Review of Fright Night (1985) by Jack V — 08 Sep 2011

.....I wanna get this out RIGHT NOW! The love story in this Vampire movie is pedophillic (misspelled?...I DON'T CARE!!!). Now that I got THAT "enchanting" news out of the way, let's talk about "Fright Night".

It is the tale of a boy named Charlie (William Ragsdale), who learns fairly quickly that his new neighbor, Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire. No one believes Charlie, the police, his girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse), even his insane cult loving friend, Evil Ed thinks Charlie is whackers.

Throughout the film, wonderful tributes are made to other classic monster movies, and reinforce the cliche terrors that accompany it. The main example of this would be the TV host of the show, "Fright Night", Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall).

He is claimed to be a famed vampire killer and expert, when really he is a wasted actor who sees no potential in vampire stories. His character evolves tremendously, and I dare say, it is one of the best evolutions of a character.

Peter originally just thinks Charlie is a loon, and agrees to "help" him, after being paid off by Amy. When he realizes that there are in fact vampires, Vincent turns from a greedy man, to a cowardly man, admitting to his false claims as a vampire hunter.

However, he convinces himself to be a hero, through positive reinforcement, and also convincing himself the is the greatest vampire slayer. Seriously, it is difficult to describe how excellent this character is, if you're not into vampire movies, skip the vampire stuff and watch his scenes.

It really does detail the struggles of an out-of-work celebrity, and the lengths they are willing to go to to in order to prolong their career. Other noteworthy performances belong to Jerry Dandrige as the vampire himself.

..possibly the second coolest vampire after Dracula, but that's up for debate. At times, his portrayal is a bit campy, but for the rest of the time, he's smooth, seductive, and as terrifying as.

..a vampire. Evil Ed (yes, that IS his name) his hilariously creepy. You know that kid who you know at school who acts a little odd, laughs a lot for no apparent reason?...I Do, but lets not get into that.

Evil Ed is the embodiment of that kid everybody has ever met. One could see it as annoying, but I see it as sympathetic, who knows that he is different, who knows that he has faults, but all he really wants is to be accepted as a human being.

It's really quite sad come to think about it. Also worth mentioning, is the use of PRACTICAL effects, which also includes an AMAZING transformation scene WITHOUT CGI!!! OH GOD THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY.

..um...anyway, I'll end this review saying that "Fright Night" is (in my opinion) one of the best vampire movies ever made). Some see it as a comedy, some see it as terrifying, I fin it quite sad, seriously, I REALLY felt bad for the characters.

For the (Fright Night) rating 4 Vampire Bats out of 5.