Fright Night
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (April 2007) |
| Fright Night | |
|---|---|
 Film poster of Fright Night |
|
| Directed by | Tom Holland |
| Produced by | Herb Jaffe |
| Written by | Tom Holland |
| Starring | Chris Sarandon William Ragsdale Roddy McDowall Amanda Bearse Stephen Geoffreys |
| Music by | Brad Fiedel |
| Cinematography | Jan Kiesser |
| Editing by | Kent Beyda |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 2, 1985 |
| Running time | 106 min |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $9 000 000 |
| Followed by | Fright Night II |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Fright Night is a vampire horror-comedy film that was released in 1985. It was followed by a 1988 sequel, Fright Night II along with numerous other merchandise including tapes, CDs, videos, DVDs, and comic books.
Starring William Ragsdale, Chris Sarandon, and Stephen Geoffreys. Also starring is Roddy McDowall, whose character's name, "Peter Vincent", is loosely based on veteran horror film figures English actor Peter Cushing and American actor Vincent Price. Directed and written by Tom Holland. The musical score was done by Brad Fiedel (who also scored The Terminator series). The visual effects are the work of Richard Edlund, who also provided the effects for Ghostbusters a year earlier. The film contains a puppet that was cut from Ghostbusters. The puppet is the rejected "Ghost Librarian" character.
Fright Night was well-received, winning three Saturn Awards; it also won an award and a nomination at Fantasporto. It spawned a 1988 sequel which also gained a Fantasporto nomination. The film also turned out to be a surprise hit at the box office. It performed the best of any horror film released during the summer of 1985, grossing just under $25 million domestically.[1] It was the second highest grossing horror film of 1985, bested only by A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.
In 1985, a novelization, Fright Night by Craig Spector and John Skipp, was published by TOR Books. The novelization continues the film's tradition of paying homage to classic horror actors; Charlie's school, "Christopher L. Cushing High School," takes its name from frequent Hammer Films co-stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Fright Night was also adapted into a comic-book series by Now Comics.
An arcade-style computer game was released in 1988 for Amiga computers. In the game, players assume the role of Jerry Dandridge as he attempts to turn his victims into vampires before sunrise.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| William Ragsdale | Charley Brewster |
| Chris Sarandon | Jerry Dandridge |
| Roddy McDowall | Peter Vincent |
| Amanda Bearse | Amy Peterson |
| Stephen Geoffreys | "Evil" Ed Thompson |
| Jonathan Stark (screenwriter) | Billy Cole |
| Dorothy Fielding | Judy Brewster |
| Art Evans | Detective Lennox |
| Heidi Sorenson | Hooker |
| Ernie Holmes | Bouncer |
[edit] Box Office
Fright Night's widest release was 1,545 theaters. It made $6,118,543 million on opening weekend (1,542 theaters, $3,967 average). Domestic gross was $24,922,237 million.
[edit] Synopsis
Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a teenage horror movie fan. One night he sees new neighbors moving in next door and they appear to be carrying what looks like a coffin. Charley shrugs this off until he sees his new neighbor Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) biting the neck of a young woman. He tells his mother (Dorothy Fielding) what he saw but she doesn't believe him. He tries to tell his friend "Evil" Ed (Stephen Geoffreys) and girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse) but they also believe Charley is mistaken and begin to worry about his mental wellbeing. Charley calls the police, claiming that he saw Dandridge killing his date and that there is a coffin in the basement. The police investigate, not seeing the Hooker (Heidi Sorenson) and the Teenage Girl (Irina Irvine) they tell Charley to never call the police again.
Charley then decides to seek the help of his mentor, the veteran vampire movie star and horror host Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall). The movie climaxes with the four of them hunting down vampires and other assorted ghouls.
[edit] Production
Actor William Ragsdale accidentally broke his foot during a Christmas Eve shoot. Filming was halted until Ragsdale could make a recovery so filming could continue.
[edit] Awards
[edit] Saturn Award
- Best Writing (Tom Holland) in 1985
- Best Supporting Actor (Roddy McDowall) in 1985
[edit] Fantasporto
- Critics' Award - Special Mention (Tom Holland) (won)
