True Blood Season Six

Fright Night (1985)

Warning: This review will have all sorts of bloody spoilers... wait a minute. Am I to assume you haven't seen this movie yet? Oh, but I bet you've seen Twilight, though.. Right?!


Premise: A teenage slacker-type is into the horror genre big time. One of his favorite TV shows to watch is "Fright Night" starring legendary horror film actor, Peter Vincent as the host. Charlie loves the things that go bump in the night until one night, after doing a little window peeping, he realizes that his next door neighbor happens to be one of those things. The harsh reality of monsters being real hits him like a stake in the heart. Especially now that he's gotten himself in a bind with sexy bloodsucker next door. He's going to need all the help he can get to save the lives of his friend, girlfriend, mom and his own.

Unfortunately, it was too late to save his car. Sad thing, that was.


Review: Now, I was 6 years old when I first saw this movie... yeah, I'm hardcore like that. Being a writer of vampire fiction, I'm often asked, "what initiated my love of vampires?" Well, I can say, without a doubt, it was this movie. From the awesome 80's soundtrack to the sexy bloodsucker who put the "dash" in "dashing" and the "charm" in "Charming."

Was he evil? I wouldn't necessarily say so. However, if you pissed him off, he'd f*ck you up. I can appreciate that in a supernatural being. Let's not forget, even after Charlie spied on him several times, broke into his house and called the cops on him... he was still willing to let him live if he but "forgot about him." Charlie being who he was didn't take the offer. And what follows is why I get sad sometimes when I see vampire movies today. So many are filled with boring, mindless, bloodthirsty beast drooling blood on their chins and all over people's shoes as if that's scary. Where's the sophistication of Jerry Dandridge? The determination and prowess to get what he wanted? His ability to strike fear in the hearts of those who dared challenge him? Let's not take anything away from our fearless (scared as hell) vampire hunters, shall we. They were terrified, but knew that they were the only ones who could saves countless lives.

To me, Fright Night set a standard that is not widely recognized or appreciated in this day in age. For example; name me a recent vampire movie in which the vampire had the audacity to take the woman of his enemy and make her his? He didn't squabble about that decision. He didn't lose sleep over it. He did it because it pleased him to do so. It pleased him to take something valuable away from his enemy knowing it would cause great suffering.

That's vengeance on a whole new level. 

Not only was this movie scary, with some pretty awesome effects for that time, but it was funny and moved at a great pace. No boring spots.  You really feel for the characters and connect with them. You actually feel sorry for some and that's not always easy for a horror movie to do.

To this day, I still have a mad crush on Chris Sarandon's JD and I always will. If anyone is curious where I get some aspects of Darian's personality from... JD was one of my inspirations.

Grade: (A+++) You may sit in the front of the class!