There goes the neighborhood: When an undead suckface moves in next door.
Teenage horror movie addict Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) notes unusual goings-on at the house next door when handsome Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), such as a coffin being loaded into the house in the middle of the night, and the studly new neighbor bringing home random women who are never seen again. Charlie observes his neighbor from afar, but one night he notes Dandridge luring a hot morsel to the house and into his bedroom. Charlie settles in for some good ol' voyeurism, but instead of getting to creepily watch his neighbor shagging the nubile woman, Charlie gets an eyeful of Dandridge's unnaturally long fingers and pronounced canine as he closes in for the kill. Yes, Jerry Dandridge is a straight-up vampire, and Dandridge notices Charlie peeping on him. His vampire nature revealed, Dandridge locks eyes with Charlie and lowers the shade. Knowing that an actual vampire resides right next door, a terrified Charlie struggles to make his best friend (Stephen Geoffreys) and girlfriend (a pre-MARRIED...WITH CHILDREN Amanda Bearse) believe that there's a bloodthirsty monster next door, but when his raving falls on deaf ears, Charlie enlists the aid of Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), once an actor renowned for his roles as a stalwart vampire hunter but now a washed-up has-been who hosts a horror movie showcase at a local TV station. As all of this is going on, Jerry begins terrorizing Charlie and threatening his loved ones, with Charlie's girlfriend catching his attention. It's only a matter of time until all hell breaks loose, and when it does, will Charlie be up to the challenge?
When
FRIGHT NIGHT hit movie screens in late summer of 1985, it landed during
the fifth year of the horror box office being deluged with endless
slasher films cynically made in order to ride the lucrative returns of
HALLOWEEN (1978) and FRIDAY THE 13th (1980). During that period the
onslaught of slashers was relentless, and due to such films being cheap
to make, they just kept on coming and most of them sucked out loud.
Showers of blood and gore do not necessarily make for a scary night at
the movies, but the filmmakers for the most part did not care, as long
as the charnel house thrills brought in the bucks. So when FRIGHT NIGHT
arrived, it was a breath of fresh air that harked back to the old school
horror flicks of bygone decades. The script was solid, the performances
were all on target, its eerie atmosphere was just right, and the
practical effects were leagues better than anything found in most of the
contemporary hack-'em-ups. It was just what we needed at the time, and I
especially loved it for having the feel of the horror movies that first
made me fall in love with the genre during my formative years.
I avoided going into more detail regarding the plot, as it's a movie best approached with as little knowledge of the particulars, so trust me when I steer you toward this one. In a decade in which horror films (along with testosterone-fueled action movies) reigned supreme at the box office, whether they were actually any good or not, FRIGHT NIGHT is a true gem of a throwback. There's minor nudity, a reasonable amount of profanity, and some scary and gory visuals, but it's nothing that kids ten and older couldn't handle, so sit the young 'uns through this one. My only suggestion is that they see some of Hammer's vampire flicks as a prerequisite.
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