#300 -- Fright Night Part II (1988)

Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Rating: 3.5 / 5

For a long time, I didn't even know there was a sequel to Fright Night. I saw it on TV, so I recorded it right away. But I waited a long time to actually watch it because, well...naturally, most people are a little hesitant when it comes to sequels. Plus, the description was something about Charlie believing that the events in the first movie never even happened. I was scared that I'd just be watching Charlie doing normal things and not believing in vampires. I was just being cynical, though; I should have known that something would happen to make him start believing again. Duh.

So, Charlie went to college, got a new girlfriend named Alex, and started seeing a therapist after the traumatic experience with Jerry Dandrige. The therapist had him convinced that things were not as they seemed. Charlie started believing that Jerry was just your average every day serial killer. He believed that, after having his best friend and girlfriend kidnapped by he guy, his mind created the vampire scenario. I guess, maybe, he thought a vampire would be easier to deal with than a regular serial killer. It doesn't really make sense to me, and it shouldn't have made sense to Charlie. But what can you do? Therapists can make you believe some crazy things. Anyways, Charlie is afraid to visit his old friend Peter Vincent for reasons I don't really get. It was one of two things: either he didn't want to relive what they went through, or he felt bad for Peter because he still believed in vampires. But after he had his last session with the therapist, he decided it was time to go see him, and he took Alex along for the ride. You could tell straight away that Alex was a keeper. She knew all about Charlie's story and his fear of vampires, and she helped him through it. When she met Peter, she didn't think he was crazy with all his "vampires are real!" talk. She thought he was cute, I think. When Charlie said that he loved the book "Dracula," she went to the library and read it in, like, ten minutes. Plus she was pretty hot. I really hope Charlie married that girl.

Anyways, after their visit with Peter, Charlie was hanging out in the lobby of his apartment building while Alex went to the little girl's room. In walks a group of weird looking people. Instantly, his old hesitance came back. He watched these people like a hawk until he realized that he was doing the exact same thing he did with Jerry, and he decided that he was acting crazy. As time progressed, though, he kept seeing these people, and they only became more and more suspicious. He started following them, until he finally saw two of the girls attack one of his friends. It was at this point that he went to Peter for help. They investigated, found a rational explanation (a vampire-themed party) for what he had seen, and then Charlie went back to his "vampires aren't real" mind frame. It went in an opposite direction than the first movie, as Peter ended up being the one trying to convince Charlie that there were vampires around them.

Let's talk about this "group" that I mentioned. They were a pretty colorful bunch, to say the least. One of them I can only describe as being the epitome of the '80s; complete with an over-the-top teased up hair-do, the roller blades that he never took off, and the wacky clothes. One of them I don't think was a vampire at all. He seemed to be the leader of the group, though. I call him bug-man, because he liked to eat bugs, and once he was killed a whole bunch of maggots and mill worms spilled out instead of guts. One was a werewolf. Wait, what!? A fucking werewolf? Oh yes. And he had a thing for Charlie's girlfriend, so you know that didn't end very well. The one that the movie mainly focuses on, though, was Regine. She plagued Charlie's dreams, seemed to follow him everywhere, and she was so seductive that it was a struggle for Charlie to resist her. He was a gentleman, though, and he stayed faithful to his girl. So don't worry, ladies. Charlie's not a complete ass. Anyways, Regine was holding a grudge against Charlie for something I'll let you figure out for yourself (though you can probably figure it out pretty easily). She planned on turning him into a vampire, so that she could torture him for the rest of his everlasting life.

Fright Night Part II is definitely a good movie. It's got everything the first one had: humor, Charlie panicking like a crackhead, some gnarly special effects, and of course, some evil vampires. I didn't like it quite as much as the first one, but I still thought it was great. The vampires looked a little different -- once they turned into full-on vamp form, they kind of looked like giant deformed bats. They looked awesome, but I didn't like them quite as much as their appearance in the first one. I liked Charlie's girlfriend a lot better in this one, though. Amy was kind of annoying, but Alex was wonderful. She was very supportive of Charlie, she never left his side, and when it came down to vampire-fighting, she was no scaredy cat. Oh, here's one thing that I loved about it. Regine actually stole Peter's job as host of Fright Night. Instead of sitting back and letting her steal his thunder, though, he decided to go and kill her -- while they were filming! He failed and got arrested, of course. He was screaming at the cops about vampires and how he was a vampire killer, and he was committed to the crazy farm. Ha!

Anyways, as far as sequels go, I thought this one was pretty great. No, it's not as good as the first one, but they rarely are. It seems like there are quite a lot of people who love this one just as much (if not more) than the first one, so it's really strange that I never knew about it. I really need to stay in the loop from now on. It won't happen, but a girl can dream. I'm always the last to know.