Currently Watching: Fright Night (1985)
God I love this film!
It’s my all time favourite vampire movie (yes, I like it more than The Lost Boys).
I might be mistaken but I believe it may have even established a couple of vampire rules such as the one that states a vampire must be invited into a house before it can enter…
If you haven’t seen it, it stars William Ragsdale (Fright Night Part 2), Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride) and Roddy McDowall (Planet of the Apes) among others.
This is what it’s about:
One night a teenager called Charley Brewster (Ragsdale) witnesses what he believes to be the murder of a young woman at the hands of his new reclusive next-door neighbour (Sarandon) who he believes to be a vampire. When he tells his friends who understandably think he’s crazy, he turns to a washed-up horror TV show host called Peter Vincent (McDowall) who also thinks Charley is deluded. However, after a series of strange events occur it starts to appear that Charley isn’t as crazy as everyone thinks…
This is one of my earliest memories of horror movies. Not from actually seeing the film (I was 6 when it came out) but from merely seeing the poster which scared the bejesus out of me.
I love everything about it from the story, the characters, the performances and the honest rawness, to the whole eighties-ness, right down to the soundtrack (especially the track “Good Man in a Bad Time” by Ian Hunter).
I remember buying this movie from a used video shop (yes that’s VHS) around 1997 and watching it on repeat! I’ve never gotten tired of watching it (it also reminds me of an old girlfriend).
When I heard a remake was in the works back in 2010 I was horrified but as always I reluctantly watched it. I have to say though, as much as I hate remakes and as much as it’s not a patch on the original it’s actually pretty good. They cleverly made it it’s own film while at the same time keeping in enough of the original content and themes to make it a semi-worthy re-imagining. There’s also a really nice cameo by Chris Sarandon.
This is a classic 80s horror film. It’s scary, it’s gory and above all else its focus is on the storytelling, something I feel is sorely lacking in movies these days.
When broken down Fright Night is essentially a vampire version of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) with a few other changes (and no James Stewart or Grace Kelly).
If you haven’t seen it you HAVE to give it a watch! I also recommend watching the remake but only AFTER you’ve seen this one.
“Welcome to Fright Night…..for real”
Still up? Seen it? Let me know your thoughts. 👇