| Fright Night | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Tom Holland |
| Produced by | Herb Jaffe |
| Written by | Tom Holland |
| Starring | Chris Sarandon William Ragsdale Amanda Bearse Stephen Geoffreys Roddy McDowall |
| Music by | Brad Fiedel |
| Cinematography | Jan Kiesser |
| Editing by | Kent Beyda |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 2, 1985 |
| Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $24,922,237 |
Fright Night is a 1985 American horror film written and directed by Tom Holland and produced by Herb Jaffe. It stars William Ragsdale, Chris Sarandon (who later starred in another Tom Holland hit horror film Child's Play), Roddy McDowall and Amanda Bearse. The film was released on August 2, 1985 and was followed by a sequel, Fright Night Part II (1988), and a 3D remake in 2011.
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Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a huge fan of traditional Gothic horror films. He stays up late at night to watch the horror movie TV series "Fright Night" hosted by Hammer Horror style actor, Peter Vincent, who played a vampire killer for many years in horror movies.
Charley discovers that his new next door neighbor, Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire. Upon coming to this terrible realization, Charley tries to tell his naturally skeptical yet loving mother, and asks his friends for their help. In desperation he calls the police but when he reveals his suspicions to them they believe he has a wild imagination and ignore his claims. That night Charley gets a visit from Jerry himself who offers Charley a "choice" (something he claims he lacks) to look the other way about him. Charley can't bear the idea of people being killed to feed this monster so he tries to use his cross only for Jerry to stop him. Jerry then tries to throw Charley out of the window and nearly succeeds until Charley stabs him in his hand with a pencil. In rage and retaliation Jerry destroys Charley's car.
Charley turns to his vampire-hunting hero, actor Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) for help, but Vincent dismisses Charley as an obsessed fan. Charley's girlfriend, Amy Peterson (Amanda Bearse), fears for Charley's sanity and safety so she hires the financially-desperate Vincent to "prove" that Jerry is not a vampire by having him ingest what they claim is "holy water" but it turns out to only be tap water.
Peter Vincent accidentally discovers Jerry's true nature after glancing his lack of a reflection in his pocket mirror, which causes him to accidentally drop and smash the mirror. With this new, terrifying information, Peter flees but Jerry learns of Peter's discovery after finding a piece of his pocket mirror on the floor.
Jerry hunts down and turns Charley's friend, Edward "Evil Ed" Thompson (Stephen Geoffreys), into a vampire. Evil Ed then visits Peter and tries to attack him, only to be warded off with a cross. Jerry follows Charley and Amy to a club. While Charley is trying to call for help, Jerry hypnotizes and takes Amy, who bears a resemblance to Jerry's lost love, whom Jerry has a painting of. With nowhere left to turn, Charley goes to Vincent a second time.
Vincent, frightened from having dealt with Evil Ed, initially refuses, but then reluctantly resumes his "Vampire Killer" role as Charley approaches his neighbor's house. The two are able to repel Jerry's attack using a cross though only Charley's works, since he has faith. Billy Cole (Jonathan Stark) appears and knocks Charley over the banister and to the ground, Peter flees to Charley house where he tries to use the phone until realizing the phone line has been cut, Peter runs up the stairs to check on Mrs Brewster instead finds Evil Ed who takes on a wolf form. Vincent kills Evil Ed after staking him through the heart. Charley finds Amy who has been turned by Jerry into a vampire. Vincent says the process can be reversed, but only if they kill Jerry before dawn.
The two then kill Jerry's live-in carpenter, and day time protector, Billy Cole, who is also the vampire's inhuman bodyguard. After being impaled through the heart, Cole dissolves into green goo and dust. Jerry appears but Vincent using a cross and faith is able to lure the overconfident Jerry in front of a window. Just before the morning sun lights him ablaze. Jerry turns into a bat and flees to his coffin in the basement, while Amy completes her transformation and attacks Charley. By breaking the blacked-out windows in the basement, Vincent and Charley are able to expose Jerry to the sunlight and kill him.
Amy returns to normal. A few nights later Vincent returns to his Fright Night TV series and announces a break from vampires, instead selecting an alien invasion movie. The last shot shows two red eyes in the darkness, followed by Evil Ed laughing sarcastically, "Oh, you're so cool, Brewster!" indicating he might be still alive and still a vampire, though the film never clarifies.
Fright Night's widest release was 1,545 theaters. The film also turned out to be a surprise hit at the box office, making $6,118,543 on opening weekend (1,542 theaters, $3,967 average). Domestic gross was $24,922,237. It performed the best of any horror film released during the summer of 1985.[1] It was also the second highest-grossing horror film of 1985, bested only by A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.
Fright Night was well-received, winning three Saturn Awards, a Dario Argento Award, and a critics' award—special citation at Fantasporto and currently holds a 93% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 30 reviews. A 1989 sequel followed, entitled Fright Night Part II, with William Ragsdale and Roddy McDowall reprising their roles. The sequel was not as well received as the original.[2]
| Award | Nominee | Subject | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturn Award | Tom Holland | Best Writing | Won |
| Fright Night | Best Horror Film | ||
| Roddy McDowall | Best Supporting Actor |
In 1985, a novelization, Fright Night, by Craig Spector and John Skipp, was published by TOR Books.
In 1988, Fright Night was also spun-off into a comic book series by Now Comics. It ran for 22 issues until July 1990.
An arcade-style computer game was released in 1988 for Amiga computers. In the game, players assume the role of Jerry Dandrige as he attempts to turn his victims into vampires before sunrise.
The film was released on VHS, and on DVD as a bare-bones edition in 1999. On December 13 2011, the film was released as a limited edition Blu-ray (only 3,000 copies were made) sold exclusively through ScreenArchives.com. It includes two theatrical trailers, an isolated music score and a four page booklet containing an essay on the film as special features. The Blu-ray is now out of print/sold out and has already become a highly expensive item on Amazon.com.
| Fright Night | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by various artists | |
| Released | 1985 |
| Genre | Rock, New Wave |
| Length | 37:12 |
| Label | Private I |
In May 2009, it was revealed that DreamWorks would be overseeing a remake of Fright Night.[3] Mike De Luca, Michael Gaeta, and Alison Rosenzweig are the producers.[4] Marti Noxon wrote the script of the remake.[5][6] In March 2010 it was announced that Craig Gillespie would direct the remake,[7] and it was financed by Steven Spielberg with his company DreamWorks.[8] It will be released and distributed by Disney under the Touchstone banner, as part of the 30-picture deal between DreamWorks Studios and the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group.
The film was shot in New Mexico, and wrapped in 2010 with Anton Yelchin to play the lead as teenage Charlie Brewster who thinks his next door neighbor is a vampire.[9] Toni Collette plays Charlie's mother. Colin Farrell plays the antagonist/charismatic neighbor/vampire Jerry Dandridge, originally portrayed by Chris Sarandon.[10] David Tennant plays the role of Peter Vincent. In the remake, Vincent is a Las Vegas magician whose show revolves around horror-movie imagery.[11] Sandra Vergara, sister of actress Sofia Vergara, plays his girlfriend, the magician's assistant.[12] Christopher Mintz-Plasse will play Evil Ed.[13] Imogen Poots will play Charlie's girlfriend Amy.[14]
On August 19, 2011 the film was released in Real D 3D with Paradise FX's Tri Delta camera systems.[15] Max Penner (CTO of Paradise FX) is the Stereographer.[14]
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