Fright Night - 1985
This film, to me, is the definition of a cult classic. I cannot say that I spend my days perusing mountains of listicles in the "greatest horror movies" mold, but the fact that I so rarely hear it in conversation leaves me confident enough to call it "underrated." Perhaps it's the godawful remake that sits closer in the viewer's mind, obstructing their eyes from all the glory on display in the original. Whatever the case, it's time for Fright Night to get its fair due.
Let's start with the bigger themes. The timing of Fright Night's release is notable. By the mid-80's, the grander reach of the early titans of horror (Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, etc.) had given way to a new genre. Freddy and Jason (and Michael Myers, for that matter) were not the only shows in town. There was Carpenter and early Cronenberg, Dante's The Howling and others. BUT the "slasher flicks" started to take center stage. Against these new acts, it's not hard to imagine how the entire vampire tradition, from Stoker's Dracula (Hell, we can go back to Nosferatu) onward could appear a little buttoned up and staid, even mannerly.
But this is PRECISELY the genius of Fright Night. It is entirely self-aware. It recognizes that the vampire tradition has, in essence, been leapfrogged by the masked Jason and Freddy, but what it does with it is brilliant. Not only does it turn in a new direction, it also goes meta. One of my favorite horror films of a decade after this is Scream. Many at the time pointed to how Wes Craven really deconstructed horror films and the slasher genre. It tells us the rules of such films, and then proceeds to both subvert and fulfill them in varied ways.
Well, I'm here to argue that Fright Night does it too a decade earlier. We just weren't really paying attention. For starters, like Scream, the film finds the line between horror and comedy. Most of this "meta stuff" generally comes in the form of subtle self-critique. Here it is the Peter Vincent character, masterfully and gleefully played by Roddy McDowall. The man hosts a show called Fright Night in which he plays a vampire killer himself. He tells the audience of all the tips and tools fo the trades. The trouble is in real life he thinks it's all hooey. In the actual world, the show is tanking and about to can him, and he's scraping pennies for domestic comforts.
In other words, he's the PERFECT character for whom the teenage boy who becomes convinced that a vampire has just moved in next door to him to come running. Again, this is smart even in the nomenclature. Peter Vincent is a clearcallback to Vincent Price and the films of old. He's also witty, professorial, and just the perfect amount of fish out of water to make this all hold together.
The other trick the film pulls is to use vampire's obsolescence to its advantage. Charley Brewster (played by William Ragsdale. He's no Brando, but he's endearing and that's about all that matters), the teen who stumbles upon this discovery of problematic neighbors, witnesses all sorts of weird rites and rituals. The remarkable thing is that Chris Sarandon and Jonathan Stark feel plenty confident doing all this in broad daylight. They're practically parading around advertising their nighttime exploits. *Paint window black here. Carry corpse-shaped trash bag out there.* Nobody digs vampires now, they seem to say. McDowall has the line that sends all this up the best: "The kids today don't have the patience for vampires. They want to see some mad slasher running around and chopping off heads."
There you have it. So the movie sets itself up very well. It introduces us to the teen couple who are moving towards scoring (another horror staple), with Amanda Bearse co-starring alongside Ragsdale. No matter how I try to squint my eyes, I just can't unsee Marcy from Married With Children in Amy. But this isn't to say she isn't convincing in the role. She plays the innocent girl torn between the safe boy of her youth and the libidinous older hunk who seems to have all the right moves.
Anyway, it's a bit like The Lost Boys (speaking of underrated vampire flicks) - the first hour is bump and set to the last 30 minutes hammering spike. Both films grant us the pleasure of ridiculously over-the-top 80's bit characters (costume accessories sold separately) and draw us in the particular rules of this "hunt." Evil Ed is this picture's soup du jour and his vocal affectations land somewhere between Rick Moranis and Bobcat Goldthwait. But hey, the young man does have a KILLER vampire turned wolf transformation in the back end.
Speaking of transformation, once Jerry Dandridge (Sarandon) starts getting his teeth into a few folks, things heat up like a blowtorch. We're introduced to another freaking great horror score. This one goes half icy synths and half subtle, sensual jazz yet somehow blends it all together beautifully. Once Peter Vincent and the boy go vampire hunting, and Amy gets locked in Dandridge clutches, Fright Night never takes its foot off the gas. It brings us downright awesome special effects (just what IS Billy Cole anyway?), popping facial makeup and prosthetics, and a memorable finale. But this film is nothing without Roddy McDowall. With him, it's a golden addition to the genre.
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