31 Days of Halloween - Day 12 - Movie

High School student, Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) discovers that his new next door neighbor (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire responsible for the murders of several women in his community, but no one believes him. Instead of stopping the vampire, and the murders, he's only made himself the target of the angry vampire living next door. In desperation, Charlie turns to actor and late night horror host, Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) for help.

This year's remake came and went without my notice, but I decided to revisit the original Fright Night (1985) after years of avoiding it. I saw this movie when it was first released, and then numerous times on cable in the the late 80s, but not since then. My avoidance was not because I felt Fright Night was a bad movie, but because I liked it quite a bit and was afraid it wouldn't hold up, or that like many movies made in the 1980s, it would be really dated.

Yes, it turned out to be a bit dated, but not in any way that interfered with the enjoyment of the movie. It still holds up nicely. The performances are all good, especially Chris Sarandon,  Roddy McDowell and scene stealer Stephen Geoffreys as Evil Ed. As a monster movie, you get plenty of monster. There are vampires in different human forms, bat creatures, and werewolves. Characters are stabbed, burned and melted among many things, so you definitely get your effects in this movie. Best of all he movie is an affectionate tribute to the classic horror films, particularly the Hammer horrors starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, which had fallen out of favor in the 80s when the slasher film came into prominence.