While with his girlfriend Amy Peterson (Amanda Bearse) in his bedroom, the teenager Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) sees a coffin being transported to the house on the next door. A couple of days later, he concludes that his neighbor Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire, who is committing some recent unsolved murders. Charley decides to look for help first his friend Evil Ed Thompson (Stephen Geoffreys),since the policemen do not believe on his accusation. Jerry is upset and promises to kill Charley. Later, he meets Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall),a middle aged man, who is a vampire killer in a television show but does not believe on vampires in the real life. Amy and Ed seek out Peter Vincent, and the group tries to prove to Charley that Jerry is not a vampire.

'Fright Night' is one of my favorite vampire movies, indeed a cult-movie in Brazil. I do not know how many times I have seen this film in my life, but yesterday I saw it on DVD for the first time and I was not disappointed, since the Brazilian DVD offers two choices (widescreen and fullscreen). There is just a trailer in the extras, but it suffices. Chris Sarandon is incredibly funny and sexy in this role; the movie has a perfect combination and timing of the genres of horror and comedy; the 'Van Helsing' of the story, Peter Vincent, is a fantastic joke with the names of the great Peter Cushing and Vincent Price; the special effects were state of art in 1985. My vote is nine.

Title ('Brazil'): ' A Hora do Espanto' ('The Fright Hour')

Note: on 14 January 2012, I saw this wonderful film again.

I love movies of all genres, and Fright Night was an example of a movie that I watched many times as a 14 year old and loved every minute of it. At 19 I revisited it once hearing of its remake, and it is every bit as good as I remembered, in fact it is one fangtastic(pardon the pun) movie. The film still looks great, with atmospheric costumes(great authentic fashions!),sets and lighting with skilled cinematography, cool make-up and impressive(even for now) effects. The score gives its film its perfect sense of quirkiness and creepiness. The story is straightforward admittedly, but also very well paced and compelling, and the script has the odd scary moment but is very wickedly funny. The acting is great, William Ragsdale and Amanda Bearse appeal, and Roddy McDowell is magnificent but it is Chris Sarandon's funny, creepy and very sexy performance that makes Fright Night such a delight. All in all, a true delight. 10/10 Bethany Cox

FRIGHT NIGHT, one of the essential vampire horror films of the '80s, succeeds in being a far better spoof of the vampire genre than Polanski's THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS. Whereas Polanski's film tried too hard to be funny, FRIGHT NIGHT lets the horror and comedy flow in equal amounts, and often the two feed off each other to produce this enjoyable and campy tribute to the vampire film. Horror film addicts (like myself) will enjoy the many references to other vampire films of the past. McDowall has a portrait of Bela Lugosi on his wall, and there are many clips of horror films playing on television sets, from THE PREMATURE BURIAL to THE SCARS OF Dracula. Even the theme of vampires not being destroyed unless the protagonist has absolute faith, explored in Dracula HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE, turns up again here.

The cast all do good jobs in their roles, and happily this time the female heroine (who looks strangely like Stockard Channing in GREASE) has more to do than sit around in a flimsy negligee and scream (although, unsurprisingly, she does both during the course of the film). William Ragsdale is likable as the hero who nobody believes and whom everyone thinks is merely paranoid, a theme resurfacing these days in the world of conspiracies. Chris Sarandon is a cool and suave vampire, and acquits himself well with the role, putting across a sense of raw power and hypnotism, just like Christopher Lee did before him.

Stephen Geoffreys is memorably nerve-wracked as Evil Ed, however it is Roddy McDowall who is the real star of the film, as fading star Peter Vincent (obviously reference to Peter Cushing and Vincent Price here). He looks the role perfectly, and is great as the rather timid hero who doesn't actually believe in vampires and turns white at the thought. While the plot of the film is nothing particularly new (and a lot like that of THE 'BURBS),it stays fresh and frantic enough to never delve into the clichéd territory of THE LOST BOYS.

The makeup is also remarkable, with the spiky fangs and coloured contact lenses being very similar to the makeup job done in the two Italian DEMONS films. In some instances the vampires even look quite scary, which is no mean feat. There are also two excellent disintegration scenes which are worth tuning in for. The shots of a skeleton burning and melting against a wall look very strange and different, I'm not sure if these were animated or not but they certainly stand out from the other rubbery offerings we have come to expect from '80s horror films.

With a wry nod to the horror genre in general (McDowall remarks that nobody wants to see vampire films anymore, instead preferring ski-masked killers murdering virgins) and a tongue definitely in cheek, FRIGHT NIGHT is a fun film which deserves the status it has as a minor classic. Well worth seeking out if you're a vampire fan. A sequel, imaginatively titled FRIGHT NIGHT 2, followed a couple of years later.