 Thank you for checking out this movie review. This is for the 1985 horror film Fright Night and when I'm posting this I know I'm sorry today is the 34th anniversary day for the movie reanimator Trust me. I am working on a review for reanimator that should be out within the next week or so Within October it will happen. Trust me. It's coming. So sorry. It's not the day of the anniversary I actually totally forgot about it until today and I was like, oh, I see on social media It's the day for reanimator and so it's gonna be later, but it's coming So please forgive me with this particular review for Fright Night If it doesn't seem to flow the same as a lot of my other ones a lot of the reviews I do I watch the movie and I'll either record that review the same day or like the day after with this instance It's a few days after I've watched it actually maybe about a week since I watched it I just haven't had time to sit down and record but So, yeah, so the 1985 film Fright Night not talking about the remake there was a remake I've not seen the remake and I Know some people are gonna kind of internally gasp when I say this. I have not seen Fright Night part 2 I think it's called part 2 the other one done in the 80s. I have not seen the second original second Fright Night, so Apologies, so this the 1985 Fright Night was written and directed by one Tom Holland Who is also involved with child's play the original child's play and the movie thinner, which in my opinion thinner is Very underrated that doesn't get talked about enough, but watch it if you haven't seen thinner Trust me. It's a good one. I like Tom Holland. I like the stuff. He's been involved with the child's plays good obviously Big name in this one obviously is Chris Sarandon. He's been involved in the Sentinel he was also in child's play and Best known to horror people the nightmare before Christmas after Fright Night Two real horror geeks. I think he's most known for his role as Jerry Dandridge and Fright Night and then after that probably nightmare before Christmas We also have Roddy McDowell in this film who was in the legend of Hell House and a Crazy amount of older films because if you look on his IMDB comm credits He has a lot of acting credits. The man has chops for the most part the acting in this film is very good I can't really think of any performances that are bad except Some people would say that I'm blanking on his name at the moment But the guy who plays evil Ed in this film some people would say that his acting is bad It is very over the top But for some reason I feel like it works because he's supposed to be kind of funny So I feel like his over-the-top brand of acting actually I don't know it just plays with that character It just fits and maybe part of that's just because I've watched this movie a bunch of times So it just makes sense in that role because I'm used to it. I don't know. That's a that's a possible thing so there was a sequel to this in 1988 and then there's a remake in 2011 and then there was a sequel to the remake in 2013 so All those ones I just referenced. I've not seen them. So sorry. I can't really make any comparisons That would be a whole nother video and I might do something like that I know there was one person who had requested that I do a comparison video of the old versus new Suspiria, which I do have plans to do that at some point There was even a Bollywood. Yes a Indian Hollywood Bollywood remake of Fright Night in 1989 Who knew I certainly didn't until I did this research But what I did know is that there's an amazing amazing documentary. I've talked about this documentary before on other movie review videos I've done One of my favorite actually at the moment. I'm gonna say I think it's my favorite Documentary film about horror at the moment called your so cool Brewster. It's a documentary about the making and behind the scenes of Fright night and it's like I think it's a little over two hours, but it is so worth the time The amount of stuff that they get into with like the practical effects and how cutting-edge they were Which I didn't know that until watching that documentary that like at that time when this film was being done that the practical effects They were doing a lot of that stuff was being pioneered on the set Which is amazing. So if you're a fan of Fright Night, you're so cool Brewster The documentary is a must must must watch in my opinion. So check that out now Tom Holland wrote the script for for himself to direct for the original Fright Night because he didn't like what had been done with previous scripts of his So he had had a few instances where he wrote up some scripts other people directed the stuff and so he went into this one and said look I'm writing it and it's for me to direct and if this film is being made It's me and it's me only because I've had some bad experiences with people not doing what the script says to do basically McDowell's role was originally written for Vincent Price people should know who wasn't accepting roles at that time So they wanted to see if they could get Vincent Price, but he said not doing roles anymore I'm kind of done with this stuff But obviously we have the very strong homage to Vincent Price in the character of Peter Vincent But it's also an homage to Peter Cushing as well two guys who are very well known in horror from older films So Vincent Price and Peter Cushing Peter or Peter Vincent I was throwing too many names out there. I got lost real quick So Sarandon didn't actually want to do a horror film by the way But he ended up reading the script to this and he fell in love with it He he literally when was he was given the script. He was just like oh, it's a horror film Don't want to do it But then they were kind of like well just read the script and he's like all right I'll read the script read through it and he was like actually I really love this thing I've never wanted to do horror before but