Title: Fright Night Part 2 (1988)
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Cast: Roddy McDowall, William Ragsdale, Traci Lind, Julie
Carmen, Jon Gries, Brian Thompson
The very last minutes of Fright Night (1985) consist of the
close up of a dark, lightless window. Now the window is dark because Charlie
and Peter Vincent killed the vampire that used to live there, so the house is
now empty; or is it? Suddenly we hear Evil Ed’s signature laughter echoing through
the darkness and two red eyes light up the dark room and boom, the credits roll,
the movie is over and you’re left wanting more! Ending the film this way was a
smart move from Tom Holland, the director behind the ultra successful 80’s
vampire flick. In this way, Holland left the window open (so to speak!) for
future films. Unfortunately, Tom Holland never returned because he went on to direct
Child’s Play (1988) and since he took Chris Sarandon to star on that one, well,
that’s why Jerry Dandridge never returned for a Fright Night sequel either. But
fans of Fright Night clamored for a sequel! I wanted to see more of Evil Ed! I
wanted to see Charlie and Peter killing more vampires! So what happened? Well,
Fright Night Part 2 ended up getting made eventually, but there was no Evil Ed
anywhere in sight! The character that left us wanting more was not on the
sequel! Why not? The answer to that question is that actor Stephen Geoffrey’s
declined 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 the
opportunity to work alongside legendary horror icon Robert Englund, a.k.a
Freddy Krueger himself!
So anyhow, for whatever the reason, this second film wasn’t
produced by Columbia Pictures; instead Live Entertainment stepped in as the
producers of this flick. Now this was a company that was run by Jose Menendez,
a man who was famously shot gunned to death by his own two sons! So that
answers the question as to why there’s was no Fright Night part 3! And believe
it or not, there was going to be a Fright Night part 3, unfortunately, the
murders happened and so Fright Night Part 2 ended up being the last film that
Menendez and Live Entertainment ever produced! So this sequel has a tragic tale
behind it, it was the last nail on Live Entertainments coffin. But putting
aside this tragic tale, did Fright Night Part 2 end up being a worthy sequel to
the original? What I mean is, the first film is such a nearly perfect spooky
movie, with so many awesome moments. Such memorable characters, such a cool
villain, such great atmosphere, could this sequel equal or surpass the
originals awesomeness? Well, I’d say that no, it didn’t surpass, but it isn’t a
bad sequel either. It is a lesser film
in some ways, but at least it didn’t disappoint. So what went wrong and what
went right with this one?
Well, for me one of the things that went absolutely right
for me with this one is the fact that it picks up right where the first one left
off. We pick up with Charlie trying to cope with the events of the first film
by going to the shrink; who by the way manages to convince Charlie that
everything that happened in the first film was the product of mass
hallucination. Basically, according to his shrink Peter and Charlie battling the forces of evil was all a figment
of Charlie’s over active imagination. He’d seen too many horror movies! So anyhow,
Charlie is basically burying everything that happened to him somewhere in his
subconscious, he wants to pretend that none of it ever happened. Unfortunately,
reality has other plans for Charlie. Jerry Dandridge was a 1,000 year old vampire
and he had a sister! And she’s here to exact her revenge! And Charlie and Peter
are on her list! But her revenge is systematic, she has a plan. Can Charlie and
Peter conquer their fears and face the forces of evil ones again?
So yeah, that’s the premise for the sequel in a nutshell.
The big problem for me with this sequel is that it basically repeats the first
movie step by step. Sure it has a couple of new elements here and there, like
for example Charlie is now a college student and he has a new girlfriend, but I
think that’s about as far as the new elements go. Now here’s were this movie
turns into a Xerox copy of the first: Charlie is still trying to make out with
his girlfriend, and for some reason, same as in the first film, the girl doesn’t
want to go “all the way”. I’m like, what’s going on with Charlie? Why don’t
girls want to make out with him on both films? Then, we have the same situation
of Charlie trying to convince Peter Vincent that vampires are roaming the neighborhood
once again. A vampire even repeats “welcome
to Fright Night”; one of the most recognized lines from the first film! But fear
not my dear reader! Thankfully, along with these familiar elements we also get
groovy new stuff like Julie Carmen playing Regine; the vampire with a
vengeance. She’s beautiful, she’s sexy and she’s Jerry Dandridge’s sister! Awesome
casting choice right there, whenever she’s on screen she eats it up. Ditto for
the rest of the vampire crew that tags along with her, I especially enjoyed Jon
Gries performance as a werewolf/vampire/biker dude. This is the second time
that Gries has played a werewolf, he also played one in The Monster Squad (1987).
By the way, the make-up effects work is excellent on this one, the vampires
look especially vicious and their demises are pretty creative which is always a
highlight on any vampire movie.
In conclusion, I’d say that Fright Night Part 2 can be
repetitive at times, but quite inventive at others. If you love the first
Fright Night as much as I do, you will definitely feel like you’re visiting old
friends, Peter and Charlie continue having that father son/good friends type of
relationship which is the core of these movies. Now, if you still thirst for
more Evil Ed, than you should do what I did: go on the internet and buy the
Fright Night comic book series that was printed way back in the 90’s by a comic
book company called Now Comics. Yeah, that’s right, Fright Night had its own
comic book series and it lasted for something like thirty issues. The first few issues are actually really
good. The first two issues are an adaptation of the first film, and from the
third issue on its Charlie and Peter’s adventures battling the forces of evil “wherever
they may be!” You’ll be treated to Charlie and Peter battling everything from vampires
and aliens to whatever the heck writers and artists could come up with for each
issue. The series felt at times like a homage to the old EC Comics like Tales
from the Crypt, with a different horror story in every issue. But one of the
story arcs was all about “The Return of Evil Ed” and focused on how Evil Ed had
survived the events of the first film and opened up a night club and ended up
being a DJ! Eventually, Evil Ed finds a way to stumble into Charlie and Peter! It
was a pretty cool series, I own it and cherish it, if any of you guys out there
love Fright Night as much as I do, then do yourselves a favor and get this
entire series. They even went and did a comic book adaptation of Fright Night
Part 2! It was a cool way to see these characters live on long after the
credits for Fright Night Part 2 rolled.
Rating: 3 out of 5
