Roddy McDowall and William Ragsdale reprise their roles as Charley Brewster and Peter Vincent, alongside new cast members Traci Lind, Julie Carmen and Jon Gries.
Following the plot of the first film, it focuses on Charley who, now a college student, encounters a group of vampires led by a beautiful woman who is seeking him out.
[5] In 2003, it received a brief issuing on DVD by Artisan Entertainment in a full frame presentation, but the release quickly went out of print and has since become a rare collector's item.
Satisfied that what he thought was Regine attacking Richie was nothing but an act, Charley leaves when he remembers his date with Alex.
Charley, meanwhile, after being turned away from the symphony, returns home and falls asleep, only to be visited by Regine, who bites him on the neck while he sleeps.
After failing to talk to his psychiatrist, he overhears a news report about Richie's body being discovered the previous night.
Peter, meanwhile, is also arrested by the cops after he shows up on the set of Fright Night and attempting to kill its new host, Regine, on live TV.
A distraction intentionally caused by one of the hospital's patients, Fritzy (who actually believes Peter's story about him being a vampire hunter) allows them to escape the place.
Regine knocks Alex unconscious and attempts to turn Charley into a vampire, but Peter destroys her with sunlight.
After the critical and financial success of Fright Night, producer Herb Jaffe retained the screen rights to the characters and pushed for a sequel to be made.
[7] Although he was unhappy that the budget was drastically slashed, original director Tom Holland was interested, but Chris Sarandon and he were both tied up making Child's Play, and could not commit to the film, though new director Tommy Lee Wallace sought out Holland for advice[8] and Sarandon visited the set while they were shooting.
[8][10][11] Stephen Geoffreys turned down the role due to disliking the script and being offered the lead in 976-EVIL, which was scheduled to shoot at the same time.
Amanda Bearse was busy with her television sitcom series Married... with Children, so a new girlfriend, Alex (portrayed by Traci Lind), was written for Charley.
This transfer has been used to create widescreen, bootleg DVDs and Blu-rays of the film, due to the unavailability and low quality of the official DVD.
According to a 2018 article in Bloody Disgusting, the film's home video rights were left in limbo due to a hasty restructuring of New Century/Vista, following the murder of its head of distribution, José Menendez.
Not only did this stop another sequel, it also interfered with the release of Fright Night Part 2, which attained extremely limited theatrical distribution before being dumped, briefly, to home video by Carolco's subsidiary, Live Entertainment.
In January 2017, Tom Holland announced that he was writing a Fright Night 3 novel and that in 2019 he would obtain the rights to the franchise and that a third film would be happening.
"[19] Regine Dandridge actress Julie Carmen confirmed that she contributed to in depth interviews about working with director Tommy Lee Wallace and actors William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowell, and costume designer Joseph Porro in the '80s horror documentary You're So Cool Brewster and in In Search of Darkness III, in addition to author Adrian Roe's books Second Scream and First Scream to the Last.