Fright Night (1985)

With Halloween two nights away, I now have the chance to rave about one of the most underrated scare flicks of all time, 1985's Fright Night, directed by Tom Holland and starring William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall, and Chris Sarandon. Fright Night was one of the best horror films of the '80's, and boasted some eye-popping (and strange) special effects. Unfortunately, its greatness has been somewhat forgotten, lost in the deluge of bad slasher flicks from that decade.

The film centers around Charley Brewster (Ragsdale), a horror film junkie who begins to suspect that his new next door neighbor, Jerry Dandridge (Sarandon, brother of Susan), is a vampire (apparently the fangs, coffins, and the fact that he kills topless women in front of open windows are a huge tip-off). When Jerry comes after Charley and tries to seduce his girlfriend to the side of the bloodsuckers, Charley enlists the help of his childhood hero, the veteran horror film star and famed vampire-killer Peter Vincent (McDowall).

Fright Night works so well because it features the usual vampire conventions but sticks them in a modern day setting, with a protagonist who we can relate to. He's just a normal dude stuck in a really horrific situation. Charley is just a typical high school kid: he's failing math, he's having girlfriend problems, he can't get laid... Of course, it just so happens that he has a vampire living next door, and the vampire is killing hookers in plain sight and now it wants him dead. Remember when you were in high school? What if you had all of those old worries about the opposite sex and books and pimples and then suddenly you realized that on top of all that you had a fucking vampire after you...well, what would you do in that situation, for pete's sake?

Fortunately, Charley is a huge fan of old, crummy vampire flicks (this is a big in-joke, as the film essentially plays as one big homage to the old Hammer horror films of the 1960's), and he's schooled in the ways of killing vampires. Once he enlists McDowall's help, it sets up a wonderfully scary and funny second half, in which all of the basic elements of the vampire flick (garlic, wooden stakes, crucifixes...to name a few) are creatively utilized and updated, in a way, to humorously fit the modern day.

Fright Night's major asset is that it plays very tongue-in-cheek throughout. It's definitely scary at times (Sarandon's vampire makeup is pretty terrifying), but it never for a second takes itself too seriously, and has sprinkles of subtle humor throughout. It balances the line between humor and horror very nicely, never going too over-the-top, even in the moments where it gets a bit hammy (i.e. whenever the Evil Ed character walks onscreen).

Even the special effects, while terrific, (and done by Richard Edlund, who also worked on PCMR Top Ten masterpiece Ghostbusters), always seem to be slightly cheesy, but not so much so that they can ruin a truly frightening moment. The scene in which one of the vampires turns into a wolf and attacks McDowall's character is amazing to watch. It's one of the most convincing (and strange) special effects sequences you'll ever see, yet at the same time it plays deliciously over-the-top. A scene in which Dandridge attacks Charley in his room has a similar tone.

Two characters stand out in the film: McDowall as Peter Vincent,
and Sarandon, as the vampire. The big joke about Peter Vincent is that when we first hear of him, he's this legendary, fearless vampire killer, who has "seen vampires in all their forms" and has won out every time. All vampires are supposed to be afraid of him. Yet when Charley goes to him for help, Vincent doesn't believe him for a second. When he later realizes that there really is a vampire, and the vampire is coming for him, Vincent is revealed to basically be a big coward. The scene in which Vincent finds out the truth behind Dandridge is beautifully set up, with Vincent instantaneously turning from a fearless ghoul hunter into a bumbling, scared old man.

Sarandon is also awesome as the head vampire. He's the consummate master of the night: he's charming, suave, and everybody loves him at first (except Charley, of course). He seems like the perfect next-door neighbor, one of those people who is just impossible not to like. Then in the blink of an eye he grows fangs and claws and starts throwing people through windows. Totally badass.

Fright Night, in a way, can be regarded as sort of a spiritual precursor to Scream. Most of the characters are attuned to the vampire legend, they know the warning signs that a vampire may be living next door and, when the shit hits the fan, they know how to kill the damned thing. It's definitely a self-aware horror film, long before those became popular in the late-90's, only it's referencing old vampire movies instead of slasher flicks.

Fright Night was one of the greatest horror films to come out of the 1980's, and it's a shame that it's not remembered more than it is, because it's truly a classic. It's a wonderful, inspired piece of filmmaking, one that I would argue is so well done that it transcends the horror genre to the point where anybody, not just fans of scary movies, can enjoy it. When people think of 1980's horror, they immediately think of Freddy and Jason, which is too bad, because this film is far superior to any entry in either of those series. So this Halloween, instead of watching some bad 00's remake or Friday The 13th for the umpteenth time, pop in this unheralded classic. It's funny, scary...hell, it even has an 80's night club fight scene to rival The Terminator's.