Fright Night (1985)
Starring: William Ragsdale, Chris Sarandon, Roddy McDowall
Written and Directed by: Tom Holland
*****Spoilers****
Charley Brewster has a problem.... a few, actually. His car needs a paint job, his girlfriend has been denying him sex for a year, and when she finally gives in, he's more interested in peeping out his bedroom window at the vampire that just moved in next door. Wait, what!? After getting caught peering through his binoculars by resident bloodsucker, Brewster is well on his way up shit creek without a paddle! Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no one to believe him, Charley seeks help from a local TV horror show host: Peter Vincent – The Great Vampire Killer!
Welcome to Fright Night! FOR REAL...
Tom Holland's witty little horror comedy came about in 1985, which was a time when vampire films were fairly nil, and slasher films were in abundance. This was also his directorial debut, but Tom was no stranger to horror and exploitation. Previously, he had served as a writer for Psycho II, The Beast Within and Class of 1984, and while all are entertaining films in their own right, Fright Night is magic. I feel like it opened the door for other vampire films that followed in its wake. When I think of 80's blood sucker movies, the top 3 that come to mind are Fright Night, Near Dark and The Lost Boys.
What makes the film work so well is that it manages to be humorous without making fun of the sub-genre it represents. For every scare, there is a laugh, and it's all done with perfect timing. It also neatly grasps the period of which it was made, feeling like a Breakfast Club/Sixteen Candles vampire hybrid. And at the same time, Tom Holland executes his love for Hammer horror classics and uses faithful lore of vampire movie mythos, while adding his own little twists.
The bulk of Fright Night was shot at the Disney backlot, which just blows my damn mind because the neighborhood Charley Brewster lives in looks entirely authentic. Also surprising and smart; the film opens with the camera easing downward from a shot of a full moon, literally dropping us viewers into the aforementioned neighborhood. Only, it's a painting! This is really just a taste of how brilliant the movie is, in terms of directing, cinematography and design. The beginning already pays homage to Hitchcock's Rear Window (when our protagonist discovers through his bedroom window that two mysterious men are moving a coffin into the cellar of the house next door), and for extra effect, Holland uses a lot of similar camera styles old Al did with swift zoom-in sequences.
Chris Sarandon (Child's Play, The Princess Bride) bosses his role of Jerry Dandrige while in suave mode. There's also a sense of sadness goin' on, hinting that he doesn't kill for thrills, but because he has to. Sarandon fully realizes this perception of his character, and plays it well. He has several different appearances for his vamped out scenes; sometimes his mannerisms are kind of laughable. The moaning in pain shit cracks me up, the spinning in a circle when stabbed in the hand with a pencil cracks me up... fortunately, I am a fan of silliness, but I'm just not sure hilarity was what he was going for. Interesting to note; Dandrige is seen quite often in the movie eating fruit. Sarandon himself did some research before playing out the part and decided to give his vampire persona the DNA of a fruit bat. If you ask me, that is damn genius.
Charley Brewster is an enviable character to me, because I can connect with his nerdiness... well maybe not the studying for trig shit, because I sucked at math, but certainly the being a fan of late night horror shows aspect. It's also easy for a genre fan to cling to this guy because the creepy subjects of the films he loves oh so much are coming to life all around him... and instead of pussin' out, he decides to fight. William Ragsdale (Mannequin 2, Fright Night 2, Herman's Head) had never even been in more than a single cameo before Fright Night, and he comes off so professional here... He was born to play Charley Brewster.
Perhaps an absolute favorite for more reasons than I can count is the late Roddy McDowall (Planet of the Apes, The Legend of Hell House), portraying the horror host/washed up genre actor, Peter Vincent (the name rules, being a respectful nod to Peter Cushing and Vincent Price). Vincent is a down on his luck type guy who made a living starring in a slew of b-horror films. His apartment is a vampire fan's wet dream, every wall covered with pictures of Bela Lugosi, John Carradine and various props from the many films he slayed bloodsuckers in. But you get the impression that Vincent wanted his life to have more meaning, and when he's forced into believing the monsters depicted in his films are real, he simply doesn't know how to process it. McDowall gives so much emotion to the role, sometimes without saying a word... you can see the pain/endearment in his eyes. And when Peter actually has to kill his first supernatural opponent, the moment is what tears are made of. You can tell he feels so very sorry for his dying victim. Roddy amazes in this role, and when he and Ragsdale partner up... it's 'buddy movie' magic.
Also along for the ride is Stephen Geoffreys as Evil Ed and Amanda Bearse as Amy Peterson; there was more history behind these characters than what ended up in the film. Evil and Charley used to be total besties, watching Peter Vincent's Fright Night horror show sacredly. Then, Brewster and Amy hooked up, and it kinda severed the buddy relationship and left Ed a little bitter. You get undertones of this element throughout the film, but I wish the whole ordeal had been left intact. Nevertheless, Geoffreys is awesome as the outcast, quirky-as-fuck Ed, and Bearse plays the perfect next door cutie type. Even people with minor roles in Fright Night really capture true to life personalities, including Dorothy Fielding as Charley's Mom, and Art Evans as Detective Lennox.
Makeup and visual FX are awesome; a lot of stuff gets left up to the viewer, or shown in shadows, which I dig. There isn't a strong gore element, but the vampire designs are freakin' great. Turning Sarandon into a vampire was somewhere around an 8 hour process, and some shots probably took a full day of shooting. For instance, when Dandrige comes out of Charley's closet to scare the shit out of him. He has 3 different prosthetic shots in this particular scene, all shown in under 30 seconds, which had to be a painstaking job for Sarandon and the FX crew. And the ending of the film is out of control.
I'm also a big fan of Brad Fiedel's synth score, and the main theme is unforgettably embedded in my brain. I also have a soft spot for cheesy dance sequences in movies from the 80's, especially when the setting is in a nightclub... they always come with fantastical statements of fashion and ridiculous music, and I mean this in a heartfelt manner. The nightclub scene in Fright Night is so very bad, but impossible to hate.
A few what the hell moments...
****Major Spoilers****
- You never really get told just what the hell Billy Cole (Jonathan Stark) is. Definitely not a vampire, definitely not a human, and the dude could stand-in for the Terminator in a law enforcement showdown! Gunshot wound to the head? No fuckin' problem! I guess you can just sum him up as a vampire ghoul... someone that watches over his master and will jump in the middle of a fight, if needed.
- It always confused me once Evil Ed becomes a vampire that he can also take the form of a wolf, and in reverse transformation (which is FX wizardry, in my opinion) looks pretty damn close to a straight up lycanthrope. Peter Vincent makes a comment at one point in the film mentioning he has fought vampires in all of their forms... so, I'll sum this one up as Evil Ed having the ability to shapeshift into a hound of hell lapdog of Jerry Dandrige.
- As mentioned earlier, Charley's girlfriend, Amy is the cute next door type girl... REALLY SHORT HAIR. Though, in the process of becoming a vampire, her hair grows long and sexy. I MEAN LONG! I don't have even a half-assed theory for this, but she looks kinda hot... so whatevs.
But overall, I love me some Fright Night. I appreciate the amount of blood, sweat and tears Tom Holland and crew put into it. I usually prefer vicious as hell type vampires over the seductive kind, but this one works for me. Horror comedies are best when they play off of the genre respectively instead of making a mockery of it. Thankfully, this is one of those times.
