This is a very strange film. I expected a remake of the original Fright Night 2 only to find that it wasn't that at all. Then I assumed it was a sequel to the remake, but as Charley Brewster had no knowledge of vampires or Peter Vincent, it wasn't that either. OK, so how about just being a fun trashy horror film with an absolute knockout lead actress as a seductive vampire? Well, yes and no. Jamie Murray is marvellous and she is the saving grace of the film, and her performance partially rescues the affair. However, she needed to be featured more and her character been allowed to cut loose more extensively. As it is, the film misfires in the belief that the audience will be rooting for the drippy and charisma-free Charley and his vapid girlfriend, an ex-Coronation Street luminary (I'll skip over 'Evil' Ed, as should you) and I'd have been quite happy to see Countess Bathory triumph! As for 'Peter Vincent', Sean Power isn't Roddy McDowell (or David Tennant for that matter) and we'll leave it at that. Also, the Countess Bathory angle is confusing as Gerri ultimately has three forms: the seductive 30-something Gerri, a wizened Gerri who needs to bathe in blood to get back her youthful visage, and a monstrous vampire form. Of the latter, if that is what a vampire truly looks like then why does she age in her human guise? It doesn't make sense, but since little does in the movie I don't suppose it is worth pondering. So, more Gerri and less moping Charley and Fright Night 2 could have been an effective B-feature. But it isn't. Oh, well, there's always the next season of Defiance.
Review of Fright Night 2