let's do it. So very cool Tom Holland actually got lucky when he was making this because the studio, Columbia was so unbelievably focused on the movie perfect The movies called perfect. I've never seen it had John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis in it So they were so focused on that film which was being filmed at the same time that they just left him alone Basically, there was pretty much no studio interference with this film Which is probably why we got the product that we did with this right now, which is awesome There was issues with actually some injuries during the production But also the cutting-edge practical effects. It's like I was talking about Watch the documentary for more on that information. Yeah, there were injuries They talk about the injuries on that documentary and some of that stuff's pretty scary to be honest And it gives you the idea that I've also seen with some other documentaries about doing like these cutting-edge practical effects and Figuring things out on set as you go that yeah It can be dangerous and I think about those situations. I'm like as an actor. I'd probably be like, I don't know about this right now So, um, all right So we are about to get into the spoilers So if you're watching this and you haven't seen the movie turn around go watch the movie and come back because it's all Spoilers from here on out. That's how I'm doing things. All right so one of the things I really love about this film is it immediately starts by Connecting with horror nerds horror fans. You have Charlie watching his old His old well old toss now his old television watching Peter Vincent's Show I forget what it's called But he's basically in in a role kind of like an Elvira or Sven Gully or what have you so Late-night horror movie host so I really like that touch I think that's a really good way to immediately connect to your audience and say hey this movie's for you We recognize you this kid in particular this main character is supposed to be kind of like you guys And I really like that touch to it There's good comedy in this I think I think the as something I talk about a lot of times Especially with horror when you're trying to mix some comedy in with it You can have it go very very wrong You can do too much comedy or the little bit of comedy that you do throw in can feel like a speed bump that kind of Jars you and takes you out of the moment and just doesn't jive with the rest of the feel of it But this film I think does a really good job of mixing it in there and making it feel right And I think part of that is also the time like in the 80s There were a lot of movies kind of like that we're like for the most part They were pretty serious about what they were portraying but they would throw comedy in there And I think they were written well nowadays. It's not done as well in my opinion I don't know why that is but like one of the one of the really funny things that happens early on to let you know like we're gonna have comedy in this film and and just be prepared is how Charlie just can't pay attention like he wants to get laid He's trying to get it on with Amy and then immediately like he loses focus and she can't get his attention Cuz all he wants is to get laid and then she's like fine I'm ready to do this and he's just so focused on who he's now seeing is he doesn't know him He's Jerry Dandridge at the moment, but whoever moved in next door and is Fighting some woman. Yeah So this does a good job of showing how tough it is in the high school actually There's a there's this awkwardness that goes throughout the film that you see in all the characters And I'll talk about that at the very very end of like, you know Some issues that every character kind of deals with but I think it gives a really good overall feel of the awkwardness of high school the awkwardness of trying to figure out your sexuality and It kind of seems like it's not just the high school kids. I mean obviously Ed He's not he's not dealing with the sexuality portion of it at all because he he never brings up sex or anything like that But obviously Charlie and Amy are very much Feeling awkward about sex, you know, Charlie's trying to have sex and and it's an awkward situation because he's being rebuffed And then Amy doesn't really want to have sex, but then she's like, okay Maybe we can give it a shot and then she's being rebuffed at the same time So it's like this very confusing thing and then you also have like Jerry Dandridge who he's a vampire And he's getting close to all these women But it actually seems like there are a lot of gay undertones in this film where there's something going on between he and Billy His I Don't know what you want to call him like servants. I don't know his helper his roommate. I don't know but there are a lot of actual kind of They they allude to the fact that they're Involved like some of the ways that they'll touch each other and give like a longer look and there's actually one Particular scene that has to has to has to be super intentional And if you didn't catch it go back and watch rewatch this and think about it The part where Jerry Dandridge has had his hand stabbed by the pencil that Charlie got him with after he had broken into his house one night When he's getting that wound taken care of by Billy and and he's on the phone with Peter Vincent So Billy's taking care of his hand and it shows Billy on his knees like crouched down taking care of his hand as Jerry Dandridge standing up so his hands down Below his waist and so he shows him taking care of it Well, then the camera pans over and starts panning up and while it starts panning up Billy turns his head exactly so that it looks like he is flating Jerry Dandridge and He holds like that as they slowly pan upward on to Jerry It is totally intentional if you watch that the timing and the movements with the timing It has got to be intentional and that's where it