Fright Night Part II

A lesser sequel to Fright Night, duplicating the basic formula of the first film but missing much of the humor that endeared the first one to audiences. This time, it's set in a college where Charlie Brewster, the hero from Part 1, is visited by a seductive vampiress named Regine (played by Julie Carmen). 

There's a really crummy attempt at humor in which the vampires go bowling, and there are some glaring inconsistencies, namely Charlie's transformation (after being bitten) from human to half-vampire, which comes and goes in an illogical fashion.

It's all handled routinely, but there are some amusing performances: Carmen is a lot of fun playing the sexy vampire, and it's always nice to see Roddy McDowall at work, reprising his role as the TV show host Peter Vincent, the sort of Van Helsing of this franchise. (Charlie and Peter Vincent killed Regine's brother, the vampire played so wonderfully by Chris Sarandon, in the original, so she's out for revenge.) 

And Jonathan Gries gives an enjoyable turn as a vampire who's trying to hit on Charlie's girlfriend Alex (Traci Lind), a psych major who undoubtedly wants to help Charlie overcome his demons, which he now believes were not real, only imagined. Alex, incidentally, speed reads Dracula in the library after Charlie recommends it, and it's the beginning of a memorable chase sequence. (And Traci Lind was always my favorite girlfriend in the Fright Night movies--no disrespect to Amanda Bearse.) So, if you're a fan, Fright Night Part II is enjoyable enough. Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. 1988.

Real Genius

Real Genius (1985) has a group of precocious students at Pacific Technical University developing a laser beam for their professor (William Atherton), who is, unbeknownst to them, working in conjunction with the CIA to use this technology unethically. The plot and characters of Real Genius seem somewhat lazily slapped together by the screenwriters (Neal Israel, Pat Proft, and Peter Torokvei), but Real Genius has a quick wit and an endless supply of one-liners that keep it buzzing along at an agreeable (if overlong) pace. Val Kilmer demonstrates his ability to play the aloof genius with an affable, smartass charm. He plays Chris Knight, the star brain of the college, who welcomes a 15-year-old newcomer, Mitch (Gabriel Jarret), who's something of a child prodigy, into his dorm room and his laboratory.

Director Martha Coolidge has a tendency to let her films ramble along in a breezy sort of fashion. It usually results in likable but unfocused movies like Valley Girl, but in Real Genius the relatively snappy writing helps lift some of that aimlessness. Besides, that aimlessness works better for a film like Genius: it has one of those kids vs. big-bad-adults plot lines that made movies like War Games (1983) seem heavy-handed and simplistic. Instead, you get something a lot more tongue-in-cheek that does not take itself seriously, even when it does resort to the cliches of its particular plot line. The end--in which the professor's house is filled with laser-beam-produced popcorn--is quite odd but very amusing. There's always something slightly surreal going on in Coolidge's movies.

With Michelle Meyrink, Jon Gries, Robert Prescott, Ed Lauter, Yuji Okumoto, Patti D'Arbanville, Joanne Baron, and Deborah Foreman. 108 min. ★★★