Fright Night Double Feature

Fright Night
(Tom Holland, 1985)

3.5 Stars

The eighties spawned some classic horror comedy flicks. Indeed, it’s debatable as to whether this was the decade that spawned the genre; with the likes of Gremlins, Critters and The Evil Dead, cinema goers saw a new era of B-Movies; ones that not only gave you the willies, they also made you laugh whilst doing so.

In a time ruled by the likes of Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers, a surprise smash hit crept up like some ghoulish beast on critics and audiences alike in the summer of 1985 in the vampiric form of Tom Holland’s fiendishly funny Fright Night.

Starring Hollywood legend Roddy McDowall as a wonderful caricature of just about every vampire hunter he ever played, and lost in oblivion William Ragsdale as high school loser Charley, Fright Night tells the story of an unlikely pair of would be heroes who take on a centuries-old vampire, played with gleeful relish by Chris Sarandon (Childs Play, The Nightmare Before Christmas).

Taking inspiration from just about every vampire tale that came before it, from ‘Salem’s Lot to Dracula, Fright Night is a delightfully campy, laugh out loud romp featuring some special effects to put shame to the vast majority of modern day horror ventures.

It’s a rare thing to truly pull off the horror comedy, but Fright Night pulls out all the stops, and although perhaps not as well known as such classics as Gremlins, it’s a movie that really does deserve its cult status.

Fright Night Part 2
(Tommy Lee Wallace, 1989)

3 Stars

I’ve ranted in the past many a time over the curse that is the horror sequel, and I’m sure I need not go too far into my list of issues with the money-making scam that is the poorly-crafted follow-up at this point in time.

Fortunately, it seems, when it comes to the horror comedy, a lot more thought goes into the sequel, and rather than just turf out any old tosh, producers are much more keen to keep some sense of the odd-ball integrity of the original. Just see Jack Frost II: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman for proof of that. Failing that, just take into consider its name alone.

And so, in the grand tradition of Gremlins 2: The New Batch and Army Of Darkness (although it did in fact precede both…), we bring you Fright Night Part 2. Doing what every good sequel should, bringing back the original cast in a tale that not only logically follows what came before, but actually adds to it, Part 2 picks up three years after the first movie left off, with Charley undergoing intensive psychiatric treatment to disprove the existence of vampires.

When the sister of Charley’s former nemesis rolls into town, however, out for his blood, it’s time for him to once again team up with Roddy McDowell’s fearless Van Helsing parody Peter Vincent (Peter Cushing and Vincent Price? Why surely yes.) for some serious slaying.

As camp and crazy as the first movie, Fright Night Part 2 is great fun; sexy, scary and spine-tingling, featuring a genuinely great soundtrack by Brad Fiedel and some top notch special effects. A worthy follow-up to a cult monster-piece.