Fright Night

This is, of course, the 1985 film.  Immediately we get a reference to Dracula.  That infamous line of dialogue where Bela Lugosi talks about child of the night.  We see a TV playing and are introduced to Roddy McDowall playing Peter Vincent, vampire hunter.  The name, Peter Vincent, is of course a nod to two giants from the horror movie genre.  Peter Cushing and Vincent Price.  A couple make out on the bedroom floor. Their make out session becomes a lovers quarrel when the guy becomes frustrated that he is not able to…advance further.  He looks out the window and spots two men moving a coffin through the yard.  As the girl takes her shirt off he’s no longer interested.  He’s now focused on the strange events in his own back yard.  For ignoring a shirtless woman, I dub him…doofus.

The next day doofus is still curious about his new neighbor, especially so when he gives a beautiful blonde directions to the house.  In the middle of the night he hears a woman scream….and we cut to doofus at the mall studying.  On TV he learns that the blonde was murdered, and once again ignores his girlfriend. 

The following day doofus tries to break into the basement of his new neighbor, but is ran off by a creepy guy.  He sits up all night keeping a close watch on the property.  After waking up from a nap he sees…a naked woman!  If only he hadn’t ignored his girlfriend he could have seen one the the other night.  Anyway, he shamelessly watches her get naked.  We see a guy there too, and just as he is about to sink his teeth into her neck he notices that doofus is watching.  He slowly draws the blinds down and we see…he has girl hands!

Doofus tries to warn his mom, then runs out and sees what he believes to be a body being loaded into the back of a jeep.  Our supposed vampire tosses an apple at doofus…which causes him to run off like a little girl for some reason.  He tries to convince his mom and his girlfriend…though why she still bothers with him is beyond me.  Naturally, they don’t believe him…but the police do!  Creepy guy and the cop make fun of doofus and the cop leaves.  Doofus runs over to his idiot friend…who also doesn’t believe him.  But, he will believe him for…$8.  Idiot gives doofus a cross and explains what we all know will kill a vampire.  Garlic, holy water, stakes…and that a vampire must be invited in.

Doofus rushes home to find the vampire already in his house.  He freaks out and runs upstairs.  He wakes up later that night to strange sounds on the roof.  We see the vampire lock mother doofus in her room.  Doofus goes into his room and is attacked by the vampire.  He tells him to be quiet otherwise his mom will wake up and he’ll have to kill her.  He forgets this seconds later as he proceeds to throw doofus around, making all kinds of noise.  The cross has no affect and he nearly gets strangled and thrown out a window, but at the last second manages to stab the vampire with a pencil. 

Finally the mom wakes up and the vampire runs away.  Doofus tries to relax by…watching a vampire movie.  The vampire calls to taunt doofus and tells him he wrecked his car.  Man, this vampire is a real dick.  Roddy McDowell shows up on TV again and informs us he believes in vampires.  Great timing.  For some reason doofus believes Roddy and the next day tries to convince him that his neighbor is a vampire.  Roddy thinks doofus is crazy, just as any sane person would, and drives off. 

Later, the girlfriend and idiot friend show up and see that doofus has filled his room full of candles, garlic, crosses, and is making stakes.  Girlfriend tells doofus she loves him.  Why she loves him is beyond me, all he’s done the entire movie is yelled at her for not wanting to have sex and ignored her repeatedly.  Idiot and girlfriend leave to talk to Roddy.  They try to convince him to help, but they fail.  Yet again money talks however, and the girlfriend offers Roddy $500.

Later everyone meets up and goes to see the vampire.  The vampire tries to put the moves on the girlfriend.  Earlier in the film we saw that the vampire had a painting of someone who looked remarkably like her.  Roddy has the vampire drink some fake holy water.  The vampire escorts them out…but not before Roddy looks into a mirror and realizes that he is, in fact, dealing with a real vampire. 

Later the vampire slowly follows idiot down an alley and kills him.  He was the best friend $8 could buy.  Doofus and girlfriend hear a strange Star Trek explosion and are slowly followed by the vampire. Cut to Roddy’s apt where idiot knocks on his door, and reveals he is now a vampire.  Roddy puts the whammy on him by holding a cross to his forehead.  Forgetting he’s now a vampire, idiot looks into the mirror and when is further threatened, leaps out the window.

 
The vampire walks into a club where doofus and his girlfriend are hiding and the girl is immediately drawn to him.  They dance together and get pretty touchy feely while our 80s soundtrack plays.  Finally, our hero, doofus enters and tries to take his woman back.  He gets his hand crushed and the vampire tells him if he ever wants to see her again to get Roddy McDowell and come over to his house. 

Doofus tries to get Roddy to help him but he tells us he’s too scared to do anything.  Later girlfriend wakes up in bed…wearing different clothes.  They play kissy face for a bit, she takes her top off and gets bit.  What did she expect was gonna happen?  Doofus shows up, but so does Roddy who changed his mind about helping.  They walk in and after the vampire acts pompous, Roddy waves a cross in his face…which has no affect.  The vampire tells him you must have faith for it to work. Doofus pulls out his cross and drives him away, then gets knocked out by creepy guy…who we forgot about because he hasn’t been around for twenty minutes or so.

Roddy runs over to warn mother doofus but instead finds idiot.  He turns into a wolf and charges, but Roddy runs him through with a table leg.  There is an interesting moment where Roddy feels sorry for idiot and almost pulls the table leg out…but stops himself. Idiot dies a painful death, the best vampire $8 could buy.  Doofus learns his girlfriend is now a vampire as Roddy shows up.  Roddy tells us that if they kill the vampire before dawn girlfriend will return to normal.

Roddy shoots creepy guy in the head with a gun.  It doesn’t work of course, but Roddy keeps shooting anyway.  Doofus finally proves useful and stabs creepy guy with a steak.  He starts to melt.  Our vampire tells girlfriend to kill Roddy and doofus, but she is driven away by a cross.  Vampire plays spooky tag with our heroes and leaps through a painted window.  Roddy is finally able to drive him back with a cross, having found his faith.  He turns into a giant vampire bat and attacks Roddy.  Doofus tries to help but gets bit and the vampire bat flies away.

They follow him into the basement and begin searching for his coffin.  Girlfriend shows up and chases him around while Roddy breaks open the coffin, drives the steak in and…it has no affect.  Vampire simply rips it out and looks annoyed.  Doofus proves useful yet again, (I know I’m shocked too), and starts breaking the painted over windows, letting light in.  Just when we think Roddy is done for, doofus ultimately saves the day. He lets in a giant ray of light that sends vampire flying back.  He explodes into flames and melts.  Girlfriend returns to normal and the movie ends with our couple making out.

Clearly, the movie is very much inspired by Rear Window.  The first half of the movie is very similar…only instead of a human murderer we have a vampire.  I hadn't seen this movie since i was a kid, so it was a lot of fun to sit down and see if it was as much fun as i remembered.  It was.  This is very much an 80s movie.  It also reminds me a lot of my own youth.  Failing math, staying up late watching b-movies, looking at girly mags and trying to see a naked girl in person. 


Ultimately, Fright Night is a fun romp.  Its an 80s movie and it also has some nice imagery.  The monsters are certainly scary enough, as this is not your typical pale skin vampire flick.  This is a movie that pays homage to films of yesteryear while having fun and doing something original.  There is a scene when doofus meets Roddy and we get some dialogue that rings very true to the times.  Roddy comments on the fact that studios only want madmen running around in ski masks, an obvious reference to the Friday the 13th films.  The 80s saw the rise of slasher films and decline of traditional monster movies.  Though, vampires would come back with vengeance…as they are now the ‘it’ property.