Review: Fright Night 2: New Blood

Title: Fright Night 2: New Blood
Rating: 15
Cast:
Will Payne ... Charley Brewster
Jaime Murray ... Gerri Dandridge
Sean Power  ... Peter Vincent
Sacha Parkinson  ... Amy Peterson
Chris Waller  ... 'Evil' Ed Bates
Summary:
Charlie, his best friend Ed and his ex-girlfriend Amy are on an educational trip to Romania where they have lectures on history at the local university. One of their professors is the beautiful Gerri Dandridge. When Charlie finds out she's a vampire the police won't believe him, Amy won't believe him and Ed just thinks he's screwed, so, of course, things can only get worse.

The wiki page for this film says it's a straight to DVD sequel to the 2011 remake of Fright Night - it's a lie. This isn't a sequel, it's another remake and this is how the first one should have been done.

I am a huge Fright Night (1985) fan, I love it and Fright Night 2 (1988), so when they remade Fright Night in 2011 I ran to the cinema ... and was  hideously disappointed. However, Fright Night 2: New Blood is brilliant. This is the kind of vampire movie I love. It has sexy vampires, it has humour, it has an adorable lead, it has action, it has romance.

This is the type of vampire movie that made me fall in love with vampires in the first place.

It's full of British actors playing what I assumed were Americans because they were talking about dollars and such, but I may just not have been paying attention and just expecting Americans because of the original. I didn't realise they weren't American until I looked them up on IMDB :).

Personally I thought the cast was brilliant.

This film takes the premise from Fright Night (1985), but adds in parts of Fright Night 2 (1988) by gender swapping Gerry for Gerri. It recreates small parts of both films in its own way, but has an entirely new and original back story, which I loved. This is recognisably Fright Night (1985), but fresh and new and simply wonderful.

I do have to admit, there are a couple of bits that don't quite make sense, like the whole opening scene which appears to have nothing to do with the film except for illustrating what vampires can do and the fact they don't show up on cameras. However, most of it hold together beautifully.

The two things I really, really disliked about the 2011 remake of Fright Night were Ed and Gerry; I thought the casting and the way they were played were totally and completely wrong. In Fright Night 2: New Blood they have got it so, so, so right.

Jaime Murray is simply fantastic as Gerri. She is sexy, in control and plays with Charlie so beautifully. Never for a second did I believe she was vulnerable. She was the epitome of the vampire; immortal, powerful and so far above the human cattle pitched against her.

Then there was Chris Waller as Ed, the unashamed horror geek who is slightly left of normal. I loved him, he was just enough like the Ed from the original (who I thought was the best character in the original film), but with his own spin to make him brilliant.

Will Payne as Charlie and Sacha Parkinson as Amy are also great and they shine in the final scenes, as does Sean Power as Peter Vincent. I have to admit, David Tennant did do a better Peter in the 2011 remake, but Sean was still great. The part where he figures out Gerri really is a vampire has the most superb timing.

This film is so good that originally I bought the DVD, but I've now gone back and ordered the blu-ray because I want it in HD. I do have some more to say about it, but there will be spoilers so I shall put them at the bottom where you have to highlight to see them.

Highlight to read:
This film hits so many of my vampire buttons. It has the hero being turned into a vampire (like in Fright Night 2 (1988)), it has a sexy vampire playing with a human for fun, it has the hero sacrificing himself for the good of all. I so, so, so loved it. The only problem is now I want more and I suspect there will be no more :(.