October 4th - Fright Night

As of the last several years, vampire films have taken a turn for the worst. With a few exceptions, modern vampire films are a complete waste of time for that of the horror film fan. For this reason I decided to pick an older vampire movie, less known than films like Coppola’s Dracula or The Lost Boys, but just as fun.

Fright Night.




Fright Night follows young Charley who witnesses his new neighbour, Jerry, move in in the middle of the night. After he sees a woman in his neighbours window the night before the local news reports her missing, suspicion arises within him. He quickly comes to the conclusion that his new neighbour is indeed a vampire, whose new goal is to destroy Charley’s life.




Pursuing the aid of a local late night horror host , Charley is convinced that his neighbour is a vampire while everyone around him is convinced he’s losing his mind. After some convincing by Charley’s friends, Peter Vincent--host of the late night horror show, goes along with the story to prove Charley’s neighbour is not a vampire and that the boy has nothing to worry about. When Jerry doesn’t appear in a mirror’s reflection, the shit hit’s the fan.


Filmed during an era when practical effects were unquestionably used, the film has some great gore and prosthetic effects, including a staking scene that inspires unmatched sympathy for the death of a villain from an audience. Unlike other vampires, the vampires here have a large number of razor sharp protruding teeth, appearing to tear their victims throats out more so than just sinking their fangs in.

One of my favourite features of Fright Night is that is uses vampire lore to it’s advantage. Tests and concretes severable fundamental laws of lore such as crucifixes, wolves, giant bats, holy water, mirrors, being invited in, and so forth. While Fright Night doesn’t break any boundaries when it comes to the rules of a vampire film, it does take a lot of those laws and sprinkle them with its own flavour.



Fright Night is a wonderful 80s horror film with all the strengths and none of the weaknesses many eighties horror films have. I highly recommend it, one of my favourite vampire films.






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Ps. A little more recent and perhaps well known check out Let The Right One In if you haven’t seen it. A beautiful Swedish film that remains, in my opinion, to be the best vampire film of the last decade, maybe even longer.

Also, check out The Lost Boys if you haven’t seen it. It’s as if John Hughes made a vampire film.