Again, folks, sorry for the long absence between posts. My job and living situation has settled down slightly, and I should be back in the saddle as soon as the Comcast people fix my broken DVR. Meanwhile, I still have access to the On Demand movies, and while browsing I found ...
1985's cult classic Fright Night!
The plot is a really traditional/overused one, that you've probably seen (too?) many times in horror films - innocent kid sees evil things happening next door, nobody believes him until it's too late, it's up to kid (and sometimes mentor or friends) to banish the evil forever. Think Salem's Lot, Phantasm, The People Under the Stairs, etc etc.
Here, the cast is really note perfect for a cheesy pop-horror flick. Chris Sarandon is magnificent as the evil vampire next door. Amanda Bearse is note-perfect as the "girl next door" girlfriend of our main character Charley, who is more or less convincingly played by William Ragsdale (best known for a slew of TV roles, including Herman from the early '90s Fox sitcom Herman's Head). His friend Evil Ed we've seen before on this blog, as Hoax (the nerdy kid) in 976-EVIL. And the fantastic Roddy McDowell is Peter Vincent, a mash-up of Peter Cushing and Vincent Price.
The movie goes by pretty quickly and it's a neat 100 minutes. There are a number of nice little touches throughout, like how the vampire is munching on apples - apparently Chris Sarandon suggested to the director Tom Holland that "there was a little bit of fruit bat in him" ... weird, but OK. It adds atmosphere and is a nice quirky touch.
Or Charley's awesome Mustang, which the vampire spitefully destroys - that's when you know he's REALLY evil. Or the way the vampire rises from his coffin stiff as a board, just like Nosferatu. Or the good "Vampire Face" makeup. Or the great '80s club scene where the vampire just TRASHES two innocent bouncers. Or the fantastic vampire death scene in the basement.
That's a pretty good list, and I could keep going easily. The movie is one of those "sum of the parts is more than the whole" gigs where there are a fantastic number of little things that add up.
It was a the highest grossing horror film in 1985! Who knew? It cost $9 million to make, and brought back just shy of $25 million in the US alone, not counting video or DVD or foreign gross. Pretty decent. It's a LOT of fun, and in this coming Halloween season is worth putting on with a bowl of popcorn and a group of friends.
The plot is a really traditional/overused one, that you've probably seen (too?) many times in horror films - innocent kid sees evil things happening next door, nobody believes him until it's too late, it's up to kid (and sometimes mentor or friends) to banish the evil forever. Think Salem's Lot, Phantasm, The People Under the Stairs, etc etc.
Here, the cast is really note perfect for a cheesy pop-horror flick. Chris Sarandon is magnificent as the evil vampire next door. Amanda Bearse is note-perfect as the "girl next door" girlfriend of our main character Charley, who is more or less convincingly played by William Ragsdale (best known for a slew of TV roles, including Herman from the early '90s Fox sitcom Herman's Head). His friend Evil Ed we've seen before on this blog, as Hoax (the nerdy kid) in 976-EVIL. And the fantastic Roddy McDowell is Peter Vincent, a mash-up of Peter Cushing and Vincent Price.
The movie goes by pretty quickly and it's a neat 100 minutes. There are a number of nice little touches throughout, like how the vampire is munching on apples - apparently Chris Sarandon suggested to the director Tom Holland that "there was a little bit of fruit bat in him" ... weird, but OK. It adds atmosphere and is a nice quirky touch.
Or Charley's awesome Mustang, which the vampire spitefully destroys - that's when you know he's REALLY evil. Or the way the vampire rises from his coffin stiff as a board, just like Nosferatu. Or the good "Vampire Face" makeup. Or the great '80s club scene where the vampire just TRASHES two innocent bouncers. Or the fantastic vampire death scene in the basement.
That's a pretty good list, and I could keep going easily. The movie is one of those "sum of the parts is more than the whole" gigs where there are a fantastic number of little things that add up.
It was a the highest grossing horror film in 1985! Who knew? It cost $9 million to make, and brought back just shy of $25 million in the US alone, not counting video or DVD or foreign gross. Pretty decent. It's a LOT of fun, and in this coming Halloween season is worth putting on with a bowl of popcorn and a group of friends.
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