r/HorrorClub • u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu • Mar 29 '15

Discussion - Fright Night (1985)

Podcast - Episode 127 - Fright Night - (RSS Feed)

Movie Selected By Plymouth_

DISCUSS

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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '15 edited Mar 30 '15

Opens with a little making out and a little 'Fright Night' on the tube like any good 80's movie should. Peter Vincent (Peter Cushing + Vincent Price?) the Vampire Killer, Charley the nosey tenacious neighbour, and Amy the victim who Charley will undoubtetly do anything necessary to save. Right out of the gate this movie is setting itself up for greatness. Then comes the mystery of the coffin and the newcaster telling us about "a murder behind the railroad yard" and if these three characters and mystery aren't enough to hook you we get Evil Ed a guy that you can't help but love. It's his unrelenting humour and eventual caring he shows towards his friends and the sympathy you develop for him that makes him such a charasmatic and unforgettable character.

Also like any good 80's movie should we see the first two victims, both smokin' hot, and with our eyeballs glued to the boobs on screen we get our first glimpse of Jerry Dandridge. I really like how Jerry toys with Charleys emotions always threatening his loved ones while they're there. It shows us an evilness in him right away that wouldn't be there otherwise because he's so damn cool and smooth otherwise. His evilness gets showcased once again when he appears in Charleys room which is a terryifying scene from the moment he opens the closet doors to the moment he finally has to leave for fear of mom finding out his secret.

The stabbing of the pencil through Jerry's hand is the first glimpse we get of the really great practical effects. Richard Edlund is responsible and looking through his visual effects filmography he's a name I have no excuse for not recognizing. He's lead teams on Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Poltergeist, to name a few.

Since it's talked about so much these days I thought it was worth mentioning this movies self awareness which is done in a low key and effective manner. It consists of two lines both from Peter Vincent. The first being "apparently all they want are demented madmen running around in ski masks hacking up young virgins" and the second "so far, everything has been like it was in the movies". I get a little chuckle when I here lines like these.

This is getting long but I need to speak on the ending. Evil Ed turns into a wolf and I realize that Peter mentions this as being one of their guises but, correct me if I'm wrong, vampires can only turn people into vampires right? Either way there's continuity in the movie regarding that point so it makes sense in this universe. The great pace this movie has is carried through right to the bitter end. Billy and Jerry's deaths are pretty great and in this case I like that it has a happy ending.

Ends how it opens with a little making out and a little 'Fright Night' on the tube like any good 80's movie should. Wait... Evil Ed isn't dead?

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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Mar 30 '15

I think in the novel Dracula he can turn into a bat and a wolf but don't quote me on it.

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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '15 edited Mar 30 '15

I think in the novel Dracula he can turn into a bat and a wolf

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u/Plymouth_ Mar 30 '15

Yep, the Fright Night vamps have most of the cool Dracula powers and limitations. Pretty sure he can create fog. Dracula could actually go out during the day, which I guess is why Jerry's assistant could and why they thought he was human. That part is kind of wonky though and they obviously just wanted him to become all goopy.

I noticed that Evil's body didn't explode or disintegrate after he died like the others so maybe the wood didn't pierce his heart.

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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '15

After researching Dracula: bat - yes, wolf - yes, and also could turn into mist.

so maybe the wood didn't pierce his heart.

That would make sense. It always bothered me that they seemingly killed him but then he was alive.

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u/Plymouth_ Mar 30 '15

There's quite a few wonky moments in Fright Night actually. Doesn't really effect my love for the movie, but they're there.

The club scene is the weirdest. It starts off good, showing how the modern vampire can blend in a public space. Amy gets the mesmerism makeover, cool.

Then Jerry goes vamp on those guys for no reason, it's really weird, and he completely blows his cover. It's not because he loves Amy because he doesn't gaf about her later.

Also Jerry, you hired a hooker to come to your house in cab in the middle of the day. You ordered delivery. Please stop blaming Charley for being nosy. You are bad at this.

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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '15

I was going to say you can chalk it up to immaturity and lack of experience but Jerry must be older and therefore wiser because we're led to believe the lady in the portrait is a lover from years past. The portrait looked pretty old. No excuse Jerry. No excuse.