leads to what I'm saying about that you know sexual relationship between Billy and Jerry and so there's that sexual confusion with Jerry Dandridge as well where Much like the high school kids like he doesn't know what to do because obviously in order to get his meals. He has to be sexually involved with women Because that's how he gets them in clothes granted. They're all prostitutes, but you know It's fast food. Oh my god. It's grub hub. It's totally grub hub before grub hub Wow, that's like pizza delivery back then, but it's like grub hub So yeah the amount of sexuality actually in this is very high and that's something that should be pointed out because with vampire films and vampire books and just vampire stories in general there has Typically been a lot of sexuality involved because there's they are supposed to be like very sexual monsters I don't even know when that started Because I know it I don't think it always was like that But but they have the power of seduction and they play that up a lot, you know And let's be honest like Chris Saran and he's a good-looking dude And they make him seem like a good-looking dude and they play that up a lot within this with Him getting on with the ladies and how sexual and sensual all those scenes are but also his Just overall acting and his smoothness. He like oozes sexuality. I mean Charlie's mom wants to get with him. Obviously she talks about it like to her son, which is funny and weird Yeah, so tons of sexuality it like oozes from this movie the twist of vampires being able to eat food is An interesting one, especially when you see well I think the only time you really see it It's like Jerry eats apples here and there and that's something that I think prior to this film wasn't really being done With vampires. I think that was kind of a new thing that Tom Holland brought up, which is hey, they can eat food That's fine It's just not their main source of food that gives them nutrients And I like that because it's all it also serves as kind of a red herring to try and throw you off early on Because you're like, oh my god, he's a vampire, but then you're like, oh well, maybe Charlie's just seeing things Maybe he's not a vampire because he's eating an apple and what do we know? What do we all know about vampires? They suck blood. That's what they eat. So I like that little touch. It's a cool little touch Yeah, oh if you didn't notice this so when Charlie comes home from school and Jerry has been He has been invited into the house by Charlie's mom Which I think that's a funny moment because he had like just spoken to evil Ed about you can't you know vampires You can't bring allow them into your house They have to have be have to be given permission to come into the house and then he goes home and immediately he finds out Oh, he's already been given permission from my horny mom He's just like come on now. You're gonna kill us both. So he That moment he stands up when he sees him and he was like, oh your mom made me a drink If you notice, it's not like he doesn't really like hold it up or anything It's like he's holding it down, but he has a bloody Mary So I think that was kind of like a subtle funny little thing to look for in the film. I like that Oh, and I wrote down there isn't much of anything scarier than having an intruder in your house to be honest Like that is a scary Situation so when they have the whole setup where he's already been invited in the house and then that night I think it's that night He's on the roof like you hear some, you know the pitter-patter on the roof and he does break into the house It's it's intense and it's it is a pretty scary tense moment And I liked how that played out and I mean there's a moment where you kind of think Charlie might be getting bitten here and then there and then there'd be two vampires There is very strong foreshadowing actually that happens during that whole home invasion scene where Amy's framed picture gets knocked out of the window and it's falling down and it gets impaled by The top of a wooden fence So that is strong foreshadowing that she is going to become a vampire Just saying because a wooden fence post going through her picture. I like that foreshadowing There's also the foreshadowing when evil Ed is playing his trick being like oh god Oh god, he bit me bit me and then revealing that it's a joke, but he says to him. Oh my gosh He bit me. I'm turning you're gonna have to kill me. He says that to Charlie That's another strong foreshadowing moment because then that ends up happening. It isn't Charlie who ends up killing him Well, and you can even question whether he's even dead based on the very end when you see like the eyes And you hear his laugh. I don't know how he would have survived, but I don't know I Guess that's just one of those things There are a lot of those things in in older horror movies Especially in the 80s where they would just like do the movie and then they'd be like But you have to throw something in on the end that Suggests we could do a sequel just in case this makes really good money And that kind of felt like one of those moments to me where it was just like it doesn't actually make sense And they were just like we just got to throw something in there so we can maybe do a sequel So I don't know, but I really like those those foreshadowing touches. I think they're cool I heard it. Yeah, I already talked about this definitely the gay undertone between Jerry and Billy And I actually think that a lot of the people who are involved in this film actually were gay Well, I'm sorry Were gay if they're not alive anymore are gay still if they're alive If you look at Charlie from an outsider perspective, he legitimately seems crazy and that speaks to how good the writing and acting is for this film because Like as an audience member you're in on it, like, you know Relatively early on that Jerry Dandridge is in fact a vampire Even though they