Film Title: Fright Night
Starring: William Ragsdale as Charlie Brewster, Roddy McDowell as Peter Vincent, Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandridge, Amanda Bearse as Amy Peterson, Stephen Geoffreys as Evil Ed Thompson, Jonathan Stark as Billy Cole and Dorothy Fielding as Judy Brewster
Written and Directed by: Tom Holland
Charlie Brewster (he’s so cool) is an all-American teenager. He has a cute girlfriend, a quirky best buddy and a loving mother. His biggest worry is how to convince his girlfriend that it’s well past time to have sex with him.
Charlie’s carefree life doesn’t last long, however. Just when his girlfriend, Amy, is about to give him what he wants, he spies his new next door neighbors lugging a huge coffin into their basement. Charlie’s curiosity in events outside his window douses Amy’s interest and starts a chain of events that will lead to death and destruction.
Unable to help himself, Charlie continues to spy on his neighbors. He hears screams in the night and witnesses beautiful women visiting the Dandridge house. His luck runs out, however, when Dandridge catches his peeping Tom of a neighbor just when he has finished with his evening meal – another beautiful woman.
Charlie, uncertain if he has really been seen, sneaks out and watches as Jerry Dandridge and his manservant Billy Cole dispose of the body. Dandridge lets Charlie know that he is very aware of his presence but Charlie makes it back to his house before any harm can come to him.
After the police dismiss Charlie’s concerns, Charlie goes to his friend ‘Evil’ Ed for some vampire advice. Although Ed doesn’t believe Charlie for even a second, he reminds his best friend that he’s in no danger since a vampire can’t come into his house without being invited. This relieves Charlie – for about thirty minutes. When he gets home that night, he finds the vampire chatting away with his mother. After a few not-so-subtle threats (that Mrs. Brewster is completely oblivious to) Dandridge leaves, but Charlie knows he’ll be back.
That very evening Dandridge pays a visit to Charlie, but fails to kill him due to bad timing and a pesky number two pencil. However, he vows that he will return to finish the job.
Desperate for help, Charlie visits the local television station’s horror host, Peter Vincent. Peter quickly dismisses him as a lunatic. However, when Charlie’s girlfriend and Ed talk to Mr. Vincent – and some money is waved in his direction – Peter agrees to help prove to Charlie that Dandridge is not a vampire.
After a faked ‘vampire test,’ everyone is set to leave Dandridge’s house but Peter happens to pull out his little prop mirror and realizes that Charlie is right – Jerry Dandridge does not cast a reflection.
From this point on, Charlie and his friends are on the run as Dandridge hunts them down one by one. Evil Ed succumbs first and helps Dandridge capture Amy.
Although reluctant at first, Peter Vincent joins Charlie to help save Amy. After a run-in with Evil Ed in Charlie’s house, he and Charlie vanquish Dandridge and his creepy manservant, thereby saving Amy from ‘life’ as a vampire.
There are many things that I like about Fright Night. First of all, in this day and age of heroic blood-suckers, it’s nice to watch a movie that remembers that vampires are supposed to be frightening. Chris Sarandon plays Jerry Dandridge with equal amounts of charm and menace and although he’s exceedingly handsome, you still don’t want him to actually win.
Before I was even aware of Peter Cushing or Vincent Price, I liked Peter Vincent. I grew up with Roddy McDowall, seeing him in many Disney films and the like. His cowardly hero was all the more convincing because he never completely ‘manned up’ and his fear is apparent all the way to the end. I always found him even more admirable because of this – he did what needed to be done even though he was terrified.
I’m not sure if I noticed it back in 1985 when this movie was released, but the sexual tension in this movie is palpable – and not completely straight. There’s a closeness between Dandridge and his servant Billy Cole that feels more than platonic. I don’t know if this was intentional but it’s there and adds a layer to the movie that makes it even more interesting. And of course there’s the whole thing between Dandrige and Amy.
I’m not a big fan of the makeup effects in this movie. I think Sarandon is scarier without the prosthetics and the only makeup effect that unnerves me at all is Vampire Amy – but I find exaggerated human features scary. By the end of the movie, Sarandon is covered with makeup and I honestly believe the whole thing would have been much more effective without it. Look at Billy Cole – he’s pretty damn creepy and he doesn’t require any kind of special effects until his very last scene. Sarandon was a good enough actor to pull that off.
Despite my misgivings about the makeup, I highly recommend this movie. The characters are likable, the villain menacing and it reminds us all that vampires are for frightening us – not for lovin’.
Rating: Nine Screaming Pumpkins out of Ten
Over the weekend the husband and I watched three October-appropriate films – An eighties slasher flick Happy Birthday to Me, an eighties horror-comedy House II: The Second Story and the more recent The Batman Vs. Dracula animated direct-to-video movie.
Let’s start with the animated movie:
Movie 2: Saturday October 2, 2009
Film Title: The Batman Vs. Dracula (2005)
Starring (voice actors): Rino Romano as The Batman/Bruce Wayne, Alastair Duncan as Alfred Pennyworth, Peter Stormare as Count Dracula/Alucard, Tom Kenny as The Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot, Kevin Michael Richardson as The Joker and Tara Strong as Vicky Vale
Written by: Dave Capizzi
Directed by: Michael Goguen
This movie is part of The Batman animated series that was on the WB for a while not too long ago. My husband and I are huge Batman fans but never had much interest in this version. After watching this movie I’m glad that we never wasted our time.
