Fright Night

Todd Holland's beloved Fright Night (1985) is a tongue-in-cheek though rarely funny flick about a horror enthusiast, Charlie (William Ragsdale) who discovers that his next-door neighbor (Chris Sarandon) is a suave, vicious vampire. When Charlie enlists the help of pseudo-slayer, Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowell) the host of Charlie's beloved cable access B-movie marathon show, "Fright Night," the film nearly delves into parody, but ends up poking more fun at Vincent's money-grubbing cynicism than his Van Helsing posturing. To no fault of McDowell, the character never develops into a proper hero nor a proper target of satire. Charlie is the earnest center at the film, endearingly logical for a horror flick hero and channeling the audience's frustration about the incompetence and/or laziness of his supposed cohorts, played awkwardly by Amanda Bearse and Stephen Geoffreys. The latter plays a high-pitched, bullied "different" sort to whom the obviously bisexual Sarandon promises salvation in vampirism. How this plays out is more symbolically tragic than the film is willing to literally acknowledge. Childish horror fandom and knowing campiness fuses most effectively during a climactic duel in which Sarandon turns into a bat, but this owes more to quirky creature effects than directorial ingenuity. Obvious nods to Dracula and Rear Window withstanding, the film could have benefitted from more allusion. Despite its title, Fright Night is neither a true balls-out B-movie nor an imaginative pastiche.