Tom Holland’s “Fright Night time” (1985) has held a gradual presence with horror followers and vampire film aficionados alike.
William Ragsdale stars as Charley Brewster, a highschool child who is just too shy to provoke third base together with his girlfriend (Amanda Bearse) and particularly on edge when he discovers that his new neighbor is a bloodsucker. The person subsequent door, Jerry Dandridge, performed with humor and nice presence by Chris Sarandon, warns Charlie to maintain quiet about his discovery.
The undead charmer toys with Charley, threatening to kill him and his mom if he can’t preserve his mouth shut.
Charlie’s final resort, after the police and his buddies don’t imagine him, is hiring film star Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) to do away with the bloodsucker.
Vincent is the host of a horror film TV collection that showcases a lot of his previous films, boasts low-cost manufacturing values and is bookended by the host speaking immediately into the digicam. I grew up with reveals like this. I used to look at “Creature Characteristic,” which showcased films like “Godzilla 1985,” and I used to be (and stay) an enormous fan of Elvira, Mistress of the Darkish.
These cheap reveals, which relied closely on tacky results (notably a busy fog machine), cornball one-liners and (most significantly) a energetic “undead” host, nonetheless exist however barely. Like drive-in film theaters, they’re on the market.
Every now and then, I nonetheless watch “Svengoolie” in MeTV and previous episodes of “Film Macabre with Elvira.” There’s one thing scrumptious in regards to the airing of a B-movie, hosted by somebody who’s both a “monster” or a “monster hunter” (Sybil Danning’s “Journey Video” intros match into the latter).
The idea of Holland’s “Fright Night time” means that the horror host hamming it up on TV is probably the most astute safety you’d want from the vampire residing subsequent door to your property, as a result of they’ve seen all the identical films you’ve and know learn how to shield themselves and also you.
The horror movie “Fright Night time” was launched in theatres at present in 1985. #80s pic.twitter.com/Hi9x87I2m6
— LandOfThe80s (@landofthe80s) August 2, 2025
Ragsdale and Bearse are too previous to tug off excessive schoolers, although the movie’s comedian reduction, Stephen Geoffreys (as “Evil Ed”), is believably youthful and appropriately annoying. Much better are Sarandon and McDowell, each terrific.
Holland does a tremendous job of constructing the stress by permitting the stillness of the ambiance to creep in.
The quiet suburbia the place Brewster lives, in addition to the small city round it, appears extra sinister than All-American. Whereas not the full-bodied mixture of horror and humor that “The Misplaced Boys” would show to be two years later, “Fright Night time” is a sly throwback to traditional horror movies (making it an anomaly within the age of Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger) and as scary and humorous because it must be.
One sequence, set in an inconceivable nightclub (seemingly misplaced in a small city), showcases the MTV-ready soundtrack and appears like teen viewers bait. Nevertheless, for the reason that scene in query permits Sarandon to be so attractive and play up the seductive nature of the vampire, the film will get away with it.
“Fright Night time” is vampire-lite, in comparison with the likes of the next Kathryn Bigelow’s “Close to Darkish” (1986) and Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992). Nonetheless, whereas these films are heavier with their violence and depth, it’d be mistaken to miss how “Fright Night time” and even “The Monster Squad” (1987) have been distinctly old style of their depiction of vampirism poisoning the American bloodstream.
Richard Edlund’s visible results, created a 12 months after his milestone work for “Ghostbusters,” are not any much less spectacular. Holland’s “Baby’s Play” (1988) and “Psycho II” (launched in 1983, which Holland wrote however didn’t direct) are a lot scarier, however he must be pleased with “Fright Night time.”
It pays loving homage to the creaky spookfests that got here earlier than it, supplies real jolts and, in contrast to most horror movies launched in 1985, it’s such a treasure chest and spooky, cob-webbed coffin of enjoyable.
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