Fright Night
by Tom Holland
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DVD details
Actor: Amanda Bearse, Chris Sarandon, Roddy McDowall, Stephen Geoffreys, William RagsdaleDirector: Tom Holland
Brand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-09-07
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Fright Night
DVD Review: Spending The Night with This Vamp Would Hardly Be A Fright . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
First things first: as a (then) teenage girl with new hormones as well as blood pulsing through my veins, I did not stand a chance against Chris Sarandon's positively sinful Jerry Dandridge. I became hooked on him (and on vamps in general from then on).
Now, then, on to this fine slice of eighties' horror.
Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a typical teenager living in suburbia with his single mom, going to high school, and trying to get beyond pg-rated makeout sessions with his sweet girlfriend, Amy (Amanda Bearse). He has a freaky best bud nicknamed "Evil" (Stephen Geoffreys) and is a fan of the late-night horror movie showcase hosted by Peter Vincent, Great Vampire Killer (Ladies and Gentlemen, Roddy McDowall), which often features his (Vincent's) very own films.
Then, a new guy moves in next door ("probably gay", his mother speculates when sharing the news that the new neighbor has a "live-in carpenter"), and not long after that, a sexy blonde dish happens to walk by as Charlie arrives home from school and asks for directions to that very house.
The next day, back at school, Charlie notices a news report playing on the TV in the cafeteria: a young woman, apparently a "working girl", has been found dead. Her photograph is shown . . . it's the same woman who asked Charlie for directions to his new neighbor's house.
As if all this wasn't sufficient to freak our man Charlie out, he sees his new neighbor and a beautiful young woman in the neighbor's window one night, decides to spy on them with binoculars . . . and sees New Neighbor's head lean back, his mouth open, exposing FANGS . . . and, just as he is apparently about to bite, he looks up and realizes he is being watched. He stops, steps away from his soon-to-be next victim, and pulls down his window shade - with a hand that seems to have abnormally long fingernails . . .
Charlie immediately tries to sound the alarm, waking his mother who mumbles something about having to be at work and goes back to sleep. His girlfriend accuses him of concocting an outrageous story to try to get her back (they have had a tiff over her refusal to "give it up" to him); his bud Evil humors him in exchange for a little cash, reciting the rules about dealing with a vampire (crosses, garlic, Holy Water, cannot enter a home unless invited by the owner, etc.) that people familiar with the mythology already know.
He is not believed by the police (the officer, in fact, threatens to arrest him if he comes to that station again).
Charlie goes home to find that his new neighbor has already been invited into the house by his clearly smitten mother. Jerry Dandrige (so sexy it should be outlawed Chris Sarandon) is genial and cordial on the surface, drinking a Bloody Mary (hardy har) and reaching out a hand (with normal fingernails now) to shake with Charlie. Only poor Charlie can hear the threat in Dandridge's promise that, now that he is welcome in their home, he will be coming over "any time he feels like it".
Sure enough, after Charlie's mom has turned in and he has fallen asleep in his chair, Dandridge comes back, this time to warn Charlie to stay away from him and out of his business. Charlie does not give up that easily, though, managing to fight off the vampire with a pencil through the hand (gnarly)! Dandrige retreats . . . for the time being. However, he quickly follows up with a threatening phone call, promising to finish what he had started the following night.
But charlie happens to glance at his TV, where a Peter Vincent, Vampire Killer movie is playing. There is the Fearless Mr. Vincent himself, staking a vampire, his face resolute, paying no attention to the blood spurting onto his own face. Eureka! Charlie knows who can really help him now!
Except that Peter Vincent is not a Vampire Killer, Great or otherwise, he is an actor who is known for playing a particular character. Upon meeting him, Charlie discovers that not only does Mr. Vincent think he (Charlie) is 'round the bend to believe in vampires, he has lost his job hosting his late-night show due to the fact that the new generation of movie-watchers seems to have lost interest in vampires ("Apparently all they want," Vincent disgruntedly observes, "are demented madmen running around in ski masks hacking up young virgins").
All righty then . . . no help there.
Evil and Amy, concerned about Charlie, show up at his house and go up to his bedroom . . . to find that he has practically turned it into a church, surrounding himself with candles, sacred statues, crosses . . . and he is in the process of carving a wooden stake. He is bound and determined to dispatch the vampire next door himself, whether anyone else will believe or help him or not. Alarmed at his intent to commit murder (from their point of view) and convinced that he is, at best, imagining things, and, at worst, having a full-on psychotic episode, they persuade him to let them try again to convince Peter Vincent to help him.
