Fright Night

Horrorphile

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Fright Night

November 30th 2009 22:58

Back in the day of big hairdos and silly expressions, back in the day when vampires could turn into fake-looking bats and best friends into funny-looking werewolves, back in the day when a neighbour’s sexual orientation was decidedly camp, yet still masculine enough to confuse the hell out of you, back in the day when Roddy McDowell was still considered a bankable character actor, Chris Sarandon was a definite heartthrob, someone somewhere thought Williams Ragsdale would grow up to be a huge one.

Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandridge ... with nameless victim

Tom Holland’s Fright Night (1985) was a very successful comedy horror that, like The Lost Boys (1986), has aged endearingly; yes it’s dated, yes it’s silly, yes it’s unashamedly 80s in look and feel, but more importantly its self-consciousness actually works in its favour, the pacing is terrific, there is an oddball element that shines through, and much of the special effects work is really pretty impressive.

Fright Night William Ragsdale and Roddy McDowell

William Ragsdale as Charlie and Roddy McDowell as Peter Vincent

Teenager Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) lives alone with his divorced mother Judy (Dorothy Fielding). He’s an eager horrorphile, but best buddy Evil Ed (Stephen Geoffreys). The new neighbour Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) and his companion Billy Cole (Jonathon Stark) are very odd, and Charlie immediately susses Jerry’s true identity: he’s a vampire!

Jerry shows his true colours

But no one believes him! Not his mother, not his girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse), not the police, not even Ed, and when he tries to get Peter Vincent, local celebrity host of TV’s late night Fright Night show, to help him, Vincent is none too impressed. That is until after Vincent (along with Amy and Ed) decides to humour Charlie and discovers Dandridge has no reflection. Now it’s up to Charlie and Vincent to destroy the vampire and his minion before the undead destroy them! Of course there’ll be tears before dawn!

Amanda Bearse as Amy

Stephen Geoffreys as Evil Ed

Fright Night is a hoot-and-a-half, great popcorn viewing, and leans a little on the guilty pleasure side of things. It’s not really scary, but it possessing an endearing spookiness. The prosthetic special effects makeup work is very impressive in certain scenes; most notably the extraordinary transformation of Evil Ed into a whimpering werewolf (little did you know that actor Stephen Geoffrey made the decision in the early 90s to abandon mainstream Hollywood and re-invent himself as a hardcore gay porn actor called Sam Ritter). Amanda Bearse (who two years later would enjoy a decade’s television work as a nosy neighbour on Married With Children) becomes the fixture of Dandridge’s affections (despite the curious homosexual undertones), and her hairdo suffers drastically.

Amy gets hungry

Meanwhile Roddy continues to act mostly with his large plaintive eyes, like he did for all those years in the Planet of the Apes movies and television series, and Chris Sarandon gets to curl his finger extensions, bat his eyelashes and look like he’s modeling hair gel and shoulder pads for GQ. Yes, as I keep mentioning, Fright Night is shamelessly stuck headfast in the decade that is so hot right now with the Y-Gen. But it’s good harmless fun, and best enjoyed with a bunch of mates, especially if you’re a little longer in the fang, er, tooth, and keen for a retro chortle or two.

Evil Ed finds his tail between his legs

Director Tom Holland handles everything with an assured hand. A lame sequel came out a couple of years later. Holland would go on to direct another 80s classic, of a darker hue: Child’s Play (1988). Both movies are part of the countless number of 70s and 80s cult faves and classics being remade; Child’s Play due out next year, and Fright Night due in 2011. Fright Night remake will be all CGI effects, up-and-coming stars and starlets, a couple of cameos, but won’t possess any of the original’s undead joie de vive.

Here's the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

7 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by David O'Connell

December 1st 2009 06:43

20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic

I absolutely loved this one as a teenager at the time Bryn, one of my favourite horror films of the era and yes probably more for nostalgic reasons rather than it being any great shakes as pure cinema.

There's something neat about twisting that notion of the neighbour from hell actually being............a neighbour from hell!! Well sort of!

Comment by Bryn

December 1st 2009 07:34

Horrorphile

David, yeah, at the time it was the bees knees of horror-comedy ... Less funny as a comedy, and more interesting as an 80s softcore horror; well directed, well acted. Saw a clip of Stephen Geoffreys at some horror con being interviewed in 2003 and he looks almost exactly the same!!! He did the line "Brewster, you're so cool" and sounded exactly the same. Kinda creepy. Especially knowing what he spent the last two decades earning a crust ...

Comment by David O'Connell

December 1st 2009 07:43

20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic

Yeah, a bit like a couple of those young lads from The Lost Boys.

Comment by Bryn

December 1st 2009 07:48

Horrorphile

Yes, The Lost Boys, that had even more of an effect on me, since I wanted to be Jason Patric, and I wanted Jamie Gertz as my gf.

LOL

Comment by JohnDoe

December 2nd 2009 23:53

Film & TV on DVD

Great review Bryn.

What kid of the 80's didn't dig on this one? A horror comedy lite that really is such a guilty pleasure...it contains so many elements that are pet peeves of mine but it still makes me laugh.

Comment by Bryn

December 3rd 2009 01:27

Horrorphile

JD, yeah, well said.

Comment by wandererlain

December 4th 2009 05:57

First saw this maybe on video or TV as a kid (oh dear) and really liked it. Very offbeat. Was funny, erotic (that dance scene, phew), and genuinely scary in places (the alleyway part was sort of gay but well creepy and all the dark scenes in the houses).
Evil Ed was a well funny little guy but I was shocked later to find out about him LOL
The sequel was OK but not as good although it had a sultry Julie Carmen in it as the vampire (she was later In The Mouth of Madness, love that movie).

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