“I BELIEVE IN VAMPIRES!”
“...That’s nice”
In fact, I have one living right next door to me! Would you help me kill him?”
“...Pardon me?”
Fright Night follows Charlie Brewster, a horror movie loving teenager who realizes his new next door neighbor is a vampire. He tries to warn everyone, but no one believes him and blames his paranoia on his obsession with vampire movies. Now it’s up to Charlie to defeat his murderous neighbor before he kills all of his friends.
Watching Fright Night reminds me of Scream a little bit, though the former came out 10 years before. In Scream, much of the humor comes from the characters knowing all the cliches of slasher movies and using that knowledge to fight the killer. In Fright Night, the characters learn all they need to know about vampire lore from the movies that are playing on the TV. A notable difference is that this movie offers more praise than ridicule for the genre while Scream is the opposite. To me, it makes the movie feel a bit more wholesome.
The two best characters here are the vampire Jerry and the the TV host Peter Vincent. Jerry is a devilishly charming and handsome monster played by Chris Sarandon, who you may remember played Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride. What’s great about this guy is that he manages to be seductive and menacing at the same time. Even in the scenes where he’s charming and pleasant, you can just feel the evil emitting off of him. As for the character of Peter Vincent, he is probably the biggest tribute to 50s Hammer Horror out there. A former actor who had played Peter Cushing-like roles such as vampire hunters, he is now a TV host for late night movies just like Elvira, and surprise surprise, his show is called Fright Night. Vincent is a slightly cynical man who lacks any charm and is kind of a douchebag. He’s requested by Charlie to help him defeat his neighbor, even though Peter doesn’t believe in vampires and is just scamming the kid. What’s great is that he isn’t just some big homage to horror, he is a genuinely interesting character that draws all of your attention despite being scummy.
The movie is scary, but not the overtly serious overbearing dread kind. It’s kind of like you’re being scared, but you have a smile on your face as you watch, if that makes sense. I would also describe it as deliciously spooky.
Great vampire flick, scary and fun the whole way through, goes great as a double feature with The Lost Boys. 10/10
Welcome to Frrright Night...FOR REAL