Fright Night (1985)

Running Time: 106 minutes.
Media: DVD.

Would you believe I picked up this little gem of a DVD for a mere dollar at a garage sale? I was blown away when I saw this and decided to go for it!

Fright Night is a 26 year old movie according to the timeline now, and stars William Ragsdale as the ever paranoid vampire-phobe Charley Brewster... For those playing at home, William Ragsdale played Herman Brooks in the 3-season sitcom series Herman's Head from 1991 to 1994. According to Wikipedia, Ragsdale would have been 24 when the film was made, so the older person playing a teenager idea is nothing new (consider nearly ever member of the cast of Glee). In fact if I recall correctly, Michael J. Fox was about the same age when he started work on Back to the Future; and surprisingly Ragsdale plays the part of a teen rather well, even though he does seem to bear a slight resemblance to Finn from Glee.

The one thing that surprised me is the starring of Amanda Bearse as Amy; and while the name didn't ring any bells that immediately, her face did... Amanda was known for her recurring role as Marcy in Married... With Children... And she's actually quite cute in this film... What the hell happened to her nowadays?

It all seems to go to pot for Charley, a fan of horror films, when he accidentally spies on his next door neighbor sucking neck on an unsuspecting victim. The neighbor, Jerry, is a vampire played by Susan Sarandon's ex-husband, Chris Sarandon, then gives Charley an ultimatum, leave him be, or he'll be killed... Charley, however, prefers to keep living... so he's in deep poop... Hijinks ensue when Charley recruits the services of supposed "vampire killer" Peter Vincent, played by Roddy McDowall, with the help of his girlfriend, Amy, and Charley's best friend, "Evil Ed", who seems to have been placed there for comic relief. At this point, the Movie Madman would like to state that the director failed miserably... It seems that although Stephen Geoffreys, who plays Evil Ed, seems to have a lot of experience in movies such as this, that the addition of him to this film, ironically subtracts more appeal from the film rather than adding to it.

The movie itself starts off with more oomph than you would expect of an 80's vampire flick, but it kinda starts to plateau after about halfway... and to be honest, the acting starts to get a bit lame after that point. Be on the watch for a scene between a recently sired "Evil Ed" and Peter Vincent, as well as a similar scene where these two characters meet again later on in the movie; and you'll see my point.

The back on the DVD boasted "If you love being scared, this will be the night of your life!"... To be honest, I didn't really find this movie as frightening as claimed. The film ends in the stereotypical fashion as most vampire movies did back then, but it's kinda left me kinda disappointed as the acting becomes quite schlocky and the special effects get progressively worse. I'd be more inclined to see how the movie's remake of Fright Night that was released in August earlier this year fares in comparison... I'm giving this movie two stars for the effort, even if it wasn't a decent effort...