Fright Night

Fright Night...1985...106 minutes....rated R...starring William Ragsdale, Chris Sarandon, Amanda Bearse, and Roddy McDowell...written and directed by Tom Holland

Poor Charley Brewster, he thought he had it bad just trying to get into his girlfriend's pants. Life takes a serious turn for the worse when a vampire and his (ghoul? housebuddy? whatever) move into the house next door. Of course, no one believes him...not the school horror geek, not his girlfriend, certainly not the police, and not even the host of the late night horror movie show, Mr. Peter Vincent (Vampire Slayer! Or at least in the movies he was in.) How is Charlie going to survive the wrath of his undead neighbor?

Okay, this may not be the best movie ever, but it is one that is near and dear to my heart. Partially I find it so because it's out of my teenage years, partially because I think that Roddy McDowell is at his best here as a washed-up actor trying to help Charlie find his bearings (after being paid, of course).  I'm also fond of the whole "Evil Ed" character as well. It's a charming, fairly tight, entertaining movie...and I think we should respect the films that make us feel good, technically perfect or not.

I'm not such a big fan of Amanda Bearse...though it's amusing to remember that she was here before she was on "Married With Children". I had a hard time believing that a vampire would find her appealing, even if she resembled someone he once knew.   The makeup effects are what they were for movies at the time, and if some of them seem cheesy, at least they work with the concept of parodying old vampire films. That said, when Amy inevitably turns vampiric, there's a shot where her mouth is split incredibly wide open that I still find a touch unsettling.

Something to note is the vampire himself. He's not calling himself something archaic like Vlad or Yorga, but by the perfectly acceptable name of Jerry Dandridge. He dresses like a yuppie, has wonderful but not formal manners, and there's a touch of the devilish rogue about him. We know he has some sort of history, but he's perfectly comfortable in the modern age of the 80s as opposed to living in a moldering old castle. Vampirism seems less like a terrible curse, though there's still evil in it...the trend of making vampires more mainstream has begun right here in this movie,but will get a big push later in Schumacher's "The Lost Boys".

I give this one 3.5 chewed apples out of 5...and who knew vampires ate apples?