The movie isn’t terrible, but it certainly isn’t something I would recommend anyone seek out.
For some unknown reason (even to the story writer, apparently) Dracula’s coffin was removed from Transylvania post-heart-piercing and dumped into a Gotham city underground crypt. After breaking out of Arkham Asylum The Penguin (who sounds and acts more like the animated Beetlejuice than any incarnation of The Penguin I’ve ever seen or read) stumbles across this crypt looking for buried treasure. Mr. Cobblepot escapes the fangs of Dracula but falls prey to Drac’s hypno-gaze and becomes The Count’s new Renfield.
Meanwhile, Vicky Vale is interviewing (and hitting on) a young Bruce Wayne but he’s too distracted by the new rash of strange disappearances and she’s pretty much out of luck.
But so is The Batman. Due to witnesses seeing a ‘batlike’ creature when these Lost Ones disappear, the city starts hunting down The Batman believing he is the one kidnapping all the missing persons.
The Batman figures out who Dracula is – but really, it’s not that hard. Drac even gives his name as Alucard to Bruce Wayne at a party. This has become so common it’s positivily cliche. What’s really sad is that ol’ Brucey had to write out the letters and hold them up to a mirror to figure it out. I know, I know – that was more to let the audience in on the joke, but really – it just made Bruce look stupid.
By the time the story ends, the Joker’s been turned into a vampire, cured by The Batman, and Vicky Vale has been kidnapped and nearly turned into Drac’s vampire queen. Fortunately, Batsy is able to defeat The Count with Wayne Industries’ newest technological feat.
There are many problems with this movie, the biggest being that it’s just plain dull. I did not like the character designs, Alfred Pennyworth seemed quite out of character (he did a spit take for goodness’ sake) and the voice actor they cast for Batman – ick. He sounded like almost all Hollywood men today – boyish and boring. Batman needs a deep, commanding voice. How can you strike fear into the hearts of men when you sound like a teenage boy?
I will say this for it though – The Joker as a vampire is pretty damn creepy. What’s even creepier is that while a vampire and as The Batman’s prisoner, he dined on Bruce Wayne’s blood nightly.
Okay, so moving right along. Don’t worry – I actually liked the other two movies we watched this past weekend.
Rating: Three Screaming Pumpkins out of ten
Purchase The Batman Vs. Dracula from Amazon
Movie 3: Saturday October 2, 2009
Move Title: House II: The Second Story (1987)
Starring: Arye Gross as Jessie, Jonathan Stark as Charlie, Royal Dano as Gramps and John Ratzenberger as Bill
Written by: Ethan Wiley
Directed by: Ethan Wiley
The first House movie is a lot of fun and sometimes genuinely scary. The sequel – which has nothing to do with the first movie aside from the fact that it centers around a haunted house – is just fun.
When Jessie moves into the house his parents – who he never knew – left him, he starts exploring and finds that the strange mantlepiece on his fireplace is missing something rare and valuable – a crystal skull. After even more research he deduces that this skull might just be buried with his great great grandfather, with whom he shares his name.
He convinces his best friend Charlie to help him dig up the old codger and lo and behold – there’s the skull – and along with the skull is ol’ gramps. He’s decayed and very, very old but still kicking.
Jessie and Charlie take Gramps and the skull back to the house but is is almost immediately stolen – by a barbarian from a prehistoric alternate universe that anyone can get to just by going into the upstairs study.
And that’s how this movie goes up until the end. Jessie and Charlie visit three alternate universes trying to keep their hands on the skull and therefore keeping Gramps alive. In the end, Gramps’ old friend-turned-enemy shows up demanding the skull but Jessie shoots it out with him until only one of them is left.
Along the way Bill Maher shows up as a smarmy record producer and a few non-descript women look pretty on the screen for a few minutes but are never developed past a two-dimensional shell. However, a cute little pterodactyl and dogerpillar make up for lack of female character development.
Rating: Five Screaming Pumpkins out of ten
Purchase House II The Second Story from Amazon
Saving the Best for last :
Movie 4: Sunday October 4, 2009
Title: Happy Birthday To Me (1981)
Starring: Melissa Sue Andersen as Virginia Wainwright, Glenn Ford as Doctor David Faraday, Tracey Bregman as Ann Thomerson and various other Canadian youths
Written by: John C.W. Saxton, Peter Jobin & Timothy Bond
Directed by: J. Lee Thompson
Although a slasher flick, this movie is very short on gore. The kills are quick and the camera never lingers on the aftermath.
However, the interesting story that keeps you guessing right up until the end makes up for it.
Virginia is a popular girl in her (high school? College? – it’s very unclear) and is even in what the locals call ‘The Top Ten’ – meaning the top ten most popular people in the school.
However, all is not perfect in pretty little Virginia’s world. Three years prior she had been in an accident that left her in a coma. After experimental brain surgery, she recovered but with very little memory of the accident itself or what led up to it.
In the meantime, members of the Top Ten slowly disappear. The viewer knows they are dead – we see each kill although we never see the killer – but the townspeople don’t know if they’re dead or alive. None of the bodies turn up.
By the end of the movie we find out exactly where those bodies went along with how and why.
As with most slasher movies, this film has a female lead performed adequately by Melissa Sue Andersen of Little House on the Prairie fame. A few other familiar character actors from early eighties films pop up along with Glenn Ford.
Rating: Seven Screaming Pumpkins out of 10
Follow me on Twitter 
