As a horror fan, one must be open to all kinds of sub-genera’s. There are times for B-side horror, scary zombies, silly vampires and serious ones, zombie horror comedies, monsters that terrify us, horrible CGI that terrifies us, ghosts that send shivers up our spines and gore so explosive you have to look away from the screen. The list is endless, so when you watch ‘Fright Night 2: New Blood’, you really have to be in the mood for it and know what you’re getting into. This straight-to-video sequel doesn’t feature any of the actors or plot from the 2011 remake, and has no ties to the other ‘Fright Night 2’ released in 1989. It still, however, has vampire campy goodness, and here’s a little taste on the film from this humble viewer’s opinion.
We start out with three high school students currently in Romania studying abroad. Charley Brewster – heartthrob lead that can’t get the girl (played by Will Payne), ‘Evil’ Ed Bates – residential bad boy (played by Chris Waller), and Amy – enter virgin hottie that’s just had her heart broken (played by Sacha Parkinson). Charley and Amy are in the throws of young uncertain love (Amy thinks Charley cheated on her but they never really say why or if he actually did) so he spends most of his time pining after her while exchanging awkward looks. Ed just wants to get laid and turns out to be more annoying than evil; I think we all know where his character is heading.
Later we meet sexy Gerri Dandridge (played by Jaime Murray, loved her on ‘Dexter’). Charley first sees her biting another woman in a flat across the way from his (ever heard of curtains, geeze!?) and then again later that evening when she’s officially introduced as their professor. Charley tries to shake off what he saw, but soon realizes that Gerri is exactly what she seems to be. His seemingly dimwitted friend Ed is the one to make the connection that Professor Sexy Vamp is actually Elizabeth Bathory and that they are in big trouble. RutRo!
They find the host of ‘Fright Night’ (at a strip club no less) and enlist his help in taking Gerri down. I’m not going to give away much more but lets just say you’ll see it coming. What you won’t see coming (or I guess you will after reading this) is a super ‘where did that come from?’ animated portion of the film, as well as some super fun dialogue – here’s one of my favorite lines: “Kiss the cross, bit*h!”. Just delightful.
Now, reverting back to my previous point of needing to be in the mood for certain sub-genera’s of horror films; this is defiantly one of them. It’s campy which is fun and sometimes, those are the BEST kinds of horror films. I mean, where would we be without ‘Army of Darkness’ or ‘Dead Alive’? Not saying that ‘Fright Night 2: New Blood’ is on par with those movies, but it is similar in spirit. It doesn’t take itself seriously and that’s what makes it an easy film to watch, as long as YOU don’t try to take it seriously. It wasn’t really my cup of tea but don’t let that stop you from giving it a chance.
‘Fright Night 2’ is currently available on Blu-Ray and DVD, so you can see for yourself what I mean. Let us know in the comments section below if you plan on sinking your teeth into ‘Fright Night 2: New Blood’!
