For young Charlie Brewster, nothing could be better than an old horror movie late at night. Two men move in next door, and for Charlie with his horror movie experience, there can be no doubt that their strange behavior is explained by the fact that they are a vampire and his undead day guardian. The only one who can help him hunt them down is a washed-up actor, Peter Vincent, who hosts Charlie’s favorite TV show, Fright Night. Vincent doesn’t really believe that vampires exist, but does it for the money.

Fright Night begins late one night with a teenager named Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) having trouble with his girlfriend Amy Peterson (Amanda Bearse) in his bedroom, I’ll say no more… Annoyed he turns away & looks out of the window& sees two men carrying what appears to be a coffin into the empty house next door. Since Charley is a huge horror film fan Amy doesn’t believe him & leaves. It turns out that the house has been sold to a man named Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) who has just moved in with his supposed roommate Billy Cole (Jonathan Stark). The next day Charley bumps into a hooker named Cheryl Lane (Heidi Sorensen) who he remembers because she’s a bit of a stunner, going into Dandridge’s house. Soon after he hears on the news that she has been found dead & the police are appealing for witnesses. That night Charley also sees Dandridge with another teenage girl (Irina Irvine) & grow a set of fangs & sharp fingernails with which to kill her with, Charley becomes convinced that Dandridge is a Vampire. Charley goes to the police but Lieutenant Lennox (Art J. Evans) isn’t interested in stories about Vampires & warns Charley not to waste anymore of their time. Charley then seeks the help of his idol, a washed up horror film star named Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) who hosts a cheap cable programme called ‘Fright Night Theatre’ which shows his old horror films. Peter refuses to help & Charley decides to act on his own. However, Amy & a friend named Evil Ed Thompson (Stephen Geoffreys) convince Charley not to do anything on his own, they then contact & pay Peter to visit Dandridge with them & prove to Charley that he isn’t a Vampire. Peter agrees & the four head round to Dandridge’s house where the thrill’s & chill’s really start…

Written & directed by Tom Holland I thought Fright Night was an entertaining little Vampire film that has just enough about it to make it stand out, Fright Night reminds me greatly of another Vampire film made around the same time Vamp (1986) in both tone & execution, if you liked Vamp I’m fairly positive you’ll like this. The script is fairly light in tone throughout, although I don’t know why the IMDb lists this as a comedy as there just isn’t any here or if there was it went over my head. All the Vampire elements are here that we want & expect, stakes through the heart, the Vampire’s are unable to be exposed to sunlight, holy water & crucifix’s, they have no reflection in a mirror, the coffin in which they sleep, the obligatory fangs & biting people on the neck therefore turning them into Vampire’s. Having said that Fright Night tries to incorporate a few new ideas of it’s own like the water & crucifix’s only work against the Vampire if the person using them has faith, one vampire turns into a wolf & as he turns back it looks like something out of a Werewolf film & the strange Vampire helper who is neither human nor Vampire. It generally works well & is entertaining to watch but I found Fright Night dragged a little during the middle third when not much happens, in particular the unnecessarily long & drawn out 80’s disco dancing scene & for a Vampire Dandridge was far too brazen & public, I mean having a hooker catch a cab to his house in broad daylight who is then found dead a few hours later, hardly conspicuous is it? I also felt the climax went on for a little too long with various creatures & a drawn out final confrontation all set in the confines of one house. There are some good make up effects even if the puppetry & animatronics looked a little stiff & unconvincing on a few occasions, the filmmakers seemed to mostly concentrate on the creature & Vampire effects rather than blood & gore of which there is surprisingly little. There’s a melting man, a pencil through a hand, & the Werewolf & bat type creatures. The acting is OK with Sarandon making a decent villain & Ragsdale a likable hero, McDowall is alright too but given little to do. Technically Fright Night is well made with a definite polish throughout, by horror film standards anyway & director Holland manages to create some decent sequences with a bit of style about them. Overall I liked Fright Night, it’s good fun & kept me entertained for an hour & forty odd minutes. Definitely worth a watch & pretty much essential viewing for horror & Vampire fans alike.