Tommy Lee Wallace’s ‘FRIGHT NIGHT: PART 2’ – 35th Anniversary Retro Review

Fright Night Part 2 is one of those instant cult status movies. After all these years, the DVD version is sold out and really expensive if you can find it. It’s a sad situation when we just let movies like this die off. In this article, we will revive Fright Night Part 2, which delivered better than the series’ first film.

Let’s walk through and reivew a movie that should have been a hit and a staple in the horror genre, before we made things modern, with haunted houses and someone following you in the dark, ready to pull off jump scares. Things have gotten lazy lately. Predictable, and repetitive. Is there no hope for for the future? At least we can enjoy the past.

Synopsis

After 3 years, CharleyBrewster (William Ragsdale, Fright Night 1985) puts the past behind him and refuses to admit there were vampires at all after psychotherapy. He thought that the vampires he faced were just imaginary. Charley cuts ties with Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall, Cleopatra, 1963)

Charley is soon entranced by an eccentric actress named Regine Dandridge (Julie Carmen, In The Mouth Of Madness, 1994) who comes to town. He then teams up with Peter Vincent again to destroy the vampires, however, will he survive long enough to see victory?

My Humble Opinion

I will admit that I’m not really into vampire movies outside of Bela Lugosi’s representation of Dracula. As much horror as I watch, vampires rarely do the trick for me. However, with a cheesy storyline and modern vampires (kind of), Fright Night Part 2 always found a way to keep my attention. I was happy to come back to review this movie because it got me remembering how much I truly enjoyed it. Like most movies, including some of my favorites, this one fell down a hole for a while.

Maybe it’s the setting and the spookiness of this movie. It hints at older vampire movies from a feral generation. It’s not the best acting, but what was back then? Of course, that’s what makes movies like this fun. I can’t really say anything bad about this movie. It marked the end of the greatest years of my life. I was really into horror at a young age, so of course I have seen it more than a few times. I can say that for a lot of movies that should be resurrected in the public’s eye.

In The End

The original Fright Night movies are top notch and you can’t relive those times. Part 2 fits perfectly into anyone’s list of “under the radar” films. It had so much potential, and a good turnout in theaters, however, it fell into cultural oblivion. However, it feels like it is slowly climbing the ladder toward a revival so I can’t complain, even if it is a very short ladder. I will be here cheering it on. 

I enjoy movies like Fright Night 2 more than I do modern movies. It fits in well with the rest of my tastes. Even though I am still not impressed by vampire films overall, Fright Night Part 2 delivered some goofy spots while also getting serious, which combines to pull you right in just out of curiosity.

I am here to say, give it one try. Although physical copies are long gone, you can find the full film streaming on YouTube.