You're So Cool, Brewster! The Story of Fright Night

I enjoy watching a great making-of documentary for my favorite films. I mean, who wouldn’t right? You love the film, it might be an important part of your cinematic upbringing, hell, it could just be a guilty pleasure, and you want to learn more about it. There was a time when every new film that came to DVD was given multiple hours' worth of bonus features so fans could digest every bit of the production. Sometimes that was a great commentary track, sometimes it was a bunch of interesting and focused bonus features, but a great making-of documentary can trump all. That’s the case with Christopher Griffiths’ You’re So Cool, Brewster: The Story of Fright Night and its follow-up You’re So Cool Brewster: The Story of Fight Night Part II. 

Now, the first part of this doc double feature was already offered with Sony’s Fright Night 4K UHD SteelBook release. It’s two hours and twenty-seven minutes of expansive Fright Night trivia running the full range of conceptualization, writing, casting, filming, and release.  When I call it exhaustive, it’s because it’s damn near exhausting to take such a long dive into a single film that’s actually forty minutes longer than the film it’s dissecting! And I’m there for every minute of it. 

I don’t often rewatch bonus features, commentaries, and documentaries. Usually, once is enough of hearing a variety of talking heads expound upon their positive and negative experiences making a film. But every now and again, we get something like You’re So Cool, Brewster, and you do want to revisit it. There’s so much material here that you can overlook a bit or miss a gem of information. I went through this doc years ago when that 4K SteelBook of Fright Night first came out, but this was a very pleasant rewatch. That first viewing I don’t think I paid enough attention because this time around I was floored by just how much time was spent with the VFX artists creating all of those incredible creature makeups and transformations.

Completing the experience is follow-up doc You’re So Cool, Brewster: The Story of Fight Night Part II, focusing on the lesser, underseen, but still pretty good sequel. This was a fresh new experience for me, so getting to see and hear from Tommy Lee Wallace directly about the film alongside his cast and crew was an enlightening opportunity. I’ve only seen Fright Night Part II a handful of times, as it’s so damned difficult to locate legit copies. I was a dope and bought that DVD when it came out ages ago, but let it go when I realized it was full frame. Little did I know I could make most of my car payment selling that disc today! (Synapse is apparently on deck to handle the 4K/BR release at some point). 

For this documentary, I was most curious to learn about how/why the film received such a poor release, as well as why the home video rights are in such a mess. It turns out we have Lyle and Erik Menendez to thank for some of that. Most interesting was hearing from Wallace about how he was under pressure to deliver more of the same, but with a smaller budget. Although this documentary is approximately 45 minutes shorter than its predecessor, it remains a very informative piece of work. At nearly four hours combined, it might be a lot to watch both parts of You’re So Cool, Brewster back-to-back, but they’re both essential viewing for this franchise. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 
ETR Media and OCN Distribution join forces to deliver both parts of You’re So Cool, Brewster: The Story of Fright Night as a standalone two-disc Blu-ray release. The first disc is pressed on a Region Free BD50 disc with a Region Free BD25 disc serving up the second part. The discs are housed in a clear two-disc case with reversible insert art. If you ordered from Vinegar Syndrome, you could pick up an exclusive slipcover. 

Doing some disc flippies, I didn’t see any discernible difference between this transfer and the one packed into the bonus features disc for the Fright Night 4K set. Both are essentially the same, which isn’t bad because it was a quality production. Some of the interview footage is a little on the soft side, but nothing serious or out of sorts. There are interlude animations to heighten the impact of a moment that’s being discussed, alongside archival interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and stills. It’s also nice that footage from the film is actually high-quality HD and not cropped low-rez snippets. The “Peter Vincent” interludes are nice touches between segments and hold that faux broadcast tape appearance.  And these best qualities are on display again for the follow-up, You’re So Cool, Brewster: The Story of Fright Night Part II. While we see different faces in the chats, the format and appearance are largely the same. Which, again, isn’t bad considering the continuity of the documentaries and their subjects. 

Both documentaries take a nice sonic bite out of their respective DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio tracks. Music, dialogue, and film-segment audio are all on point for a documentary of this sort. Not overly elaborate and nothing that would require a 5.1 track or anything of the sort; the mix isn’t boring either. There’s enough activity to keep the channels working for an engaging listen. Dialogue is clean, so no issues there.

On the bonus features front, we have a collection of additional tidbits. For the first documentary, the “What Is Fright Night” piece also appeared on the Sony 4K UHD of Fright Night, but we have a niec few extra interview segments to enjoy between various cast members, as well as a con appearance, and a round table chat. For the second documentary, we get a collection of the short Peter Vincent trailers, which are a bit hokey and don’t offer much, but an earnest effort. 

Disc One

• What Is Fright Night? (HD 10:37)
• Roddy McDowall: From Apes to Bats (HD 20:48)
• Tom Holland: Writing Horror (HD 8:49)
• Stephen and Amanda Weekend of Hell Panel (HD 12:51)
• Tom and Amanda Talk Fright Night (HD 29:25)
• Round Table w/ Tom, Stephen & William (HD 16:31)

Disc Two

• Peter Vincent Trailers: (HD 12:29 Total)
• I Rip Your Jugular 
• Psychedelic Death
• Resurrection of Dracula
• Werewolf of Moldavia

What we have with this release of You’re So Cool, Brewster: The Story of Fright Night is the ultimate movie bonus feature. Granted, the first doc was included with home video releases of Fright Night but now we get to enjoy it as a standalone experience, with additional material, complete with a second documentary dedicated to the franchise sequel. Who knows? Maybe in twenty years we’ll get a follow-up documentary for the Fright Night remake! For this release, ETR Media and OCN distribution deliver a great Blu-ray package with solid A/V and some nice extra features. If you love Fright Night, this one is for you. Recommended