RETRO CINEMA: FRIGHT NIGHT ’85

FRIGHT NIGHT
Directed by: Tom Holland
Written by: Tom Holland
Starring: William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowell, Chris Sarandon, Amanda Bearse, Stephen Geoffreys

In the nearly insatiable drive for “new” product, albeit low-risk product, Hollywood studios inevitably, inexorably turn toward intellectual property already in their possession; thus, remakes, sequels, prequels, and reboots. Doubly thus, the newly released remake of FRIGHT NIGHT, a 1985 horror-comedy (emphasis on comedy) memorable for its geeky, horror buff hero-protagonist, Roderick “Roddy” McDowell a washed-up horror actor turned TV horror host turned fearful vampire hunter, quotable dialogue, rubbery prosthetics (semi-state-of-the-art then, far from state-of-the-art now), bad fashion (even by 1985 standards), and writer-director Tom Holland’s light, if goofy, touch that emphasized comedy (and parody) over horror. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First, a ride aboard the synopsis-mobile.

FRIGHT NIGHT centers, more or less, on Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale), the aforementioned geeky, horror buff hero-protagonist who, REAR WINDOW-style, spots his new neighbor, Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), apparently feeding on a young woman. Brewster can’t believe his eyes, nor can he convince his loyal girlfriend, Amy Peterson (Amanda Bearse, future third female lead on MARRIED…WITH CHILDREN), his single mother, Judy (Dorothy Fielding), or the local police that the inaptly named Jerry might be an ancient bloodsucker with poor taste in sweaters and an affinity for bland-looking women. Brewster’s semi-ex-best friend, Edward “Evil Ed” Thompson (Stephen Geoffreys*), like Brewster a horror aficionado (he’s also, disturbingly, into true crime stories, the gorier the better), eventually believes Brewster, but together, Charley, Amy, and Evil Ed pose little or no threat to the suave vampire-next-door.

Given Jerry’s live-in “familiar” (a vampire’s best friend, a protective human servant), Billy Cole (Jonathan Stark), Brewster probably has a better chance convincing his mother (and the authorities) that Jerry and Billy are a gay couple. Surprisingly, no one ever makes that particular suggestion. Brewster eventually turns to Peter Vincent (McDowell), the also aforementioned washed-up horror actor turned TV horror host turned fearful vampire hunter. McDowell plays Vincent as self-parody. Never one to turn down a paycheck role, no matter how abysmal the script, McDowell appeared in more than 250 films and television series, including the PLANET OF THE APES series. His Vincent, a coward by nature and temperament, who, when push comes to shove (or is it shovel?), eventually rises to the vampire-hunting occasion, provides FRIGHT NIGHT with its most memorable character (and characterization).

Anything else that can be described as remarkable or memorable, however, can’t be described positively, at least not aesthetically. FRIGHT NIGHT offers a handful of intentional pleasures, most related to Vincent’s scenes, some related to Brewster, especially an earlier one where a wood-based pencil proves instrumental in warding off Jerry’s intrusion, Evil Ed’s high-pitched voice and, later squeal, followed by not one, not two, but three memorable death scenes, including one particular that, to this day, no one, not even writer-director Tom Holland or the film’s stars, can explain adequately, and a handful of throwaway lines of dialogue that have become, at least for FRIGHT NIGHT’s most devoted fans, fans that probably number in the thousands, inexhaustibly quotable best saved for first-time viewers to hear (and savor) for themselves.

Less intentionally, FRIGHT NIGHT offers a relative abundance of camp pleasures, beginning, but not ending, with the laughably bad fashion sense everyone seems to have except Peter Vincent (he wears 19th-century gear). Jerry looks like a past-his-prime disco king not a fearsome vampire. Amy, or rather [i]Fright Night’s[/i] costume designer, is almost as bad: she wears jumpers better suited to preteen girls and large, unwieldy objects in her hair. Everyone else thankfully wears bland, non-descript. Make-up effects might be a rapidly dying art thanks, or rather no thanks to CG, but the prosthetics used in [i]Fright Night[/i] aren’t like to scare anyone (they probably didn’t in 1985 either). Cheesy contemporary music rounds out [i]Fright Night’s[/i] lasting charms, but you can (and should), of course, see for yourself, both on its own and to compare-and-contrast the remake opening this weekend to the original.

FRIGHT NIGHT’s unexpected box-office success led to an unsurprisingly inferior sequel, FRIGHT NIGHT 2, that swapped out the now departed Jerry Dandridge for his sister Regine (Julie Carmen), a new girlfriend for Charley, Alex (Traci Lind), a randy werewolf-vampire, a transvestite vampire (on roller skates, no less), and more importantly, the welcome return of McDowell as Peter Vincent. Post FRIGHT NIGHT, Ragsdale’s career stalled. He turned up on JUSTIFIED last season in a supporting role. When mainstream roles dried up, Stephen Geoffreys turn to adult films of the non-heterosexual kind to make ends meet. Sadly, McDowell passed away in 1998 at the age of 70 from lung cancer, leaving behind many (emphasis on “many”) forgettable roles over five decades as a working actor and a handful of memorable ones, including his role as Vincent.