A Hora do Espanto

A Classic! Spawning a whole new subgenre of vampire movies e.g. Vamp (Richard Wenk, 1986), Near Dark (Katheryn Bigelow, 1987), Bram Stoker's Dracula (Coppola. 1991) and Blade (Stephen Norrington, 1998), Fright Night is very similar to Count Yoga – Vampire, but is a brilliant film in its own right. If you can get past those eighties fashions and mannerisms this is a timeless treasure.

Charlie Brewster (Ragsdale) is the student/horror film fanatic accusing his super-suave next door neighbour, Jerry Dandridge (Sarandon) of being a bloodsucker. He begs cowardly, unemployed has-been horror veteran, Peter Vincent, ‘The Great Vampire Killer' (excellent performance by McDowell) to help him stake the Vampire. Cue lots of laughs, scares and some genuine unforgettable sequences. Fright Night predates the Scream trilogy by over a decade and does a much better job of combining the chills and jokes with tongue in cheek all the way. Like the homoerotic Interview with the Vampire (Neil Jordan, 1994), there's a subplot concerning Brewster loosing interest in his girlfriend and obsessing over the good looking man next door.

Brad Fiedel (The Terminator & Serpent and the Rainbow) and Tangerine Dream (Firestarter & The Keep)'s soundtrack here is also perfect and almost steals the show. Tom Holland, who had previously gained recognition and flashed his genre credentials for his screenplays for The Beast Within (Philippe Mora, 1982) and Psycho 2 (Richard Franklin, 1983), would go on to give us the charismatic killer doll, Chucky, in the original Child's Play movie, also starring Chris Sarandon.

The Fright Night sequel followed in 1987, but was too similar to its predecessor and lacked the intense, roller-coaster feeling. It's still worth seeing though, for McDowell and Ragsdale's return to the characters, I for one, will mostly remember them for. Stephen Geoffreys also deserves a mention for his OTT performance as Charlie's manic best friend, Evil Ed.

Classic, good vampire movie. Maybe not a great one, but still one of my favourites.

Before I first watched Fright Night, I admit I was unsure about what to think about it. All I knew about it was from what I had been told from my Dad (though his likes/dislikes are generally on par with mine, they sometimes border on plain stupid). But when I saw it to the end, I was almost totally converted.

Although the beginning is a bit cheesy and reminiscent of stereotypical horror B-movies, it soon becomes clear that this is part of what makes Fright Night so original. All the typical horror film genres are there: horror, romance, comedy (well maybe comedy isn't a typical horror element); but what makes this horror flick stand out a mile-and-a-half from the rest is that it's a very offbeat tale. It's creepily cheesy but gets away with it because it's atmosphere is so good.

All this and I haven't mentioned the acting or special effects yet. Sarandon seems to give such an effortless performance as the vampire and as a result is almost perfect. I had thought of what a modern day vampire would be like before I saw Fright Night; but Jerry Dandridge just blew all these ideas away and has to be the coolest (and I don't often use that word) and sexiest vampire ever, and is one of my favourite movie villains. Roddy McDowall can't hold a candle to Sarandon but is still very good, and Stephen Geoffreys is one of the funniest and memorable movie characters ever to grace a film screen too.

The special effects are good for 1985 and unlike where in modern films the SFX are the main point in the movie, here they add to the already present chilling atmosphere. And although on the one hand, Fright Night is quite dated, it also captures the atmosphere and the essence of the 80s. The soundtrack is excellent for the film, but paradoxically not very memorable (apart from one or two good songs).

[I wish I'd been born before 1981 (maybe 1961) so that I could have lived in the late-70s and 80s, and would have memories of the best music from that time, and not the boybands/Beatles clones/dance ditties (not decent tunes mind) we have now.]

All in all an (almost) perfect film: watch it and you'll (most likely) enjoy it and watch it again and again.

While with his girlfriend Amy Peterson (Amanda Bearse) in his bedroom, the teenager Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) sees a coffin being transported to the house on the next door. A couple of days later, he concludes that his neighbor Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire, who is committing some recent unsolved murders. Charley decides to look for help first his friend Evil Ed Thompson (Stephen Geoffreys), since the policemen do not believe on his accusation. Jerry is upset and promises to kill Charley. Later, he meets Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), a middle aged man, who is a vampire killer in a television show but does not believe on vampires in the real life. Amy and Ed seek out Peter Vincent, and the group tries to prove to Charley that Jerry is not a vampire.

'Fright Night' is one of my favorite vampire movies, indeed a cult-movie in Brazil. I do not know how many times I have seen this film in my life, but yesterday I saw it on DVD for the first time and I was not disappointed, since the Brazilian DVD offers two choices (widescreen and fullscreen). There is just a trailer in the extras, but it suffices. Chris Sarandon is incredibly funny and sexy in this role; the movie has a perfect combination and timing of the genres of horror and comedy; the 'Van Helsing' of the story, Peter Vincent, is a fantastic joke with the names of the great Peter Cushing and Vincent Price; the special effects were state of art in 1985. My vote is nine.

Title ('Brazil'): ' A Hora do Espanto' ('The Fright Hour')

Note: on 14 January 2012, I saw this wonderful film again.

Fright Night is a good horror film. It's not scary but well made. It has enough violence to make a true horror bugf happy. It also has a good story. It's well made, written and acted. It's hard to believe thos movie is almost 40 years old. I remember seeing it heavily edited on broadcast television before I got a chance to rent it. Television cut out good stuff. I think the most interesting character is the vampire. Mr. Sarandon was convincing as the neighbor from hell. William Ragsdale along with Roddy McDowell played their parts to the hilt. I recommend watching this in the dark with someone who loves old movies as much as you do.