Review: Fright Night (1985)

William Ragsdale is Charlie Brewster, a teenage horror movie fan who thinks he sees new neighbour Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) skulking about outside one night with a coffin, headed towards Jerry’s basement. Not long after this, it’s discovered that a woman has been brutally murdered. Charlie had previously witnessed the very same woman through Jerry’s window in a bit of hanky-panky before Jerry appears to take a bite out of her. Charlie, therefore, comes to the completely rational (in his mind) conclusion that Jerry must be a vampire! Unfortunately, his story is so bizarre and Jerry’s so debonair that Charlie can’t get the police (in the person of detective Art Evans) to believe him. So he, his virginal girlfriend (Amanda Bearse) and cackling friend ‘Evil’ Ed (Stephen Geoffreys) turn to horror TV ‘vampire killer’ Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowell) instead. Vincent, naturally is dismissive of such nonsense, however…his show soon gets cancelled and money is tight, so why not humour the boy for a bit? Meanwhile, Jerry appears to have designs on Charlie’s girlfriend (did I mention both she and Charlie are virgins? Jerry’s gonna get there first, if Charlie’s not careful!). Now a horror movie fan and a hammy actor will need to truly believe in order to stop this very real monster before he can claim Charlie’s girlfriend as his own vampire bride! Jonathan Stark plays Jerry’s equally sinister roommate Billy.

 

Previously working solely as a screenwriter (“Psycho II”, “Class of ‘84”), writer-director Tom Holland made his directorial debut with this 1985 light horror film. It’s not his best film (that would be “Child’s Play”), but it’s really enjoyable stuff. I call it a light horror film, but you could easily call it horror-comedy like “Evil Dead II”, or a juvenile horror film fitting in with the likes of “Night of the Creeps”, “The Lost Boys”, and “The Monster Squad”. I just think ‘light horror with a bit of wit’ is more accurate for me personally.

 

Although William Ragsdale is highly underrated in the lead, the two main performances you’re gonna remember here come from Stephen Geoffreys and Roddy McDowall. Geoffreys, a troubled actor who made several horror films and comedies in the mid-80s, got side-tracked with both a drug addiction and a career in hardcore gay porn (Everyone knows about that one now, right?). That’s a shame because he really had his own thing going on, there’s never been anyone quite like him before or since. No one has line readings quite like him, where you’re unsure if he’s on drugs, an alien, or just freaking weird. Maybe all three. Geoffreys’ last moments in the film are actually oddly rather touching, despite the actor being on screen only for the last bit of it. You’ll see what I mean when you see the film (if you haven’t already seen in a hundred times). ‘Evil Ed’ has become an iconic 80s horror character, possibly because he’s so unique, not only due to Geoffreys’ off the wall line readings, but just the fact that, well, he seems like kind of a dick. Are he and Charlie even friends? He constantly teases Charlie, and in one of the film’s oft-quoted lines, sarcastically remarks ‘You’re so cool, Brewster!’. Is he trolling? Stoned? Sincere? Who knows, and that’s kind of the fun of the character.

 

The other performance you’ll remember here is from veteran character actor Roddy McDowell, whose Peter Vincent by his very name evokes Peter Cushing and Vincent Price. Peter Vincent is your typical cult horror actor who has recently been fired from his horror-themed  TV hosting gig because today’s audiences (that is, the early-to-mid 80s) are less interested in vampires and werewolves and much more into slashers. It’s a parody of Hammer horror heroes, but in an affectionate way that seems to yearn for those more innocent times in horror that depended more on the imagination. McDowell may not have been a horror icon himself, but if you can’t get Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, or Donald Pleasance, Roddy McDowell nonetheless is perfectly capable of doing the job. The greatest gag in the entire film is that in order for the vampire to be destroyed here, the hero must have complete faith in the existence of such evil, and in things such as holy water. What’s funny about that? In order for this to work, Peter Vincent the actor must convince himself that he’s Peter Vincent: Vampire Hunter. Priceless. That’s where McDowell’s casting proves correct, because one has no problem buying McDowell as a reticent, rather frightened person.

 

As for the lead villain, Chris Sarandon, he’s just OK. In the early scenes where he’s being a glib prick and barely saying anything, he’s very amusing. However, if there’s one thing Chris Sarandon is not, it’s menacing. In smaller roles, future “Married…With Children” co-star and well-known lesbian Amanda Bearse is amusingly cast as Charlie’s virginal girlfriend. The problem is, though, she really can’t act and her whiny performance is excruciating. She’s the one flaw, if you ask me. Better is Jonathan Stark, who is all kinds of ambiguous as Sarandon’s roommate who may or may not be his gay lover, and whose actual species isn’t entirely explained in the film. One gets the impression that he’s in the process of becoming a vampire, but currently in that limbo state. The film contains a really excellent music score by the still underappreciated composer Brad Fiedel (“The Terminator”, “Blue Steel”, “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”, “True Lies”). It’s very, very 80s, but it’s a terrific mixture of synth and electric guitar. The makeup is pretty good too, even if the monster makeup looks far more lycanthrope than vampire. Just on a pure artistry level, though, it’s impressive for 1985. The FX by Richard Edlund (“Star Wars”, “Ghostbusters”, “Big Trouble in Little China”, “The Monster Squad”) are cheesy, but also fun. There’s also a nice use of fog throughout, with Holland giving us foggy dark alleys as a kind of American equivalent of foggy moors in England. Sarandon’s house seemingly bubbling in fog like a giant science experiment is ridiculous, but a cool visual nonetheless. Whether you credit the camera operators or cinematographer Jan Kiesser (“Clean and Sober”, “Fido”, “The Thaw”), the film offers up some really crazy camerawork throughout, albeit a little more sedate than say “The Evil Dead”.

 

No matter what kind of film you call it, this is undeniably a lot of fun. Chris Sarandon lacks menace as the chief threat, and Amanda Bearse is terrible as the virgin he lusts after, but otherwise, this is an 80s flick that still holds up well some 30 odd years later.

 

Rating: B