29 December 2016

Review: Fright Night

Blu-ray: Fright Night (1985)

When Charley Brewster’s (William Ragsdale) new neighbours move in next door, their strange behaviour leads him to believe they could be…vampires.

Made two years before The Lost Boys, Tom Holland’s first film is for me, the first true tweeny ‘aware of itself’ cult-horror. Although this is definitely deeply rooted in the 80’s, it’s still a timeless horror film; punchy, funny, scary and not as camp as people would have you believe.

After seeing his two new neighbours carry a coffin into the basement, no one believes Charley when after a few strange occurrences he decides they must be vampires. The police laugh at him, his girlfriend humours him, and not even his freaky geek friend Evil Ed (Stephen Geoffreys) believes he’s seen a vampire. Charley is your original straight laced geek, yeah if he hadn’t got a plaid jacket on you could call him an emo, full of angst but refreshingly the complete OPPOSITE of your normal horror horny-teen boy.

Charley has a girlfriend, Amy (Amanda Bearse, who you may know as Marcy from Married with Children). A spunky firecracker who, to me, is the lynchpin of the film. Her somewhat ridiculous burgeoning sexuality (as she’s obviously too old for the role), her desire and overt constant pressuring of Charley to have sex with her is so different from every other film from around that period, where the ‘main girl’ is either a saint or a whore, Amy is a bit of both beating Neve Campbell (Scream) to the post by a good ten years.
Much has been said about the choice of this actress over the years, mainly because she was 28 when she made this film, and she looks it. She’s supposed to be around 16 or 17, the same as Charley. So it is a little odd at times and even more so when Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) appears. Sarandon encapsulates what it is to be a vampire, despite the corny leather mac and grey shoes, he exudes sexual power and also some vunerability. Sarandon both in real life and in character, is a MAN, a sexy one at that, and Amy reponds as a woman and not a 16 year old girl. The dance scene and later the ‘sex’ scene between the two actors is quite erotic, and I do like Bearse in this role. Yes, she IS too old for the part, but she gives the character her all and does a good job. She’s definitely too much woman for Charley.

Charley’s friend Evil Ed has over the years become the iconic character in the film, continually giggling and playing jokes, but back in the day I found him extremely annoying. However, on rewatch I do find Geoffreys character quite poignant and his ‘annoying’ acting is actually a case of the bravado of a geeky/ugly kid who’s picked on.

The heart of the film is the rather wonderful Roddy McDowall as Peter Vincent, a ‘sensitive’ Peter Cushing/ Vincent Prince mash up who takes me right back to childhood horror heroes. A quick look around his apartment is like a who’s who in horror from the golden years of Hollywood. It’s with Roddy that we get a real sense of nostalgia, even more so in this re-issue as the film itself is nostalgic for the universal Horror of the 1930’s, while we watch and feel nostalgia for the horror films of the 80’s.

Fright Night is a stone cold classic of 80’s horror cinema. It might appear ‘popcorny’, but it does have some gore and a few frights in it.

The extras are fantastic. The Fear Fest Panel is a joy to watch as is ‘You’re so cool Brewster’; a two hour documentary starring Hellraiser’s Simon Bamford as Peter Vincent.

Eureka have really outdone themselves this time, an essential Blu-ray package from The Masters of Cinema.

The Dual Format release of Fright Night was released as a SteelBook edition on 26th December 2016 and a Special Edition Dual Format is being released on 10th April 2017.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

4K digital restoration

Original stereo PCM soundtrack and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio options (on the Blu-ray)

English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired

You’re So Cool, Brewster! A new two-hour version of the definitive 2016 documentary on the making ofFright Night, focusing on the first film, created exclusively for this release

What is Fright Night featurette, a 2016 video piece featuring cast and crew interviews (BLU-RAY ONLY)

Tom Holland: Writing Horror, a 2016 video piece featuring interviews with Holland and his collaborators (BLU-RAY ONLY)

Rowdy McDowall: From Apes to Bats, a 2016 video piece featuring archival footage of McDowall and cast and crew interviews (BLU-RAY ONLY) | Fear Fest 2 2008 reunion panel featuring Tom Holland, Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Stephen Geoffreys, Amanda Bearse, Jonathan Stark and moderated by Rob Galluzzo (BLU-RAY ONLY)

Shock Till You Drop Present Choice Cuts with Tom Holland and Ryan Turek, a three-part video interview on the film (BLU-RAY ONLY) | The full electronic press kit, featuring extensive on-set interviews and behind-the-scenes footage (BLU-RAY ONLY)