FRIGHT NIGHT (1985) - REVIEW
Yes the Fright Night remake was surprisingly decent. But what of the original? Released a couple of years before The Lost Boys , it already took a more tongue-in-cheek, nostalgic approach to vampire films and put a geeky character in the middle of a full-blown nightmare. "Fright Night" refers to a TV show within the film in which an ageing actor playing a vampire hunter (a perfect Roddy McDowall) introduces classic horror films Vampira-style. McDowall's Peter Vincent is an obvious homage to iconic actor Peter Cushing, known for playing vampire hunter Van Helsing in countless Hammer films. His character is dragged kicking and screaming into a real life vampire problem and his disbelief at the events unfolding before him is tons of fun throughout. The film sees a vampire amusingly called Jerry (Chris Sarandon) move in next door to some high school kid (William Ragsdale) who soon becomes aware of what his neighbour really is and, of course, becomes his primary targe