 ended up being the last film thatnMenendez and Live Entertainment ever produced! So this sequel has a tragic talenbehind it, it was the last nail on Live Entertainments coffin. But puttingnaside this tragic tale, did Fright Night Part 2 end up being a worthy sequel tonthe original? What I mean is, the first film is such a nearly perfect spookynmovie, with so many awesome moments. Such memorable characters, such a coolnvillain, such great atmosphere, could this sequel equal or surpass thenoriginals awesomeness? Well, I’d say that no, it didn’t surpass, but it isn’t anbad sequel either.  It is a lesser filmnin some ways, but at least it didn’t disappoint. So what went wrong and whatnwent right with this one?
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nWell, for me one of the things that went absolutely rightnfor me with this one is the fact that it picks up right where the first one leftnoff. We pick up with Charlie trying to cope with the events of the first filmnby going to the shrink; who by the way manages to convince Charlie thatneverything that happened in the first film was the product of massnhallucination. Basically, according to his shrink Peter and Charlie  battling the forces of evil was all a figmentnof Charlie’s over active imagination. He’d seen too many horror movies! So anyhow,nCharlie is basically burying everything that happened to him somewhere in hisnsubconscious, he wants to pretend that none of it ever happened. Unfortunately,nreality has other plans for Charlie. Jerry Dandridge was a 1,000 year old vampirenand he had a sister! And she’s here to exact her revenge! And Charlie and Peternare on her list! But her revenge is systematic, she has a plan. Can Charlie andnPeter conquer their fears and face the forces of evil ones again?

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nSo yeah, that’s the premise for the sequel in a nutshell.nThe big problem for me with this sequel is that it basically repeats the firstnmovie step by step. Sure it has a couple of new elements here and there, likenfor example Charlie is now a college student and he has a new girlfriend, but Inthink that’s about as far as the new elements go. Now here’s were this movienturns into a Xerox copy of the first: Charlie is still trying to make out withnhis girlfriend, and for some reason, same as in the first film, the girl doesn’tnwant to go “all the way”. I’m like, what’s going on with Charlie? Why don’tngirls want to make out with him on both films? Then, we have the same situationnof Charlie trying to convince Peter Vincent that vampires are roaming the neighborhoodnonce again. A vampire even repeats  “welcomento Fright Night”; one of the most recognized lines from the first film! But fearnnot my dear reader! Thankfully, along with these familiar elements we also getngroovy new stuff like Julie Carmen playing Regine; the vampire with anvengeance. She’s beautiful, she’s sexy and she’s Jerry Dandridge’s sister! Awesomencasting choice right there, whenever she’s on screen she eats it up. Ditto fornthe rest of the vampire crew that tags along with her, I especially enjoyed JonnGries performance as a werewolf/vampire/biker dude. This is the second timenthat Gries has played a werewolf, he also played one in The Monster Squad (1987).nBy the way, the make-up effects work is excellent on this one, the vampiresnlook especially vicious and their demises are pretty creative which is always anhighlight on any vampire movie.

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nIn conclusion, I’d say that Fright Night Part 2 can benrepetitive at times, but quite inventive at others. If you love the firstnFright Night as much as I do, you will definitely feel like you’re visiting oldnfriends, Peter and Charlie continue having that father son/good friends type ofnrelationship which is the core of these movies. Now, if you still thirst fornmore Evil Ed, than you should do what I did: go on the internet and buy thenFright Night comic book series that was printed way back in the 90’s by a comicnbook company called Now Comics. Yeah, that’s right, Fright Night had its ownncomic book series and it lasted for something like thirty issues.  The first few issues are actually reallyngood. The first two issues are an adaptation of the first film, and from thenthird issue on its Charlie and Peter’s adventures battling the forces of evil “wherevernthey may be!” You’ll be treated to Charlie and Peter battling everything from vampiresnand aliens to whatever the heck writers and artists could come up with for eachnissue. The series felt at times like a homage to the old EC Comics like Talesnfrom the Crypt, with a different horror story in every issue. But one of thenstory arcs was all about “The Return of Evil Ed” and focused on how Evil Ed hadnsurvived the events of the first film and opened up a night club and ended upnbeing a DJ! Eventually, Evil Ed finds a way to stumble into Charlie and Peter! Itnwas a pretty cool series, I own it and cherish it, if any of you guys out therenlove Fright Night as much as I do, then do yourselves a favor and get thisnentire series. They even went and did a comic book adaptation of Fright NightnPart 2! It was a cool way to see these characters live on long after thencredits for Fright Night Part 2 rolled.

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nRating: 3 out of 5   
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