Fright Night (1985)
Directed by Tom Holland
Today my good readers I bring you one of my all time favorite horror movies...I give you Fright Night!! I love this movie. I grew up watching this movie over and over again. This is right up there with The Lost Boys as my favorite teenage vampire flicks.
The plot of this amazing classic is a loose remake of Boy Who Cried Wolf. See a vampire moves in next door and the teenage boy tells everyone who he is and no one believes him till it is too late. It's always the grown-ups fault.
The movie stars William Ragsdale; from Waxwork and the television Herman's Head*, as Charlie Brewster your typical horny high school kid. Like every movie in the '80's Charlie wants to have sex with his girlfriend and of course she will not sleep with him. The big bad vampire is played by the outstanding Chris Sarandon. You might remember him as the king in The Princess Bride. Charlies prude of a girlfriend is played by Amanda Bearse, future lesbian and Marcy from Married with Children. That's why she wouldn't sleep with Charlie, now I figured it out.
The two best characters in the movie are "Evil" Ed Thompson played by Stephen Geoffreys and Peter Vincent played by the late and great Roddy McDowall. "Evil" Ed is one of the best villians in '80's movie history, I mean he is right up there with the Kurgan. Roddy McDowall who has been in every movie and play you can think of is outstanding as the screen legend vampire hunter Peter Vincent. This is one role that can only be played by one person. He will be missed.
Charlie begins to suspect his neighbor Jerry Dandrige is a vampire when he sees him with a girl that ends up dead the next day. No one believes his silly stories. I can't blame them I mean Dandrige lives with a man servent and they seem pretty close but I'm just saying I can see why. The only person Charlie can think of that would believe him is the local horror movie host Peter Vincent. One problem he isn't a real vampire killer he just plays one on TV. So Charlie is broader line retarded by this point in the movie. Peter with the help of Charlies girlfriend Amy come up with a plan to trick him into believing that Jerry is a normal person. No a good idea!!
Peter drops him mirror and learns the truth about Mr Dandrige. Now they must team up and fight this evil bastard. Along the way Jerry turns Ed into one of his own and sends him out to kill Peter. This is one of the best scenes in the picture. It turns "Evil" Ed into a real punk rocker with that cross burned on his forehead.
The final show down with Dandrige is one for the ages with pretty cheap special effects. But all and all it is a great movie. One of the first horror movies to add comedy into the plot well before Scream did it ten years later.
I own this one and still watch it to this day. They are remaking it with some dumbass as Dandrige and they changed Peter into a Chris Angel type. Count me out!
Enjoy Fright Night another forgotten classic that deserves a second look. Till next time...
10/10
Check out the trailer!!!
Video Junkie Extra:
Stephen Geoffreys who played "Evil" Ed kind of fell off the map after this movie. I always thought he would be in the sequel, but he is not. If you know the end of the first you can see why I thought that. He went on to star in a couple of gay xxx movies throughout the '80's and '90's. He is billed as Sam Ritter; check it out on IMDB.com if you want. I heard is out of those movies now and trying to come back. I have my fingers crossed for Fright Night III. *Check out my review of Herman's Head!
