Fright Night is a New Favorite at IKA
Fright Night is now one of my favorite vampire movies without a doubt. A friend of mine told me that I would enjoy this one. Boy was he right. This is a fantastic vampire film that features a lot of classic elements but with a little more modern twist added to them. I will certainly be watching Fright Night again and again. I hope to watch this with my wife soon. The vampires look wicked in Fright Night, there’s the right balance of comedy to keep it cool, an awesome car, and the story is unique!
Fright Night has good energy, great actors, and a great story. I love low-budget movies because you’re generally going to get B with one. Fright Night certainly had a large budget at 9 million dollars, according to an IMDB article. So, no B trash here. Speaking of casting, Amanda Bearse who played Marcie Rhoades from Married with Children was the lead female role in Fright Night. Also, Nick Savage who played Ali, one of the bikers in Friday the 13th Part III, was in this movie too. If you like American Werewolf In London, you will love Fright Night. They are similar – there are iconic transformations like the one made famous by American Werewolf in London. I’ve blogged on this too. You can read that one here. Not only do you see a man change to a wolf but also to a bat and back to a man.
This Vampire Film's Plot - Quickly
Quickly, we’ll cover the plot of Fright Night. A young man who is a fan of a TV show called “Fright Night” whose host hunts vampires. The young man notices some strange things happening next door when a new neighbor moves in. He suspects that the new neighbor is a vampire and sets out to not only prove it but also to destroy him. He recruits the help of the television host – the one who is not a vampire hunter but rather an actor. The team, along with the young man’s girlfriend, go on a quest to defeat the undead next door. All in all, this movie was creepy but there was a little comedy to take the edge off too. For instance, the vampire in one scene is proving he’s not a vampire. I laughed a little at this conversation.
Fright Night is Classic Undead but Not
Some classical vampire elements in Fright Night were the sun harming vampires, their fear of crucifixes, holy water harming them, they must be invited in, and their hypnotic gaze were all parts of this movie. One thing I heard them say though was that the crucifix didn’t work if you didn’t have faith. I don’t know that this is something I’ve seen in vampire films before. The lead vampire doesn’t wear a cape but, he does use his trench coat in a similar fashion to how Lugosi used his. I didn’t notice this initially, but one scene has the vampire and his assistant painting the basement windows black. As the film exposes later, this was to keep the sun out of his sleeping quarters.
I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed this movie. One thing I appreciated as a vampire movie fan was that Fright Night didn’t forget the legends. This means a lot to fans of the vampire genre, I think. There is a cool portrait of Bela Lugosi as Dracula in the home of Peter Vincent, the TV host. There is some footage of Christopher Lee playing Dracula in Fright Night too. If you’ve never seen Christopher Lee play Dracula under the Hammer Films label, you are missing out. The houses were cool but, the movie was filmed at a studio, so I don’t imagine they were real. The main character drives a ’66 Mustang Fastback. The car belonged to writer/director Tom Holland in real life. You can read more about that here.
A Touch of Comedy in Fright Night
I’m being comical here, but the idea that you recruit someone who is an actor to do the job they pretend to do is great. I can only imagine how Vincent Price or Elvira would do in real life hunting vampires or fighting a horde of zombies. They host these movies all the time and are great at it. I can see me knocking on the door of Elvira and the redheaded Cassandra Peterson answers. I say, “Yes ma’am, I’m looking for Elvira because I need her to help me kill a vampire.” I can only imagine what response I might get. I’ve met her and she’s kind but, she would probably politely and comically let me know Elvira isn’t going to be able to assist with a crucifix, stake, or garlic necklace…and that I should probably leave.
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What are your thoughts on Fright Night? I know there’s more fans out there. Let me know in the comments. Let’s get a conversation stated.