Three years after the dispatching of Jerry Dandridge, a rehabilitated Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) no longer believes in vampires and has distanced himself from Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall). But, a new vampiress named Regine (Julie Carmen) enters, with something special in mind to restore his faith.
This follow-up to 1985’s Fright Night is nothing on the original, but if watched on its own, is an okay vampire film. It tries to continue the themes set by the original, but executes them at a very basic level. A lot of that is to be blamed on the screenplay, but as much can be placed on the somewhat flat direction from Tommy Lee Wallace. Like most of his films, I found Fright Night Part II to have some style, but just not enough to stand out. I think the film does a pretty good job of re-introducing Charley and Peter quickly and getting back into the story; but it soon loses its way.
With Amanda Bearse now on Married With Children, Charley needed a new girlfriend. She comes in the form of Tracy Lin (d)’s Alex. I didn’t completely buy the romance between them, due to the film going out of its way to show that they seemingly have no common interests and spend a lot of time arguing as a result. How did these two ever get together? While it could be a case of opposites attracting, her major is Psychology, and it comes across more to me like she’s dating Charley initially as a curiosity; given his background.
That’s not very endearing and hard for me to invest in. But, it halfway works due to the performances. I thought Lind did a good job with the role, and seemed credible enough. Ragsdale turns in a passable performance, slightly hindered by the story calling for Charley to be a bit more hip and loose than he was in the original. It felt more like he was putting up a front, since Ragsdale has several naturally nerdy characteristics.
While Jerry had only a single familiar at his side, Regine has a trio of allies. Belle (Russell Clark), Louie (Jon Gries), and Bozworth (Brian Thompson). With the exception of Louie, I felt these characters were a bit thin and one note; though Belle has one pretty cool scene. I found myself enjoying Louie’s hapless pursuit of Alex, and was almost routing for him in a twisted way. He, for me, is no doubt the most entertaining new character in the film. He looks so sleazy and makes for some effective comic relief. I thought Julie Carmen did a good job with the seductress side of Regine, but didn’t find her very threatening. The means by which her character is tied to the Fright Night universe seemed sort of like a cheap trick that wasn't necessary.
My biggest problem with the film’s structure, lies in its second act. The amount of pointless role reversals that begin to take place around the 30-minute mark, such as people not believing in vampires, only to believe, then not believe again only minutes later, seemed like little more than stalling tactics. And the fact that Regine’s plan for Charley (which is the most interesting idea in the film, I think) is made to play second fiddle to all the meandering, makes the middle all the more frustrating.
Almost lost in all this, is the Peter Vincent character. McDowall again puts in a nice performance, but the addition of a stronger heroine made him feel a bit like a tag along here, to me. He doesn’t have the same kind of standout role that he did in the first film, which is unfortunate. Though, he does still have a few shining moments.
With more foes to combat, the last act attempts to up the ante on the finale of the original. It doesn’t, despite the amount of effects present, but it is a fun series of sequences to watch. But, I think there may actually be one improvement in this section; Deborah Holland’s cover of Brad Fiedel’s “Come To Me”, which plays during the end credits. As you can see, I’m very mixed on the film, overall. There are things that work, but just as many that do not.
While this one does have a DVD release, it went out of print pretty quickly and can run you from $70-$90 bucks at times. It’s not worth it; considering it’s a bare bones release, the presentation is in shitty full screen format, and like Artisan’s Bride of Re-Animator DVD, the picture quality is far from pristine. Perhaps with the remake upcoming, someone will release a new, hopefully better quality version of the film on DVD.
Directed by: Tommy Lee Wallace
Starring: William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall, Tracy Lind, Julie Carmen
Released by: Artisan
This disc has no special features.
