Fright Night (1985)

A teenager discovers that the newcomer in his neighborhood is a vampire, so he turns to an actor in a television horror show for help dealing with the undead.

Director:

Tom Holland

Writer:

Tom Holland

Stars:

Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse

5 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chris Sarandon	...	Jerry Dandrige
William Ragsdale	...	Charley Brewster
Amanda Bearse	...	Amy Peterson
Roddy McDowall	...	Peter Vincent
Stephen Geoffreys	...	Evil Ed
Jonathan Stark	...	Billy Cole
Dorothy Fielding	...	Judy Brewster
Art Evans	...	Detective Lennox (as Art J. Evans)
Stewart Stern	...	Cook
Nick Savage	...	Bouncer #1
Ernie Holmes	...	Bouncer #2
Heidi Sorenson	...	Hooker
Irina Irvine	...	Teenage Girl
Bob Corff	...	Jonathan (as Robert Corff)
Pamela Brown	...	Miss Nina

Storyline

For young Charley Brewster, nothing could be better than an old horror movie late at night. Two men move in next door, and for Charley 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 Charley's favorite TV show, Fright Night. Vincent doesn't really believe that vampires exist, but does it for the money...

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Plot Keywords:

vampire | horror host | homosexual subtext | cult film | transformation | 

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Taglines:

If you love being scared, it'll be the night of your life.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 August 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fright Night

Filming Locations:

Laird International Studio - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,118,543, 4 August 1985

Gross USA:

$24,922,237

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$24,922,237

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Vistar Films, Columbia Pictures Industries

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

William Ragsdale went through several callback auditions for the film. On Halloween night 1984, he was told that he had the part.

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Goofs

Charley nailed the window shut to keep Jerry out. Later the window was opened without damaging the window frame.

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Quotes

[Charley and Amy hear Evil Ed scream from a distance]
Amy: It was just Evil messin' around again.
Amy: [Amy yells back] Cut it out Evil, it's not funny!
Charley Brewster: What if he was really in trouble?
Amy: Charley, you're not gonna let him sucker you in again are you?

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Crazy Credits

During the opening credits, the F and T in Fright Night (1985) elongate into a pair of fangs.

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Alternate Versions

The Swedish version (cinema and video) misses the following: The transformation scene with Ed was removed (1m 50sec), and the scene where Dandrige's assistant melts was shortened by 16 sec.

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Connections

References Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)

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Soundtracks

FRIGHT NIGHT
Written by Joe Lamont
Produced by Seth Justman
Performed by The J. Geils Band
c/o EMI America Records. A division of Capitol Records, Inc.

User Reviews

One Great one

After all this years (20) of vampire slaughtering, Blade's karate Vs vampire flicks, or even Carpenter's Rambo characters, Fright Night still offers the scent of a classic. Tom Holland's masterpiece holds by itself because of a great cast and a plot that gathers every single cliché of the genre and plays a bit with humor and a lot of effective spooks. Roddy Mc Dowall steals the movie with his over the hill terrified looser character. Even special effects are bizarre today as they're a craftsmanship result giving some scenes a bizarre concept that takes you directly into Roger Corman's "B" world. A true pleasure to watch from time to time. Happy 20 years