"A neighbour and his coffin..."

Two men move in next to Charley’s house. He notices they are carrying a coffin inside their new home. Being a horror movie fan, he immediately jumps to the conclusion that his new neighbor is a vampire. His suspicion is reinforced when he hears a woman screaming next door.

He calls the police believing there was a murder. The officers only give a brief look around before leaving. Charley’s new neighbor doesn’t appreciate the menace and is revealed to truly be a vampire when he visits the teenager in his home, by passing through the walls. He gives Charley one final warning but he doesn’t listen and gets into trouble, once again. The vampire promises to visit the next night: the teenager only has one day to assemble his friends and his arsenal.

Here is the perfect recipe for an interesting vampire film with its part of horror, suspense, humor, teenager relations and violence. The problem I have with vampire movies are the slow moments with crosses, holy water, wooden stakes, the sun, etc. Without avoiding these aspects completely, Fright Night succeeds in giving them only a minor role.

This vampire, who seems in total control of the situation, is representative of what a vampire would have looked like during the eighties. He is calm, yet menacing, purely evil but civilized in his appearance. He charms women and probably men (his roommate is a man). His personality is interesting and not too caricatured.

No one wants to believe the hero about the murder and when he decides to confront the vampire himself, he asks his friends for help. However, they betray him by thinking he is crazy. They call the vampire and warn him that they will come and prove Charley that he is wrong. This frustrated me but I was enthusiastic knowing that anyhow, the story would end well. Was I right ?

The actors and the special effects are remarkable. The character of Evil Ed is worrisome because he seems psychologically defied. His fate worsens when he is bitten and this makes him one of the most memorable characters of Fright Night. Furthermore, a few minor aspects displeased me. First of all, the unavoidable rules of vampire hunting, known by all, that render them so vulnerable are present. Garlic doesn’t seem to work, holy water is more or less used but assumed to work, crosses only work if we have faith (in God, I imagine), wooden stakes work like a charm, decapitation isn’t exploited or mentioned and, as always, it is sunlight that does the most damage.

Christianity makes battles against vampires pathetic. I would have appreciated seeing the victims use their feet and fists more. In another line of thought, the vampires in Fright Night are not asexual. This one is bisexual and seems to prefer his roommate. This will please some as well as displease those who have respect for conventional vampires.