Whilst this was marketed as a sequel to the 2011 remake, it’s more like a hybrid version of both the original Fright Night and Fright Night Part 2 as Charley, Amy and Ed (who have all been re-cast or resurrected in Ed’s case) travel abroad to study in Romania only to encounter the sexy and mysterious professor Gerri Dandridge who is actually a vampire. Just as well the gang have been through this before…except they don’t seem to have any knowledge of vampires. Confused? You will be!
As entertainment, this isn’t a bad film. Jaime Murray is great as the villain of the piece and the youngsters do well with Chris Waller being a good mimic of Stephen Geoffrey’s original incarnation of the ‘Evil’ Ed role.
What I found totally off-putting is that I couldn’t figure out why this was a sequel or where it fit in the timeline. Was it maybe a prequel? Apparently not, as Charley and Amy are already broken up by the time this film begins. Was it because of the events of the first film? No, because when they discover the truth about Gerri they are totally shocked. Have they been glamoured? Wrong franchise. Am I over-thinking things? Probably. This would have been far less confusing if it were new characters in a similar situation, alas for reasons unknown to me it isn’t.
The remake was fun but a bit drawn out, this is a bit drawn out and a bit less fun with a tendency to overuse gags (how many times must we see someone dive into a pool of blood).
OVERALL SUMMARY
It’s not bad for a Friday night rental but it’s probably one for fans of Fright Night only.
