Fright Night (1985).

Review #2446: Fright Night.

Cast: 

Chris Sarandon (Jerry Dandrige), William Ragsdale (Charley Brewster), Roddy McDowall (Peter Vincent), Amanda Bearse (Amy Peterson), Stephen Geoffreys (Edward "Evil Ed" Thompson), Jonathan Stark (Billy Cole), Dorothy Fielding (Judy Brewster), Art Evans (Detective Lennox), Stewart Stern (Cook), Robert Corff (Jonathan), and Pamela Brown (Miss Nina) Written and Directed by Tom Holland (#614 - Thinner, #1003 - Child's Play)

Review: 

“The story of Fright Night was very specific. It’s about a teenage horror movie fan who becomes convinced the neighbor next door is a vampire. OK? That was me. And I was writing about the movies that I loved when I was 15, 16, 17, and they were the AIP and Hammer Horror films, which starred Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Vincent Price... that’s how you get Peter Vincent, the horror movie host. And so I was writing about myself and my growing up. And I thought the story was so strong and had such human values, especially in the person of Peter Vincent, the Roddy McDowall character... the story was strong, and the vampires were right for that.”

Sure, let's feature a Tom Holland movie. As one might wonder, the Poughkeepsie native attended Northwestern University for theater before going to and later graduating from UCLA. He wasn't too keen on acting but took the time to train at the Actors Studio and appeared in a handful of guest roles on TV and film. Around that time, he became friends with Stewart Stern, who influenced him to try writing. He went back to UCLA to study law but found the itch from writing to be too much to bear. His first screenwriting credit was the TV film "The Initiation of Sarah" in 1978 before becoming a film writer with the adaptation of The Beast Within in 1982. Other scripts followed, such as the story for Class of 1984 (1982), which was then followed with being hired to write Psycho II (1983), and lastly was Cloak & Dagger (1984)*. The premise that became Fright Night arose during the writer of Cloak that became tempting to direct himself when he saw the results of Michael Winner's direction for his script Scream for Help (1984). Despite not having a completely wide release from Columbia Pictures in August 1985, the movie was a qualified success with audiences. In total, Holland directed five further movies as a director, although because he was busy with Child's Play (1988), he could not be involved with Fright Night Part 2 (1988), which had Ragsdale and McDowall return to their roles. A remake of Fright Night (which relocated it to Las Vegas with a stage magician that may be an expert on vampires) came around in 2011.

There was a sea of vampire movies in its era that ranged from The Hunger (1983) to Lifeforce (1985) to, well, The Lost Boys (1987), but Fright Night does manage to stick out for itself pretty well because of its enthusiasm. Sure, the slasher was making the rounds for what audiences were going with in its time, but it didn't mean you were going to be lacking at least one movie to cut straight from the heart in playing to familiar comforts. The playful rendition of "Boy Who Played Wolf", combined with some worthwhile effects, does make for a pretty good time for those in the mood for it. You get vampires that can deal in wolf form and/or mist to go with the general tone of menace in baring fangs but in the suburbs to go along with having a vampire killer that actually isn't just the usual authority on the matter. It takes time for Ragsdale to get comfortable in the role, but he does spring a few bits of humor in what comes from actually being right in what his eyes see rather than just cloying, although it helps to have chuckles when paired with Bearse or Geoffreys. It is interesting that the part played by McDowell was basically a homage to the great Vincent Price, mostly because I would assume there was tiny bit of influence in Boris Karloff (okay well the character is also named after Peter Cushing, the vampire hunter actor for all time), who actually did host a TV show about horror (specifically, Thriller back in 1960-62)*. But McDowall aimed to played it as if the character was an old ham actor rather than just being a pastiche of Price (who while approached for the role was winding down from taking horror roles). He basically becomes the heart of the movie with the humor that comes from playing it to the ego required of flipping the usual authority with engaging conviction. Sarandon does make for a solid adversary though, managing to draw the power necessary in icy charm that could swoop in and out from sight in a suburb without becoming a hammy threat to wash away. The sequence near the climax involving him, Ragsdale and Bearse has a special curiosity to it in just seeing how seriously Holland wants to make the plight of someone being correct about vampires being among people and being powerless in that moment. The effects (as led by the team that had just done Ghostbusters [1984]) benefit the film particularly well in reminding one of just how entertaining it can be to look at vampires out in the open. As a whole, the movie eventually finds its footing by the time its 106-minute runtime is over due to its various charms that come off as affectionate rather than just being a failed homage. To put it mildly, it has the vibes worth watching for the spooky season.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

*Incidentally, Cloak and Dagger was inspired by the short story "The Boy Cried Murder", which had been adapted into a film a few times over.

*I wonder if there is a tiny bit of inspiration that was cribbed from Targets (1968), a movie where Karloff plays a disillusioned horror actor who actually gets confronted with real terror and, well, strikes it down.