Runtime: 104 minutes
Directed by: Tommy Lee Wallace
Starring: William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall, Traci Lind, Julie Carmen, Jon Gries
From: The Vista Organization
This featured more roller skating than what I was expecting…
Way back in early 2018 I reviewed the original Fright Night with the intention of soon thereafter seeing this movie, which for only a few days was available in HD widescreen on Prime. It vanished as soon as it appeared, which rather irked me. The reasons why it only barely got released theatrically then there’s in essence been no release past the VHS days... I've only heard an explanation for the former. As the story goes, the “barely got released” thing is due to the fact the person in charge of that was Jose Menendez… yes, the guy who was murdered alongside his wife by his sons Lyle and Erik in a case still famous today.
While Part 2 is most certainly uneven, has Charley Brewster as a WEENIE STAND (i.e. a rube who’s also a jerk; I’m using the film’s nomenclature here) and some dumb moments, it’s still fine so its treatment is unfortunate. If you’re wondering how I saw this, a YouTube upload has flown under the radar for months… I had to turn the sound up but the widescreen print is in acceptable quality & is assumed to be from a cable airing.
As just referenced, the story is not the movie’s strong suit; I groaned a few times yet there was enough where I can’t say this was bad. Three years after the events of the OG picture, Charley has completed therapy, being convinced Jerry Dandridge was just a serial killer and not a vampire. Guess who-or rather, what-shows up… it definitely messes w/ the pursual of strengthening the relationship with his cute blonde girlfriend. The fact that the villain is an alluring lady named Regine is also a problem for a person’s that a typical horny college student.
For all the movie’s faults, at least it has some
strong moments, solid direction from veteran Tommy Lee Wallace, nice
performances from the two returning leads along with Traci Lind as the
girlfriend and Julie Carmen as The Big Bad, & there are some WTF
moments-especially at a bowling alley-which provided the biggest laughs.
Yeah, this isn’t as funny as the original either… there is no one quite
like Evil Ed this time. Thankfully Brad Fiedel also returns, supplying a
solid synth score.
After what happened almost five years ago, it was nice to finally close this loop last night.
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