Short Round: Fright Night (1985) ***/*****

Before it was a 2011 remake, Fright Night already existed as a classic of the vampire genre in many people’s eyes. A lot of folks love it because it came out in the middle of the 80s, at the height of both the creature feature and the teen movie boom, and it mixed the tropes of both genres in a pretty successful way. Watching it today, Fright Night is a mixed bag. The monster effects look a little dated to modern eyes, but there’s still an undeniable delight to its old school puppetry and red tinted karo syrup approach to making horror movie visuals. A lot of the design work on the vampire shenanigans is horrific and fun, and for the technology of the time I would say they did a pretty admirable job. Some of the acting could use some work though. While Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowall are fun as the vampire and vampire hunting TV star respectively, William Ragsdale is pretty milquetoast as the lead, Amanda Bearse is virtually unwatchable as the girlfriend, and Stephen Geoffreys is actively annoying as the wacky best friend. Despite the poor performances, the film builds pretty well to its vampire shenanigans. We get a Rear Window inspired first act, a tension building second, and then things explode into over the top craziness in the third. Fright Night may be a relic of its time, but it’s a fun one if you’re a fan of horror.