Fright Night
There may have been many discussion on these sites about the absolutely tired feeling we get when people mention vampires. Further down the path that a zombies are shuffling down, vampires were a once terrifying breed of movie monsters that have become a joke; a great big sparkly joke. Now we are demanding they take up their eternal sleep in coffins and stop draining us off excitement and money. But before you plunge that stake into the heart of all things vamp, if you want to find some pleasure in vampire movies then you have to head back to its heydays.
And yes, I may be talking about the eighties.
In 1985, Fright Night came out that made vampires both incredible seductive and terrifying at the same time. Written and directed by Tom Holland, Fright Night stars Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandridge, a mysterious neighbour who movies next door to teenager Charley. This would have been fine if Charley didn’t admire movie star vampire killer Peter Vincent. Already suspicious of his neighbour, his worries are confirmed when he spies Dandridge attempting to kill an unsuspecting victim. A cat and mouse game pursues between the two as Dandridge hopes to entice Charley’s beautiful girlfriend Amy into his world of the undead.
After years of being subjected to impossibly stunning vampires who have not one monstrous bone in their body, Fright Night impressively does both. Relying on the charismatic lead of Sarandon to effectively carry this off. Dandridge is ultimately this mysterious man who slowly manages to control all of Charley’s life and entice people into his supernatural world of fangs (without bangs.) Sarandon manages to say little but still charm is way into your neckline. And then becomes this horrifying beast. Holland’s choice to give make the vampires wide mouthed, big eyed and disgusting creatures makes the monsters fearful and watching it now, it’s brilliantly new. Sarandon is the best here, being both mocking, vengeful and snakelike.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Fright Night without the humour and that comes with Peter Vincent and Evil Ed. Vincent, named after Peter Cushing and Vincent Price, Vincent is a Hammer Horror presenter of late night movies. Played by Roddy McDowell, he is this ridiculous man who riffs of swimmingly with William Ragsdale’s Charley. Charley mistakenly entrusts Vincent with his fears over Dandridge and Vincent, become disillusioned with his craft dismisses him. Some of the best moments come from Vincent finally believing and not coping with the fact that vampires are real.
And then there’s Evil Ed, who is actually pretty terrifying as a vampire in this strange ADHD way (if he is just a little bit annoying.)
Fright Night is one of the best vampire movies because it has everything. It has an impossibly attractive antagonist (even in his era riddled sweatpants,) astonishing special effects that are both creepy and frightening, hilarious repertoire that keeps the movie in good spirits and a story that is as best entrancing as Dandridge himself. Stay away from the remake because it doesn’t do the original justice.
Fright Night is brilliant fun.
So vampire movies, take a bite out of some classic fanged action.
TTFN
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