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Fright Night Part 2 (1988)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
9/20
9/20:
William Ragsdale and Roddy McDowell are back for the sequel to
Fright Night.
But the true heart of the show was Chris Sarandon. Without him, Fright Night Part 2 doesn't have much
going for itself. I didn't care about Charley or Peter Vincent in the other film, so why should I attempt to
this time around?
Instead of substantive content, what I see is filler. There are a lot of random things happening, but they're
of no importance. At the same time, none of the characters is interesting enough to catch my eye. Some of them
try to be funny but aren't.
It's weird to see Jonathan Gries as the Wolfman again after doing it in
The Monster Squad. Then again, how does he fit into the equation of
vampirism? The black female suddenly melts to death, but for what reason? Earlier, she was moving around on
roller skates!
You may think Brian Thompson ate the bug, but really, he didn't. He just threw it outside of his mouth through
some angle trick. Either way, Brian Thompson should be put to shame by watching what Nicolas Cage did with a
cockroach in Vampire's Kiss. Notice the girl using the scam speed reading
technique of the Evelyn Wood school. I guarantee you she achieved roughly 5% comprehension of the book
with most of it taken from the book jacket or word of mouth.
Hence, Tommy Lee Wallace is what I call a schlock director. It's clear he learned nothing useful
from John Carpenter in terms of how to make a genuinely good horror picture. Unsurprisingly,
Fright Night Part 2 is the final Hollywood directorial work of his career.
All in all, the Menéndez killings had nothing to do with the downfall of Fright Night Part 2 because,
quite frankly, it sucks.