The Best Vampire Movie: Fright Night (1985)
Fright Night is a 1985 film written and directed by Tom Holland, and it is arguably the best vampire movie out there. The movie begins when Charlie Brewster, played by William Ragsdale, is making out with his girlfriend, Amy (Amanda Bearse), and she is finally ready to fuck. For some reason, this guy gets distracted by his new neighbor carrying a coffin indoors, which is the most unbelievable part of the movie, including the monsters, since dudes are going to try to fuck no matter what distraction is going on outside. She leaves pissed, rightfully so.
The next night, Charlie pulls the classic pervy teen looking at his neighbor’s tits out of his window with the binoculars trope.
The prostitute Charlie was peeping, who gets killed quickly after.
He sees things that make him think his new neighbor is a vampire, and it bothers me that his mom doesn’t listen to what he says throughout the whole movie. I understand the policeman thinking he’s crazy, but the mom never indulging him is odd to me. She kind of annoys the shit out of me throughout the whole movie. Like, there’s a part where she doesn’t wake up with all this goddamn noise going on in the house for like five straight minutes. I feel like if I told my mom about some crazy shit like this, she wouldn’t believe me at first, but if I talked to her seriously about what I think I saw, she’d take my side.
There’s a funny part where he gets one of his friends, Ed (played by Stephen Geoffreys), to do something for $8, which is close to $25 in today’s money. We used to be a proper country.
Classic vampire rules are the best. I don’t hate Twilight, but the rules for their vampires in that universe make things so dull and much less exciting. Special effects, especially from 80s movies, were so much better than CGI. I am by no means a CGI hater, but practical effects from 80s horror movies are something else.
One of the things I like about this movie is how convincing Ragsdale is playing a desperate and lonely character while trying to convince literally anyone that a vampire is trying to kill him. I always thought it would be interesting to have a Fright Night spin-off show either set in their world where ghouls, vampires, and werewolves exist or of the actual Peter Vincent show.
I like the remake as well, and I will probably go through it at some point, but the original is better. I do like the Criss Angel Mindfreak Peter Vincent; that’s funny, but the characters in this one are better. Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandan) is a far better Jerry than Collin Farrell. He’s much more charming and charismatic as opposed to sleazy. Sarandon could have made a solid Bruce Wayne because he nails the strong, confident persona. Peter Vincent’s (Roddy McDowall) makeup is almost distractingly hilarious.
Bruce Wayne or Vampire? Same shit, I guess.
There is a scene in a club, and what Jerry is able to do not only to Amy but to two bouncers with like a solid 200 people as witnesses is bat-shit crazy. People just saw this dude with fangs and red eyes kill two people at once the fuck? Also, Ed is turning into a vampire, and Vincent uses a cross on him, yet later, while trying to use a cross on Jerry, the cross doesn’t work.
This thousand-year-old vampire spends like half the movie trying to impress and spend eternity with a high school girl, which is like peak loser behavior. Vincent’s second fight with Evil Ed and his death is so cool, and the transformation scene there is pretty gnarly. I have no idea what sort of creature or monster Jerry’s roommate, Billy Cole (Johnathan Stark), is supposed to be, but I love that everyone who dies in this movie basically melts to death. A majority of the on-screen deaths in this movie are done with cool as fuck practical effects.
The sun coming up slowly behind Jerry near the end of the movie is brilliant. Jerry breaking his own windows to get into his own house is kind of retarded, given the fact that we’ve seen him basically teleport throughout the movie. Vampire demon Amy with lace and titties kinda works for me that’s hot and then turns scary as fuck. It is cool to see Peter Vincent attempt to kill Jerry the same way he did in his show earlier in the movie with a steak through the heart while Jerry is in his coffin. Breaking the black-painted windows in the basement was a creative and smart death, and I love watching it in both versions of the movie.
This is a great movie and perfect in time for October. This also has one of the coolest movie posters out there. They do not make them like they used to. Watch this one for sure.
