Roach

Fright Night (1985)

October 3, 2016 Movie of the Week

Tom Holland’s Fright Night is my favorite vampire movie. After all, what’s not to love about a film that’s equal parts gothic horror and ‘80s teen comedy? Holland’s tale of a young horror fan who suspects his new neighbor is a creature of the night appeals to two of my favorite subgenres, making for a unique cinematic hodgepodge of quotable characters, gruesome special effects, epic synth-based music, and (of course) more vampire tropes than you can shake a meticulously sharpened wooden stake at. It’s brilliant.

The thing that really makes Fright Night work is the way it shifts so effortlessly from funny to scary and back. But thankfully - and this is where so many horror comedies fall flat - the humor never overpowers the horror. The heroes of Fright Night are in real jeopardy and that fact is never cast aside for the sake of an easy joke. The vampire Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) seems witty and sophisticated on the surface, sure, but that’s a ruse; the beast beneath the human facade is ancient and powerful, always one step ahead of our hero Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale), his sweetheart Amy (Amanda Bearse), their weird ass friend Evil Ed (Stephen Geoffreys), and washed up horror actor Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), who they’re all foolishly counting on to slay the fiend in question. The jokes are great but the movie truly excels because it works on both levels. Dandrige is capable of, well… just about anything you’ve ever seen in a vampire movie, which plays into Fright Night’s wonderfully meta sense of humor perfectly but also puts its characters in grave danger. And Sarandon plays the part so well! Jerry Dandrige has an eerie, wizened presence and confidence to him that screams VAMPIRE from the moment one first lays eyes on him. There’s just some… intangible thing, maybe something in the eyes… that makes him appear otherwordly even when he’s in human form. It’s a magnificent performance that I don’t think gets enough credit.

        wasteawaythesedays’ band challenge :: part 002

Part :: 002 “First Song You Heard”

Yes, the first song I heard by MSI was “Never Wanted to Dance.” That was probably really predictable, I know. And this is super late.

at first i thought it was porn

then i dug deeper

at this point im scared to go any further