Fright Night
When it comes to the history of horror movies, before the various franchises, before the era of highly advanced gore and makeup FX, before the breaking down into wanton violence, the lifeblood of the genre was actually fueled by a certain plethora of ACTORS whose name on the poster alone was enough to guarantee healthy box office returns from audiences wanting to see these starsâ patented form of acting which just seemed perfectly suited for all kinds of scary movies, of which they included everyone from Boris Karloff to Bela Lugosi to Vincent Price to Christopher Lee. Such was the fan adulation for these guys that many had almost come to believe in the idea that they (Price in particular) really did hold some kind of powerful sway over the dark forces that be in this universe, when the actual truth was that they were all just working stiff actors who had successfully cornered the horror movie market for themselves in order to keep the paychecks rolling in, with the only closest modern day equivalent to them probably being Robert Englund (and if one looks at his non-Freddy horror roles, there might be a lot of them but nothing really worth writing home about). Naturally, a wonderful concept for a horror film would seem to be one where the ACTOR would find himself being tasked to face a real life horror based off his glowing reputation of dealing with evil figures in one movie after another. That would be the basic, winning concept for this 1985 vampire film, a classic of both its subgenre as well as the decade itself, but writer / director Tom Holland managed to infuse quite a bit more than that into the mix, including a daringly innovative gay subtext. The film stars William Ragsdale as Charley Brewster, a gawkier than usual high school teen who is always trying to get into his girlfriendâs (Amanda âMarcy Dâarcyâ Bearse) pants with limited results, when one night, he notices some new neighbors next door carrying in a coffin. Next thing he knows there are reports on the news of the brutal murders of a number of local hookers (one of which he personally saw going into the house) leading him to become more and more obsessed with ignoring his girlfriend and spending all of his free time sitting by his window with a pair of binoculars watching the two men living next door and their activities, and finally becomes convinced that at least one of them is none other than a genuine, honest to God vampire. Alarmed, Charley tries to blow the whistle on this development, but no one (including the cops) believes a word that he has to say, and it isnât long before Charleyâs clueless (and desperate) Mom invites the neighbor over to have a drink with her, opening the door for the vampire to soon reveal himself to Charley and letting him know that heâll be seeing him real soon in order to finish him off, and that thereâs absolutely nothing that he can do about it, especially since âvampires donât existâ. Desperate for help, Charley turns to of all places, his TV set, where he religiously watches the local Creature Feature program, âFright Nightâ (another 80s tradition as seen by Elvira and various local syndicated gimmick hosts), which is hosted by an old has been horror movie actor who had made somewhat of a career for himself by always playing a Van Helsing-type vampire killer in his movies, leading the poor, dumb kid to reason, why not look up this guy who seems to know more about killing vampires than anyone else for help? But alas, said old horror movie actor Peter Vincent (wonderfully played by Roddy McDowell in a possible career best performance from having a VERY long career) admits to him that itâs all just an act and tells him to go away, being a little bit more concerned about losing his job, drowning in debt, and finding himself evicted from his apartment than in helping some apparently lunatic kid live out his delusions. But when the girlfriend becomes worried that Charley might actually sneak over to the neighborâs house and attempt to commit murder, she goes back to Vincent to appeal for his help once again, and after a cash offer of some chump change, he agrees to strap on his old gear and do a little live performance for the kids and the neighbor, only to realize that the actual vampire next door has big plans for all of them. With such a great hook like this for a vampire film, itâs not really all that unexpected that the main vampire villain himself would come off as being somewhat of a disappointment (see Carpenterâs Vampires), but fortunately Chris Sarandon brings a lot of class to the film as Jerry Dandridge, a suave, worldly looking type to the great unwashed who takes on a rather bemused viewpoint of hip modern vampire (and vampire movie) culture, knowing all the clichĂ©s even while he (and the movie) still proudly stick to certain traditions of vampire lore even when he blithely whistles âStrangers In The Nightâ during one stalking scene and effortlessly seduces women (including the girlfriend) as he also maintains a nearly pseudo gay relationship with his âlive in carpenterâ who is actually his seemingly human (walking around in the daylight) protector that happens to give off an even creepier vibe than even his own master (Jonathan Stark). Of course, any discussion of this film would be incomplete without bringing up Stephen Geoffreysâ amazingly out of left field turn as the one and only Evil Ed, the dementedly goofy best friend of Brewsterâs whose defining quality is his will to be weird (and without having many friends for doing so), with his immortal catchphrase line âOh youâre so cool, Brewster!â and shriekingly insane laughter, but yet heâs stricken by the fact that his own crushing teen insecurities make him into a prime target for the vampire who promises Ed that joining him will make Evil far more powerful than any of his tormentors (even as it seems obvious that the vampire views him as being little more than an expendable dirty work specialist), and Geoffreysâ riveting combination of hilarity and uncertainty represent the real life actorâs eventual descent into hard drugs and eventually (after Hollywood roles had dried up on him) excessively seedy gay porno films. The scriptâs biggest weakness would seem to be its attempt to integrate some straight up comedy into the mix, but except for Evil, it only results in some awkward moments and lines of dialogue (any scene with Charleyâs mother is almost painful to watch), but the writing also smartly eschews much of the direct exposition when it comes to backstory and just allows the viewer to figure out things as we see them (most notably Dandridgeâs history and the level of power that he holds in the vampire ranks, with him apparently thinking that setting up shop in a nondescript American suburb offers a considerably reduced risk factor). The special effects and makeup are actually quite superb for their time and hold up very well to this day, but itâs the surprisingly classic (despite the obvious irony) atmosphere along with the sense of dread and style that Holland as a director brings to the proceedings that defines it as a classic of its time as Dandridge (knowing full well that nobody who could do any real damage to his ongoing operations would ever believe the heroes) gets a little cocky and issues an open, direct challenge to both Brewster and Vincent to come to his house and try to take him down, with him clearly knowing that Brewster is just a boy and that the âfearless vampire killerâ himself is really just a frightened old man, but it is in Vincent finding his own true righteous spirit (awesomely put forth by McDowellâs acting) to discover the courage, and most importantly, the FAITH to take on this real life vampire hunt that the film shocks us all by actually finding a universal theme: that truly unbreakable, unshakable faith in all that is pure, good, and holy in the end is all one really needs in order to face down the truly evil monsters of this world, whatever they might be, whether real or perceived, which ultimately makes this film with its three unforgettable main characters and the coolest 80s vibe imaginable, one of the best of its kind ever madeâŠ
9/10