1985, whilst doing my paper round, I used to change my route to avoid seeing the poster for a horror film which I found quite scary!
The poster featured a female vampire with mouth wide open to expose her fangs above a house. That film was Fright Night
Moving on, a rainy day in a video shop with my younger brother, we tried to find a film to watch. He naturally chose Fright Night & having had last choice & having spent what seemed like hours in the store, I agreed (being tall, I got away with renting the 18 cert film)
However, the one thing I hadn’t allowed for was just how good this film was, my brother may have picked it but I loved it!
Directed by Tom Holland, who would go on to terrify audiences by bringing Chucky to the screen in Childs Play, Fright Night centres on college kid, Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale)
Charley gets himself convinced that the mysterious Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) who has moved in next door is a vampire
Both his best friend, horror fanatic Evil Ed (Stephen Geoffreys) and his girlfriend Amy Peterson (Amanda Bearse) refuse to believe him. Their reason is his obsession with Fright Night, a late night tv show, hosted by famous movie vampire killer, Peter Vincent (the excellent Roddy McDowall)
As Charley becomes more & more obsessed with Jerry, Amy & Ed are forced to take drastic measures. Cornering Peter at the TV studio, with him being short on money, they hire him to put on a show with Jerry to prove he isn’t a vampire!
Aiming to prove Charley’s obsession wrong, Peter tests Jerry with fake holy water! Charley reluctantly agrees he’s wrong & all seems normal
Peter, checking his hair before leaving, sees that Jerry casts no reflection and gets away as fast as he can, scared out of his life, he’s an actor, not a fearless vampire killer!
Jerry, now with an obsession of his own, Charley’s girlfriend, aims to take control of those who know his secret!Taking control of Amy & Ed, Charley once again begs Peter for his help in getting rid of the Vampire who lives next door!
With special effects from Ghostbusters legend Richard Edlund, excellent performance from Sarandon & McDowell especially, plus the additional touches of humour within the scares, a haunting score from Brad Fiedel, this really is an Eighties classic!
A sequel, which we loved just as much and an okay remake followed, but the original remains one of out favourite films of all time!
Do you have a favourite Eighties vampire film, The Lost Boys or Near Dark also both popular during this time! Do you prefer the |Fright Night remake? Do you prefer your vampires to be twilight sparkly? We’d love to hear from you!
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