Fright Night is the Original Teen Horror Flick.
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Good scares, lots of humor and interesting characters make Fright Night the perfect movie for Halloween night.
Written by BHM Contributor Ronnie Angel
May 7, 2007
Release: 1985
Written and Directed by: Tom Holland
Starring:
Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandrige
William Ragsdale as Charley Brewster
Amanda Bearse as Amy Peterson
Roddy McDowall as Peter Vincent
Stephen Geoffreys as 'Evil' Ed Thompson
"Welcome to... Fright Night!"... the immortal words of head vampire Jerry Dandridge played by Chris Sarandon. Long before there was Cabin Fever or Scream, there was Fright Night. In my eyes this fun little fright flick will always be a classic good for any time of the year. Fright Night is like Porky's, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and 16 Candles meets Dracula. Fright Night is the original teen horror movie.
Fright Night centers on young (not really) Charlie Brewster, a high school student who lives with his Mommy and has problems with the next door neighbors, Jerry Dandridge and Billy Cole. After the new neighbors move in Charlie begins to notice there is something a little strange about them. Maybe it is the coffin they put in the basement, maybe its the prostitutes who are in their house one night and on the evening news reported dead the�next night? Could be anything. Charlie begins to suspect that 
Jerry is a vampire, and his obsession begins to worry his girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse) and his only friend "Evil Ed" (Stephen Geoffreys).
Well, turns out that Jerry doesn't like Charlie knowing his secret, even if everyone does think Charlie is crazy, and vows to kill him. Charlie is then left with no option other than to contact his hero, washed up horror actor and television host "The Great Vampire Killer" Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall). At first Peter obviously doesn't believe Charlie either...until he sees Jerry casts no reflection in a mirror. That is when the fun really begins in Fright Night. Jerry goes after Charlie, Ed, and Amy on that very night. There is a scene at a nightclub that is one of my favorite parts. The result is that Charlie has to join forces with Peter Vincent to rescue Amy and stop the forces of evil from tearing the town apart.
There are some interesting facts that I would like to bring up about some of the people in Fright Night:
• The legendary Roddy McDowall had appeared in roughly 250 other films in his lifetime - Truly a legend.• Amanda Bearse, who plays Amy, went on to fame on one of my favorite shows of all time Married With Children as Marcy D'Arcy.
• Stephen Geoffreys....uh, yikes. While hic character in Fright Night “Evil Ed” was one of my favorite characters when I was young, I read his bio a while back and found out he went on to do, uh, lots of gay porn after Fright Night. Yikes. Now I just don't look at Evil Ed quite the same way.
�• Look for a brief cameo by Nick Savage as a bouncer in Fright Night. He was also in Friday the 13th Part 3 as the biker who could have saved the day…had he not gotten killed himself.
• Chris Sarandon was once married to Susan Sarandon...and has gone on to do next to nothing.
Fright Night is a fun horror movie to watch from beginning to end no matter how old you are. It never seems to get old. The acting is great and the scares are good – and there is lots of humor as well. Fright Night is highly recommended for any horror movie collection, and is particularly great to watch on Halloween. � Questions or comments about Fright Night? �Contact us!
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