Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a high school student and horror aficionado whose only real troubles in life are trying to pass his trig classes and working out the kinks in his relationship with his girlfriend, Amy (Amanda Bearse). But his entire life threatens to come crashing down around him when a strikingly handsome Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) moves in next door and Charlie unintentionally sees that the future ruler of the land of Florin has a hell of a set of canines. Thus, Charlie must enlist the aid of a local burn-out, the hilariously over-the-top Edward "Evil Ed" (Stephen Geoffreys), and an age-old horror movie star turned late-night horror show host (Roddy McDowall) in order to slay the vampire.
What's very neat about this film, in my mind, is that the rules for vampires are totally old school. Sarandon's Jerry Dandridge can turn into a bat, a wolf, mist, and has a hypnotic gaze that can completely control the minds of the unsuspecting, along with the super strength, agility, lack of a reflection, and of course the feeding that comes with vampirism in most iterations. On the flip side of that coin, vampires are killed by stakes, decapitation, and sunlight, damaged by holy water, can only enter a residence when invited, and can be repelled by crosses (but only if one has faith that it works) and garlic. Akin to the old Universal and Hammer horror films, and of course the original Dracula novel.
As for Jerry Dandridge himself, Sarandon plays him very much the ultimate polite gentleman until the fangs come out at least. Really, he's the archetypal Dracula-style vampire, as from the original Stoker novel. Smooth with the ladies, even Charlie's own mother! He even, early on in some sense of mercy and fair play, offers Charlie a chance to forget what he saw and move on with his life...a choice that Charlie decides to not take, shove a pencil through his hand, and piss the guy off even further.
...you're so cool, Brewster!
Charlie himself is your typical teenage slacker, like Marty McFly before him. Instead of crazy scientists with DeLoreans, however, Charlie is a fan of the Fright Night movie show hosted by one Peter Vincent (McDowall) and - like Jonathan Harker in the original Dracula novel - a little bit of doubt is cast in the beginning as to whether or not his beliefs about Jerry are true or not...which the movie then completely negates by the time of the first attack about twenty minutes in. Regardless, Charlie remains determined to prove that he's right in spite of literally everyone around him being certain of otherwise and, once this is done, it is he that has to convince Peter Vincent to take up arms against the vampire menace, even electing to go on his own in spite of the danger beforehand.
Roddy McDowall brings his refined acting chops to the table as Peter Vincent, a hero of old time vampire films and renowned as a man whose hunted their kind of over thirty years (and he has always won). Now, however, he's relegated to the status of a late night horror movie show host akin to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (though with far less spectacular cleavage, certainly) and even that is failing him by the point of his proper introduction into the film. Obviously, as any sane man would, Vincent doesn't believe Charlie's claims about his next door neighbor being a vampire until he fails to see Dandridge's reflection in a hand mirror.
Before that point, he's nostalgic for his past career and severely egotistical even when he's fired from Fright Night and his career has seemingly hit rock bottom. While he is, at first, afraid and flees upon the revelation that Dandridge is a vampire, he is later convinced by Charlie to truly wage a war against the vampire. In this endeavor, we do see shades of a truly heroic individual ready to fight against evil, a character that he played all too many times in the films of the past and it is only through their efforts that the day is saved.
Amy is really kind of an annoying character. She's the girlfriend of Charlie, but has essentially no character beyond that. She exists to send him mixed signals in the beginning about their relationship, be concerned for Charlie when he seemingly goes coconut and banana sandwich crazy, be frightened, and then get kidnapped in order for the final fight to happen. I would liken her to Mina Harker, particularly due to a scene of Charlie finding a painting belonging to Dandridge that looks just like her, though besides some vague references by Dandridge nothing ever really comes of it.
...and, also, for all the trouble that Charlie goes through to save her...she's not in the sequel.
Rounding out the main cast is "Evil Ed", who is pretty much the local burnout. Sort of friend to Charlie and Amy, he is clearly an outsider and considered the "weird" kid. But we see that his snarky, sometimes coming off as creepy persona is more of a front. His outsider status has seen him picked on a beaten up, something that Dandridge is able to use to his advantage to create a willing servant, much like Renfield before him. Geoffreys plays him as hilariously over-the-top and it is just great, beyond hilarious and definitely a good bit of comic relief, though we do get that one scene with Sarandon later on that's actually done rather well and gives shades of more to the character...which we sadly never really get to see.
And, of course, spawning one of the greatest catch phrases of all time which also serves as the closing line of the film and a revelation which is, sadly, not followed up on in the sequel.
Also of note, though more confusingly so, is Jonathan Stark as Billy Cole. Cole is, seemingly, a regular human that lives with Dandridge and assists in his endeavors of vampirism. We're never given a clear picture of their relationship, whether Cole is a thrall or some kind of other creature. Dandridge apparently has the ability to resurrect him as a zombie of some kind, that is later killed by Charlie with a stake through the heart. Again, no real understanding, but we also don't really need it.
Though Cole's zombified scene, as well as a few other scenes should take special note, as everything looks to have been done by practical effects and makeup. Of course, this was back in the era before computers took over a great deal of this, but it really speaks to the efforts of the production team that they made a film in 1985 that looks better and far more realistic than many movies do now. Though with the pedigree of special effects artist Dale Brady (whose resume, according to IMDb, includes such films as John Carpenter's The Thing), one can hardly be surprised. Everything from the vampire prosthetics to the decomposition of Cole to even the effects with the bats looks frighteningly (no pun intended) realistic. Every much deftly crafting the illusion that film presents.
Unlike a lot of very underrated cult hits of the 1980s, Fright Night was one that got its due. Second highest grossing horror film of 1985, it even spawned a sequel and eventually a remake in 2011. While the sequel is somewhat enjoyable and, I think, even the remake is to a degree, neither of them really even come close to this film. A combination of some good acting (if some cheesy parts, but one would expect that) and good effects make up this love letter to the monster films of yesteryear. If you haven't seen this, you definitely should.
Fright Night is now available from Columbia Pictures. It is available on DVD, and on Netflix Instant Steaming.
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