'Fright Night II: New Blood' Review

When a movie gets a sequel with a "II" or "2" in the title, one tends to believe that events in the movie take place after the first (remade version) title.

But in this case, that's not the case.  Instead, we have what looks like an attempted reboot of the franchise, and at first, is rather confusing.  But once things get going, it all comes together in a retelling of the classic tale, with a few new twists and angles added to the story.

Fright Night II stars Jaime Murray (Defiance, Warehouse 13, Dexter) as Gerri Dandridge, the newest rendition of the vampire from this franchise name.  Other cast includes the relatively unknown Will Payne (Mr Selfridge) as Charley Brewster, Sacha Parkinson as Amy, the ill-fated girlfriend, and Chris Waller as a near mirror image of the 1985 movie's original 'Evil' Ed Bates, Brewster's best buddy.

It's directed by Eduardo Rodriguez (Curandero) off a screenplay by Matt Venne (White Noise 2, Mirrors 2).

Oh, and let's not forget Peter Vincent, host of the late-night reality TV series Fright Night.  He's played by Sean Power (A Kiss and a Promise, 360).

Let's keep in mind that there was the original awesome movie that came out in 1985, which you could almost call a rendition of Hitchcock's Rear Window, but between a teen and a vampire.  It had  a short-lived sequel in 1988 (with a female vampire), then the attempted remake to the origial that came out in 2011, with Colin Farrell, that tried to make it a bit more modern and changed up a bit by director Craig Gillepsie.  Like having it take place in Las Vegas and making Peter Vincent a magician.

But 'New Blood' resets everything and swaps out the gende of the major player.  Which made it confusing at first when watching teasers and trailers.

Star Jaime Murray even distances herself from the confusion in interviews by saying she's just an actress tackling a cool vampire role.

Moving on...

Now that we've established that this is not a sequel, but rather, a reboot of sorts, from the original 1985 version, let's move forward with this review.

Fright Night II: New Blood opens at desolate gas station and a lone girl trying to get gas.  Something jumps on the hood of her car and at first, she puts up an intelligent struggle.  Even to the point of blowing up her own car with the creature standing on it.

But as she escapes into the convenience store part of the station, we watch the video feed as something that can't be seen on video attacks and kills the girl.

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We're then introduced to Brewster, Amy and 'Evil' as they arrive in Romania on a school field trip of sorts, studying art history of that country.  Also, as luck would have it, Peter Vincent is filming his show in Romania.

As the kids settle into their hotel rooms, Brewster sees two girls making out across the street in a window of a large suite, and one of the girls starts to show blood dripping down her back.  The first hungry girl of this modern couple is Gerri Dandridge.

And later, he watches Gerri, with a large (body?) bag over her shoulder, jump to the ground from her 3rd floor window, put the body in a bag, then drives off.

Oh, this girl, we later learn is Gerri Dandrige, who turns out to be Brewster's instructor for their history class here.

During conversations with 'Evil' Ed, Brewster finally starts to convince him that there's a vampire loose in the town.  Ed finds a fascinating origin tale of not only Vlad, the Impaler, but that of Elizabeth Bathory, who herself, is accounted in legend of also becoming a vampire through her own evil deeds.

Per Wikipedia:  Her deeds were so evil, that she was imprisoned in a family castle, bricked in at every entrance except for slots for food to be passed.

With the frist act having set the stage, the story moves on from there.

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Despite the new locations and scenario, the movie echoes developments from the first film, but is different enough to not be too annoying.

Technically a horror comedy, there are spots that can catch you off-guard, but at times, aren't taken advantage of.  I mean, come on, a cross smartphone app?  It was cute but passed over pretty quickly.

And there are other original points to the movie one might enjoy.

Fright Night II may serve as a jumping-off platform for some of the unknown talent tackling this franchise remake, and director Rodriguez is NOT afraid to tackle gratuitous nudity, but Murray bows out of that aspect of the film and keeps it to the tempting stage of visuals only. (Unlike her short role in Starz' Spartacus series.)

If you're a Jamie Murray fan, you may enjoy her tackling a vampire role but I'm mixed on the film.  There were good and mediocre moments that all washed out.

But none-the-less, there it is, out just in time for Halloween.

And don't forget, on the Blu-ray, we have directory commentary, webisodes and nice little feature titled Dracula Revealed.  If you haven't dug into the mythos of the fanged man himself, you'll become enlightened.  (Just don't watch it at night!)

Here's a great webisode of Vincent's Fright Night, a humorous spin the slew of ghost hunting shows out there today:



YT Link

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Teaser clip



YT Link

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movieweb: jaime-murray-talks-fright-night-2-new-blood
wikipedia: Elizabeth


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on Amazon:  Fright Night 2 New Blood

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