have like a few little things that make you question a little bit But if you're watching the film and you step back from it and say, okay Pretend I don't know that pretend as an audience member. I'm not told that stuff yet If I'm a person in this film if I'm like one of Charlie's friends or his mom or whatever and he's acting the way he's acting What do I think he seems crazy and the way it's written and acted it seems Realistic that he would say those things in that situation and that the people would react to him the way they do and like I said It's great writing. It's great acting. It's done very well I'm a fan The film maintains tension, which is very impressive a lot of times It's hard to just keep tension throughout a film Especially in the run times around an hour and a half or more, which I think this one's Maybe a little over an hour and a half might be about an hour. I think it's like an hour and 45 minutes basically So it's hard to do but I Actually don't think that some of the sound effects in this film hold up now I understand that was acceptable back in the 80s But for the most part for the most part it's fine, but there are a few sound effects that sound really corny I can't remember a specific one off off hand, but I did write it down on my notes So there was obvious there were obviously a few sound effects. I was like, oh that sounds terrible Let me know in the comments if you can think of anything off the top of your head The moment where evil Ed is bitten he and he actually Accepts it is actually a really sad moment like you don't expect it to go that way when he's being stalked In the alley you expect it to just be like a vicious scene, but Jerry Dandridge is basically like I know what it's like Being different and I can help you, you know, I can make you not Have to deal with the pain of that because it is easily I mean it's very well set up in the beginning that he is an outcast, you know He gets called evil by Charlie who's even a friend is and he hates it He responds and is like don't call me that and he seems legitimately mad about it So you like you see the pain he starts to cry when Jerry, you know It was telling him this stuff like I know about being different and everything and think about this it gives a little more depth to Jerry as a character because It gives him some heart too. Oh my cat's going off. Sorry. He gives him some heart as well Because he could have just come in and done what everyone expects him to in that instance and just be like now You're mine bite him and it's over or bite him and fully drain him and kill him But first but for some reason he he has a little humanity in him still and he has compassion for people To a degree Granted his perspective on how to save people is very different But you know, but that's one of those instances of he's looking at evil Ed and he's Saying I'm not gonna kill you. I recognize some of what I'm going through in you And I can give you a better life. I won't kill you right now when I could have I Could easily do that basically and it's just it's a sad moment. It's acted very well written very well like I was saying before the scene with Jerry and Amy then where they're getting Sexual it's very centrally done. It's shot in a very tasteful yet sexual way It's almost kind of a sweet moment and it's almost a it's another one of those glimpses into Jerry's humanity where It makes you feel the way it's going like he might not bite her in the end Because of the way it seems he's actually feeling about her and it's it's a little bit of like a rekindling of flame with a lost love and a lot of that having to do with you know, the woman who was in the painting so Because they look because she and Amy look alike I don't get the whole thing with Ed turning into a wolf Like that doesn't make any sense. I mean, I know that there's some mythology having to do with vampires and werewolves where they kind of like came out of the same Origin and and it was like a split between vampire and werewolf so they are still kind of tied together So I don't know if it was coming from that type of mythology or what but within the context of his movie Him turning into a wolf doesn't make any sense because Jerry bit him So you would assume that he would just turn into a vampire and like a bat and then a vampire whatever just like Amy but the good thing though is suspending that from the story and not caring about that the The practical effects for and the makeup for the werewolf for evil as a werewolf as a wolf and the werewolf is Phenomenal. I mean, obviously it looks amazing. It is practical effects wise. It's my favorite part of the movie I know a lot of people really like, you know, the messed up smile with the jagged teeth that are ends up being on Amy's face, which I really like that one too But I think the the werewolf portion is amazing and it's also sad like that whole death scene is incredibly sad I feel like that carries It carries over well from from the really sad moment in the alley when he's initially being bitten it's kind of like the end portion of it and you see him turning back into just Ed and It like you can see the horror on on a Peter Vincent's face where he's He's just kind of like Like in the moment, I'm killing this this creature that I have to kill But then when he's watching him die and turn back into a human being he's like feeling for him He's like but that was this kid and like he's turning back into him And there's a humanity again and who he was as a kid and he feels terrible like you can see it on his face That's just like it's it's a very emotional moment in my opinion a lot of impact So then there's a question. Um, did Jerry Reanimate Billy because I thought Billy gets killed on the stairs and good and falls down But and then Jerry comes out and then he ends up getting back up. So I thought he was dead So I don't understand that whole thing. I Don't get it like so can