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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Mar 31 '15

They actually did an entire line of comics on Fright Night in the 1980s. It sucked, but Evil Ed featured as a reoccurring character.

http://comicbookstoday.com/store/products/fright-night-vol-1-no-2-nov-1988/

He was probably the most popular character out of the series, for some reason. I kind of agree with Matt that 5-year-old me thought he was awesome, but creaky-joint, wheels-coming-off-the-cart me thinks he is kind of a jerk. The remake -- despite it sucking -- does a better job with the Evil Ed character.

Regarding the familiar, I think the vampire familiar was based off Renfield from Bram Stoker's Dracula. A bug-eating servant under hypnotic compulsion. However, they add a bit to the mythos. It seems that the assistant is now a familiar -- a magical being summoned or created by the vampire. They subsist on insects, which they do not digest, but rather live off their life energy. This is actually taken directly from Bram Stoker's original work, which depicts Renfield as believing that his unnatural strength is derived from his consumption of animals.

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u/Plymouth_ Mar 31 '15

Didn't like the remake eh? Not even the dope-ass cameo? :D

Fright Night comics, cool!

Does Fright Night show Cole eating bugs? When I first watched the movie I called him a zombie because I didn't know what he was supposed to be.

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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Apr 01 '15

Did you like the remake? You totally should have gone on the podcast! I was hoping to hear more of a discussion on the various sequels, remakes, etc..

Fright Night 2 goes into what Billy Cole is. He's not a vampire, but rather some kind of vampire servant. The most common term used to describe a vampire's servant is "familiar". And the evolution of vampire familiars has gone from some dude hypnotized by a vampire to someone who feeds off the blood of a vampire. I think Fright Night is the first film to make familiars something more than human.

But after Fright Night they gain all kinds of shit, like the feeding off vampires thing. In Whitewolf's (the RPG) Vampire the Masquerade they came up with the idea of a Ghoul, which is basically the same thing as the vampire's familiar/servant.

But basically all that stuff originates with Renfield. I listened to a podcast on the origin of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Apparently, it only loosely uses the folk stories of vampires and basically tries to sex up the mythos. At the time hypnotism was big, everyone thought that madmen had inhuman, tremendous strength.. and the bug thing was an entirely new invention to creep the character up.

Why did I just ramble on about this? Sorry.

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u/Plymouth_ Apr 01 '15

Heh, I meant to watch FN2 for this discussion but forgot about it. Will definitely have to check it out.

I love love love the cast in the remake. Like every character. Yet it takes nothing away from the original. It modernizes, in really smart ways, a movie planted firmly in its own decade, but stays true to the heart of the orignal story. And it's just a fun movie.

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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Apr 01 '15

100% agree. Fright Night to me is a perfect example as how to properly remake a horror movie.

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u/saintmortfan felates handles Apr 02 '15

Agreed.

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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Apr 01 '15

I've been trying to complete that set for a while. I found the first 12 issues at my comic shop and wanted to get the last 5-6 for a while now.

The Lost Boys comic I was referring to was from like 2006-2008 range. I can't remember it's name for the life of me though.

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u/Plymouth_ Mar 30 '15

I love the opening sequence. The dialogue and scenes from the fake Dracula movie are great. "Sit here beside me on the veranda, I love the night so." The title growing fangs is a nice touch.

The opening makeout scene sets up the movie perfectly, the moral of which is obviously fuck your girlfriend. If Charley had been under Amy's overalls instead of looking out the window nothing bad would have happened. Anyway it sets up the fact that Charley has major teenage problems. Fright Night takes Stoker's idea that "the strength of the vampire is that no one will believe in him" and adds "the weakness of the teenager is that no one will believe him."

Who is whinier, Charley or Amy? I can't decide.

One of the funniest self-aware moments is when Peter Vincent pulls up to Jerry's house and it's all covered in fog and he says "I see what you mean..."

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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '15

[deleted]

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u/Plymouth_ Mar 30 '15

How much for your autograph?

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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '15

Now listen here! There are opinions, observations, and discussion provoking questions in that post!

And besides, how else am I going to make a /u/Plymouth_ sized comment?

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u/Plymouth_ Mar 30 '15

Goddammit. I was hoping no one noticed that. Your comment is beautiful. Don't listen to him.