reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (08/07/85)
We have reached the time of the summer doldrums in the mo-
tion picture industry. The blockbusters have all been released,
and now the lame, the halting, and the deformed movies stumble
out of the studios in the almost pitiful hope of finding an audi-
ence. One or two might turn out to be good films which the stu-
dio had no faith in, or didn't know how to sell, but most of them
are dogs. For instance, "Fright Night".
Given that you are going to make a vampire movie, "Fright
Night" has a couple of good ideas. Having a vampire move in as
your next door neighbor has possibilities, as does having an old
horror-movie star thrust into the role of vampire killer. "Fright
Night" doesn't do nearly enough with the premises, however. Rather,
it hopes to get by on lots of special effects, mostly grouped at
the end of the film. The effects aren't bad, but one has to sit
through the first half of the film to get to them, and the first
half isn't very good at all.
The main problems are script and actors. The script re-
quires incredible stupidity on the part of nearly everyone, and
many of the actors give miscalculated performances. Of the char-
acters introduced in the first half hour, I hoped that at least
three of them would be killed fairly quickly, as I found the ac-
tors in those roles nearly intolerable. Alas, none of them
disappeared with any alacrity, and one proved to be the hero of
the film.
Let me give you a brief example of the sort of stupid things
going on in "Fright Night". Our hero (poorly played by William
Ragsdale) is a horny high school kid who has been going with a
girl for about a year, and they still haven't gotten beyond fully
clothed cuddling. Well, a little more cajoling from him and sud-
denly she's willing to go to bed with him, and starts undressing.
The kid glances out the window and sees a couple of strangers
carrying an oblong box into the cellar of the uninhabited house
next door. Now, put yourself in his position, keeping in mind
that you are a horny 16 or 17 year old virgin, the girl in ques-
tion is the woman you love, and you haven't even gotten beyond
kissing her before. Do you, a) close the curtain and hop into
bed, b) say to hell with the curtain and hop into bed, or c) for-
get that your girlfriend, the woman you love, is waiting for you
in bed for the first time ever, ignore everything she says, and
grab a pair of binoculars so that you can get a closer look at
the box? If you answered c), apparently you too have whatever
mysterious quality it takes to be a Hollywood screenwriter.
If the characters were more likeable, little flaws like this
might be overlooked, but Ragsdale isn't likeable. The actress
playing his mother is a real tooth-grinder, too. Worst of all is
the actor playing his best friend, a weird guy nicknamed Evil.
On the positive side, Chris Sarandon is terrific as the vampire,
capable of simultaneously displaying charm and menace. Roddy
McDowell is also fine as the cowardly late night horror movie
host. The girl is OK, as is the vampire's unexplained buddy, so
the cast isn't a dead loss, if you'll pardon the expression. But
with two of the central roles so badly played, the performances are
a net deficit.
Tom Holland, the director, has no special talent for horror.
He tends to tip his hand a moment too soon. Given the abysmal
performances of the non-veterans in the cast, he also seems to
have little talent with actors. How'd he get this job? He does
show adequate competency at patching the story together, despite
some plot holes. He seems most at home when the special effects
start to fly.
And they do that, among other things. There are a number of
good makeup effects and a few other surprises. They dominate the
last half hour of the film, and that is when "Fright Night" starts
to be at least a little fun. For me, it was too little too late.
Fans of horror movies may get more out of them. "Fright Night"
certainly isn't for non-horror fans, as it is fairly gruesome in
parts and has little to offer beyond its shocks. If you figured
on seeing "Fright Night" anyway, they will probably be enough to
satisfy you. If you didn't want to see it, or weren't sure, skip it.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher