Fright Night

For other uses, see Fright Night (disambiguation).

Fright Night
Film poster of Fright Night
Directed by	Tom Holland
Written by	Tom Holland
Produced by	Herb Jaffe
Starring	Chris Sarandon William Ragsdale Roddy McDowall Amanda Bearse Stephen Geoffreys
Cinematography	Jan Kiesser
Edited by	Kent Beyda
Music by	Brad Fiedel
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	August 2 1985
Running time	106 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$9 000 000

Fright Night is an American vampire comedy horror film starring William Ragsdale, Chris Sarandon, Stephen Geoffreys and Roddy McDowall that was released in 1985. It was followed by a 1988 sequel, Fright Night II along with numerous other merchandise including tapes, CDs, videos, DVDs, and comic books.

The visual effects are the work of Richard Edlund, who also provided the effects for Ghostbusters a year earlier.

Synopsis

If you like horror movies, it'll be the time of your life...Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a teenage horror movie fan. One night he sees new neighbors moving in next door and they appear to be carrying what looks like a coffin. Charley shrugs this off until he sees his new neighbor Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) biting the neck of a young woman. He tells his mother (Dorothy Fielding) what he saw but she doesn't believe him. He tries to tell his friend "Evil" Ed (Stephen Geoffreys) and girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse) but they also believe Charley is mistaken and begin to worry about his mental wellbeing. Charley calls the police claiming that he saw Dandridge killing his date and that there is a coffin in the basement. The police investigate and not finding the hooker (Heidi Sorenson) and the teenage girl (Irina Irvine) they tell Charley to never call the police again. Charley's mother asks if he thinks Dandridge and his companion are gay. Charley:"I don't think so". Charley puts nails through his window-frame, one at a time to prevent Dandridge from entering it that night.

Charley then decides to seek the help of veteran vampire movie star and local late-night horror showcase host Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), who after a long and mediocre career has become cynical and dispirited. Vincent visits Dandridge with Brewster in order to persuade Charley that he's deluded (by asking Dandridge to drink tap water labeled 'holy water'), only to find that Dandridge casts no reflection in his mirror. At night Dandridge comes over to Charley's where his mother is introduces to the vampire. Charley runs up the stairs. That night Charley peeps on Dandridge next door with binoculars and is visited by Dandridge again. He throws him across the room and into the closet, smashing the closet doors. Dandridge tells Charley to forget about him, it will be better that way. Charley stalks a pencil into the hand of Dandridge. He grows fangs and ugly hair and turns into the vampire and makes a loud noise before departing Charley's room. Dandridge call Charley on phone:" I just destroyed your car and thats nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you tomorrow night." Just then Charley's mother enters the room, wandering if something had happened. Charley:" Probably some cats." Charley's mother:"Do you need a valium?"

Amy comes to believe that Dandridge is a vampire, but Evil is not convinced, and wants to hear nothing about it. As he leaves, Evil takes an alley, only to encounter Dandridge, He becomes scared but Dandridge overpowers him, putting his coat over Evil (to bite him.)

Back at his house, Vincent is scared and tries to shake off his feeling of dread. Just then Evil knocks on his door. Vincent opens it, and begins talking to Evil casually, as he knew nothing of what Evil was now. Suddenly, Evil attacks Vincent, who narrowly escapes by using a cross. A scalded Evil slinks away, threatening Vincent with telling the 'Master'.

Amy and Charley, at the time, happen to be crossing the streets when they see Dandridge following them. They run into a night club, but Dandridge follows them, where he hypnotizes Amy. Charley attempts physical combat, but Dandridge beats him back. He then leaves with Amy to his obode.

Charley runs back to Vincent, who makes him grab a cross before he enters. There, he persuades Vincent that they must confront Dandridge, he and Charley together. The duo get ready, and go to Dandridge's mansion. By then, he had already turned Amy into a vampire.

As Charley and Vincent enter the house, Dandridge: "welcome to fright night, for real!" on the grand stairs(the stairs that Dandridge and Cole refurbished for borne-again purposes!?!)" Vincent has a brief moment of fear, in which his faith is too weak to activiate the power of the cross against Dandridge. The latter orders his ghoul servant to kill the duo, but one stalk through the heart does it for him.

Charley and Vincent proceed to split up and Charley finds Amy's body. Evil turns into a werewolf and attack Vincent, but he steak a broken rail from a wooden staircase into Evil's heart, killing him. VIncent proceeds to take a sorrowful Charley from Amy's body and goes to face of with Dandridge. This time, Vincent's faith works against Dandridge, who turns into a vampire bat and bites Charley.

Just then, the bell for daybreak goes, and they all go into the basement of the masion, where Dandridge proceeds to resurrect the body in the coffin that had been moved into his house with him. Amy is present here, and nearly bites a temporarily softened Charley. He escapes, and together with Vincent, break the glass walls of the basement, letting in sunlight. Dandridge burns to dust, and Amy is cured.

In the final scene of the movie, Charley and Amy are at home, watching Vincent's popular new show, 'Fright Night'. They then deviate attention from the show and begin making out on the bed. The movie ends as a pair of red eyes flash repeatedly outside. 'Fright Night' is far from over.

Reception and merchandising

Fright Night's widest release was 1,545 theaters. The film also turned out to be a surprise hit at the box office, making $6,118,543 on opening weekend (1,542 theaters, $3,967 average). Domestic gross was $24,922,237. It performed the best of any horror film released during the summer of 1985. It was the second highest-grossing horror film of 1985, bested only by A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.

Fright Night was well-received, winning three Saturn Awards. It also won an award and a nomination at Fantasporto. It spawned a 1988 sequel which also gained a Fantasporto nomination.

In 1985, a novelization, Fright Night by Craig Spector and John Skipp, was published by TOR Books. Fright Night was also adapted into a comic-book series by Now Comics.

An arcade-style computer game was released in 1988 for Amiga computers. In the game, players assume the role of Jerry Dandridge as he attempts to turn his victims into vampires before sunrise.

Production

Actor William Ragsdale accidentally broke his foot during a Christmas Eve shoot. Filming was halted until Ragsdale could make a recovery.

The theme song of the film, "You Can't Hide From the Beast Inside" was written and performed by Autograph.

The theme song is "Fright Night" by The J.Geils Band

External links

• Fright Night at IMDb
• Fright Night at AllMovie