The two do as they have promised, going to see our Mr. Vincent in person and telling them just how convinced Charlie is about his neighbor. Badly in need of some quick money himself (he has just received an eviction notice from his landlord), Vincent agrees to go Dandridge's home with the three of them - but not to "kill and vampire"; rather to cure Charlie of his delusion by "proving" to him that Dandridge is human by having Dandridge drink "Holy Water" in front of them (although he has no intention of using water that has really been blessed).
They go, Dandridge dinks the water (which, being ordinary water, has no effect on him at all), and all seems well to everyone except Charlie . . . but then Mr. Vincent glances into his pocket mirror and sees that Dandridge does not reflect in it . . .
He is so startled he drops his mirror, but he tries to get them all out of there and away from Dandridge and his minion quickly while appearing as normal and polite as possible. After they are gone, however, Dandridge steps on the mirror, sees the broken pieces on his floor, and knows exactly what happened - they all know, which means they all have to either be killed or changed into vampires themselves (he has taken a particular fancy to Amy, intending to do the "eternal mate" thing with her).
The first to be turned, however, is Evil, who goes to confront Peter Vincent in one of the most creepy scenes of the film. Well, Poor Peter was freaked out enough to realize that Dandridge didn't reflect in his little mirror; being attacked by Evil as a vampire is more than he can take. He decides to GTHOOD (Get The He@@ Out Of Dodge), and fast.
Meanwhile, Charlie and Amy have been chased into a nightclub by Dandridge. While Charlie is on the phone with Peter in a last-ditch effort to get him to help, Amy is drawn in by Dandridge, dancing with him and having his spell cast over her. Charlie tries to stop them from leaving together, but Dandridge, of course, makes toast of Charlie and anyone else who tries to get in his way.
Charlie goes to Peter's place to tell him what has happened, but Peter still refuses to do anything more, insisting that Peter Vincent, Vampire Killer, is only "a character in a movie" and that the REAL Peter Vincent is scared s*&^less.
Charlie decides to go to Dandridge's house himself; Peter goes to Charlie's to check on his mother (and call the police from their phone). The lines have been cut, however, and when he goes upstairs into Mrs. Brewster's room, he instead finds Evil Ed, back for another round. Terrified as he is, Peter manages to stake Evil (in the form of a wolf) . . . and find some real courage within himself.
He goes to Dandridge's house ready to kick some more vamp butt; but it ain't that easy. For one thing, there is Dandridge's "live-in carpenter", actually a not-human-but-not-vampire-minion who is nonetheless dispatched with a stake through the heart.
Then, there is Dandridge himself, who manages to drive Peter off and throws Charlie into the room where is is keeping Amy - who has been bitten and is in the process of transforming (presumably, Charlie is to be her first meal upon fully awakening).
Peter comes back, however, and manages to get into the room where Charlie is being held with Amy. However, seeing that Amy has been bitten, he realizes that the only way to save her from vampirism is to kill Dandridge (at least, that's the way it works in movies).
Peter and Charlie go downstairs to where Dandridge's coffin is, but are distracted by a noise, which Charlie goes to investigate.
The noise is the newly-vamped amy coming downstairs, wearing a filmy, long white dress (that Dandridge dressed her in before putting the love-bite on her), red eyes, fangs, and a head of long, red hair to replace her short, brown curly 'do. She manages to win him over for a moment, crying, "you promised you wouldn't let him get me!" before turning on him and trying to bite him, but he still manages to fight her off long enough for Peter to open Dandridge's coffin and stake him.
The stake doesn't work however (Dandridge pulls it out). There follows more struggle, followed by death-by-sunlight for Dandridge and the return of Amy's humanity.
This, Lost Boys, and Near Dark are three of the best films of the genre, not just for the eighties, but always. Good acting, a drop-dead (you should pardon the pun) vampire, old-school effects and makeup, Roddy McDowall. You owe this one to yourself if you are a genre fan.
Cheers.
Description of Fright Night
Meet Jerry Dandridge. He's sweet, sexy, and he likes to sleep in late. You might think he's the perfect neighbor. But before inviting Jerry in for a nightcap, there's just one thing you should know. Jerry prefers his drinks warm, red and straight from the jugular! It's Fright Night, a horrific howl starring Chris Sarandon as the seductive vampire and William Ragsdale as the frantic teenager struggling to keep Jerry's deadly fangs out of his neck. Only 17-year-old Charley Brewster (Ragsdale) knows Jerry's bloodcurdling secret. When Charley can't get anybody to believe him, he turns to TV horror host Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), who used to be the "Great Vampire Killer" of the movies. Can these mortals save Charley and his sweetheart Amy (Amanda Bearse) from the wrathful bloodsucker's toothy embrace? If you love being scared, Fright Night...will give you the nightmare of your life.Bestsellers in DVD
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