FRIGHT NIGHT PART 2 (1988)

FRIGHT NIGHT PART 2 (1988)

Tagline: It's waiting outside and it can sense your fear. No nightmare will prepare you for it!

(Horror, Thriller, Comedy) [R]

Communion wafers? The stuff you get from the church? Am I going to hell for this?

In this one, we have the return of both vampire killer and FRIGHT NIGHT show host Peter Vincent and Charlie Brewster. This time they face off against several vampires and some crazy creatures that probably aren’t vampires really who are led by Regine Dandridge. Can Charlie fight vampires with Peter and still retain his relationship with his girlfriend Alex who really just wants to get her degree?

First off, I think this one is actually better than the original. That is probably because it focuses far more on Charlie and the very likable Alex who isn’t afraid to take matters into her own hands. Peter is still awesomely reluctant, but when the chips are down, he will still spray your face with Holy Water at any time. This movie doesn’t feel quite as “small world” as the original. I liked Peter in the first one, but in this one, he is even more likable, and in spite of my many frustrations with Charlie, it’s at least understandable he is under the spell of Regine in a lot of this film. All this adds to a more coherent plotline and we even get some fun humor thrown in from time to time. 

This movie also has some great effects and the nutty vampire kills are pretty fantastic.  The score is better than in the first one, but we don’t really have as many great 80s music tracks as I would have hoped for. So this movie and the first one have iffy soundtracks in common. I do love the fact that they once again included the wildly creepy voice squealing “fright night” 2 or 3 times during the movie. I have no idea why, but that just screams 80’s horror and reminds me of the late-night cheese I used to watch as a growing-up.

Acting-wise this one is solid. I don’t want to say that Julie Carmen (who plays Regine) blew me away in this, but she is a really diverse actress who has been around quite some time. Roddy McDowall is brilliant as Peter Vincent and he really did seem to embrace the character more this time around. Jon Gries plays a werewolf vampire sort of mix in this movie. I say vampire even though he looks more like a werewolf because one of the other vampires keeps asking him to bite Alex’s neck. He never says he’s not a vampire. Typically werewolves could bite their victims anywhere. He is best known for NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, and in both films plays a bit of a creeper. William Ragsdale plays Charlie and he is once again very solid in this. Traci Lind plays Alex and is really good in this. She is best known for movies like CLASS OF 1999 and MY BOYFRIEND’S BACK. Unlike the four previously mentioned actors, she seems to have stopped doing films in 1997. 

Tidbit – This is one of the few movies that ever does a super deep dive into vampire lore. According to vampire lore, five plants can bug the crap out of vampires. These include garlic, wolfsbane, hemlock, wormwood, and wild roses. I mention this in case at least one scene caught you off guard. 

Overall this is a pretty interesting film. I have to give it a solid 5 out of 7. It is one of the better 80’s horror flicks, but sadly it’s extremely difficult to get ahold of a physical copy in English. If you do find one put that in the comments I definitely wouldn’t mind owning a reasonably priced physical copy. I was able to find this one on YouTube, but I imagine it won’t stay up forever.

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