When high schooler Charley Brewster (Will Payne) and his friends learn that they’ll be studying art in Romania, they are thrilled. It’s a wild experience from the get-go, with a freaky sexpot of a professor (Gerri Dandridge) offering up flickery, strobe-lighty slide shows and late night tours to visit public art. But while Charley’s friends delight in the edginess of the program and the freedom of being away from home, Charley has reservations. Like, why is that hot professor doing sex stuff in the alley while blatantly staring at her students? Is that regular Romanian lady behavior or might she be a vampire?
Though Charley is something of an oddball, generally dismissed by his friends and on shaky footing with his on-again off-again girlfriend Amy (Sacha Parkinson), you just know he’s totally right. He enlists the help of TV host/vampire hunter, Peter Vincent (Sean Power) to reveal the truth, but the more he confirms his suspicions, the greater the danger to Charley and his friends. Will he be able to save Amy from certain sacrifice, or will these hapless teens fall victim to the professor’s powers?
Fright Night 2 is entertaining enough as direct-to-video-sequels go, but it is somewhat generic and none of the characters are particularly compelling. Even Charley, who is almost an outsider who makes good, generally proves to be little more than a cipher. His girlfriend doesn’t seem that invested in him, his friends don’t care that much about him, all of which begs the question, why do we? Though there are some original, well-shot sequences, there are way too many flickering lights in the movie, as though it’s trying to prove itself edgy by feeling all nightclubby. Migraine, anyone? Epileptic fit, perhaps? This movie can hook you up!
EXTRA FEATURES
The Blu-Ray/DVD/Ultraviolet edition of Fright Night 2 includes director commentary, Fright Night webisodes, and the featurette “Dracula Revealed”.