someone put a comment down there Like do you think that he reanimated him or something? I don't know or was he just not dead all along? And then the other thing is like I also don't get what is Billy like? What is he because he's not a vampire clearly? He has a reflection We saw that when Peter Vincent initially came over you could see him in the in the mirror He has a reflection. He's not a vampire, but what is he because when he gets killed he's he's just like turns into green Goop that just like oozes away. What is he like? I want some sort of explanation Like what is this dude? I don't know. That's confusing much like the whole ed turning into a werewolf. That's confusing The other thing is do vampires just grow hair at will because when Amy turns into a vampire her hair is automatically longer It's the weirdest thing Or is that just like a continuity issue? I don't know also put a comment down there on that That was also weird The part where Peter Vincent is starting to gain faith when he's trying to use the crucifix against Jerry Dandridge Is really corny like that is the scene. I actually hate in this movie. That's a portion I think does not hold up very well. It was really dumb. I think it was dumb when it was done Um, it's just like it's it's not a good moment it's just not and and I think that The way Chris Sarandon acts that portion as Jerry Dandridge is really funny and not in a good way It's like a crappy corny funny because when it starts to work. He's like You know what I'm talking about. It's it's I laugh at that. I'd like laugh out loud at that portion But for the most part I like this film quite a bit as you can tell Uh, they went all out in the end with practical effects. It kind of seems like for the most part They saved the practical effects and we're like, okay, let's shoot this movie chronologically Then when we get to the end, we'll know how much of our budget we pretty much have for the end portion And then we'll just throw in as many practical effects as we feel like we can afford Which you know, that's not a bad approach if that's what they did. It seems like that's what they did But the practical effects are just like they keep coming and coming and coming at the end and It's awesome. It's a good payoff. I like it Okay, so the final thing I'm going to talk about are Uh personal fears like I feel like in general. Well, I don't say in general overall This film is about personal fears big time. So for charlie. It's about losing people You know, he has a lot of people to lose. He's very scared about losing people Even people he doesn't know, you know saving society from the vampire losing potentially losing his mother potentially losing Amy he loses the evil ed, you know, like He could lose everyone and that becomes That's at stake and known to be at stake very early on when he has interactions with jerry and jerry's just like I could take everyone from you basically and he threatens in that way Um, like when he breaks in and he he tells him that he could kill his mom very easily Uh for amy, it's the sexual involvement. That's one of her personal fears. You see that very early on She's very afraid to get sexual to open up in that way with charlie That's her personal fear in this Uh with evil ed. It's being an outcast. That's his big fear of never being accepted by anyone Obviously, he's living it throughout most of the film But he is then accepted with you know with amy and and charlie and then he finds his ultimate acceptance in the end with jerry Not that he wanted that really but he does accept it in the end. I don't know so I would like to know it was the what was going through the character's head in those moments Uh, and then you have jerry who is losing his comfort in life post humanity um, he He seems to be Having a personal fear of losing humanity all together like he's trying to stay human to some degree I think that's part of him eating apples is it makes him feel more human He has those more human moments like where he decides not to kill evil ed like we were talking about Or where he kind of lets up on charlie He even says that the part where he um when he breaks into the house He he he's holding him up and he gives him a choice. He even says that he's like I you know I'm gonna give you a choice was this which is something I never had And that line Is a direct look into his psyche like who he is like he still thinks about his humanity He's still mourns the loss of being a straight up human He is doing what he needs to do to survive as a vampire But he's still thinking about being a human and wishes he was a human And it's just those little moments that are kind of littered throughout the film That give you those glimpses. It's it's not like this long diatribe It's just these little little bits that you pick up on and you're just like he's not a total monster I mean overall the the overwhelming percentage of him is a monster, but there are pieces Of humanity still left in him and I think that's one of the big strengths with this Anyway, um, so that that's all I have to say about fright night. Sorry. I had a lot on fright night I'm like at a half an hour. I apologize people. Hopefully people watch this But okay, so now to give it a rating out of five stars with half stars in play I'm gonna I'm gonna go um Go four and a half on this one. I think it's a really good one Director really well actor really well writing is really good. The story has a lot to say. It's funny. It's scary It's tense and it's impactful and it's emotional and it has a lot to say there's so much to it But uh, thank you everyone for checking this out. If you could do me one quick favor Hit that subscribe. It means a lot for my channel Literally takes you a second and it's painless And put some comments down there. Let's talk about fright night. I like this film quite a bit So, yeah, but thanks everyone for checking this out till next time. Keep it brutal