Review of Fright Night (1985) by Brandon W — 20 Jul 2012

My first exposure to this movie was when someone sent me the now infamous clip of "Evil" popping out of bed and scaring Peter Vincent before informing him that Charley's "DINNER'S in the OVEN! MMMMPH-MM!" I had a good long laugh about it, and while in the back of my mind thought the imagery and effects didn't look bad just kind of like a half assed Sam Raimi flick I quickly forgot it and didn't have much interest in actually watching this. It wasn't until I saw a trailer for the remake coming out in a few weeks, in which Colin Farrell leers at a young boy and threatens to kill his whole family that seemed incredibly dark and action oriented that confused and lost I decided I must see the original. Was the original a dark and action packed horror fest or was it some silly campy horror fun? Did it try to reconcile the two? That would be awful. It turned out that the original Fright Night was written and was the directorial debut of Child's Play creator Tom Holland, it was one of the first, most successful and most critically acclaimed entries into the bizarre cult sub genre of horror comedies and was a surprise hit in the summer of 1985. It drew in considerable amounts of money in the box office for only having one moderately famous actor and was the second best selling horror film of the year behind Nightmare on Elm Street. However it seems it wasn't long after that, that the movie was forgotten a horrible sequel that didn't do very well at all was made and it seemed this would be lost to all but obscure horror fans until out of nowhere it became the latest of many "classic" horror movies to get an even darker and grittier effects driven reboot. This reboot as of this review hasn't come out yet, but I suppose since the movie's been so quickly forgotten it's worth exploring if the film deserves this re visitation. Was the original film really a lost gem or was it just the mediocre meanderings of an overrated hipster sub genre built on irony? Let's take a frightening look... for real.

The movie is played surprisingly straight as a tale of a fairly average 80s teenage boy named Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale who is a combination of Matthew Broderick, John Cusack, Michael J Fox and every other 80s movie teen which works to his advantage here at least) who is having relationship troubles with his needy girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse, this role based off the dialogue probably required nothing more than someone attractive and she doesn't even fit that bill). Things get a whole lot worse when he discovers his androgynous new neighbor Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon, who propels the film to greatness with his uncanny ability to have perfect comedic timing while delivering all of his lines like a sincere B Movie vampire) is actually an evil vampire who's been killing local women and when Charley calls the police and reveals he knows the mans secret Jerry decides it has become necessary to kill him. Jerry turns local outcast Ed "Evil" Thompson (Stephen Geoffreys who you really want to die but also find funny as shit) into a fellow minion of the undead and kidnaps Charley's beloved Amy bringing her into his home so its up to Charley and Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall playing the hero he deserves to finally be and giving a strong career thesis) star of the B Movie television programs Fright Night (yes and 80s movie with levels of meta this high is astounding) to break in and kill the vampires and save Amy. Looks like it will be a Fright Night... for real.

I was expecting extreme mediocrity here and I can't remember the last time a movie this pleasantly surprised me. Horror comedy is a genre that I've always admired from afar Evil Dead were awesome and Screams 1 & 2 were a guilty pleasure but in both cases they either didn't scare me enough or didn't make me laugh enough for me to say it was a resounding success one way or another. This movie hits every not pitch perfect, the effects are cheesy and yet gross and worthy of admiration for the time in which they were made, the imagery is incredibly disturbing and imaginative, the dialogue is not particularly joke or gagged filled but McDowall and Sarandon in particular are funny enough to make this pretty straight shlock fest script hilarious. I feel like this movie shouldn't work, I shouldn't be laughing my ass off at Chris Sarandon one second as he asks "What's the matter Charley? Though I wouldn't enter without being invited first?" and raising an eyebrow in disgusted horror as he chokes the life out of Charley next and yet I do. It certainly has some really well choreographed fights and deaths and yet unlike the reboot seems to be it doesn't feel action driven at all which suited me fine. I really can't think of much else to say about Fright Night apart from that it's just COOL. The actors and their performances are cool, the direction which is incredibly smooth from Holland is cool, the wardrobe is cool (even as a straight man I must say Chris Sarandon was looking fine) and just about every perfectly shot scene is pretty damn cool and doesn't feel TOO overpoweringly 80s. Judging by the fact NO ONE involved in this was met with this level of success again I think this was probably just a perfect storm of some averagely talented people but that just makes it all the more special.

Fright Night is not just a good movie, it's a GREAT movie it defines a genre and is one of the most perfectly made movies of all time for what it wants to be. Still that said I can completely understand why some people may not have been crazy about this one because it takes a unique person to like horror comedy. The fact is most people that like horror don't like comedy and vice versa and too like this particular brand of comedy you have to draw a great deal of amusement from...irony. Yes, this movie is a classic for hipster douches like myself and while for a brief and shining moment during its theatrical run I think it reached a much broader audiences because of its freshness and originality in an already growing stale horror genre it doesn't surprise me that after the novelty wore off people who aren't hipsters seemed to kind of forget about this one. Hell some in hind sight panned it and even mocked it. But this movie is a bona fide classic and one of the all time greatest in my opinion so long as your open too it so if you're on the fence and it sounds like it might appeal to you, go ahead and take a chance it will be worth every glorious minute.