Fright Night
Short description
Charley Brewster is a high school student who divides his time between his mother, his girlfriend, his friends and late-night horror television. When a charming and mysterious man named Jerry Dandrige moves in next door, Charley becomes convinced that his new neighbor is a vampire. Nobody else takes his suspicions seriously, and Jerry does not appreciate having his secret uncovered, which puts Charley in danger. With nowhere else to turn, Charley seeks out Peter Vincent, the host of a horror TV show who is supposedly an expert on vampires.
The film was released in 1985 and was written and directed by Tom Holland, the first of five features he directed, ahead of Child's Play, Two-Fisted Tales, The Temp and Thinner. Herb Jaffe produced, and the cast includes Chris Sarandon as Jerry, William Ragsdale as Charley, Amanda Bearse as Amy Peterson, Roddy McDowall as Peter Vincent, Stephen Geoffreys as Evil Ed and Jonathan Stark as Billy Cole. It mixes comedy with horror and runs 107 minutes.
Made for about 9 million dollars, it took in roughly 25 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from around 88,000 votes, and on TMDB 7 out of 10 from about 1,600 votes; critics gave it 7.2 out of 10 across 65 reviews, so the critical and audience assessments sit close together.
What's left behind the scenes
- Director Tom Holland asked special effects master Randall William Cook if he could create a toothy maw for one of the vampires. The filmmakers had no more time or money left to create the prosthetic, but Cook said he could put something together over the weekend, provided the maw only flashed briefly on screen, and no more. In the end, the prosthetic was not only shown repeatedly on screen, but also featured on the film's famous poster.
- A great deal of time and budget went into filming the scene where Jerry walks through Mrs. Brewster's bedroom without being reflected in the mirror.
- Before his final transformation into the Evil Ed, actor Stephen Jeffries spent 18 hours in the makeup chair.
- During the filming of the final scene on December 24, 1984 (three weeks after the start of filming), William Ragsdale injured his leg while running down the stairs. Filming of the action scenes with his character had to be postponed to allow time for treatment and recovery, while scenes with other characters were filmed in the meantime.
- A monstrous puppet (the librarian ghost) was made for Ivan Reitman's 1984 comedy-action film "Ghostbusters" and was offered for use in the film, but the offer was rejected. It was decided that the puppet was too frightening for a "PG" rated film (a film that requires parental guidance; this rating is never given to horror or thriller films). Then someone realized that it resembled the already created vampire puppet, so it was used in the final scene of the vampire's demise in flames.
- While swatting Jerry (Chris Sarandon) in his bat form with a bone, Roddy McDowall, who played Peter, accidentally punched the puppet’s head. The crew rushed to repair the bat to continue filming, but the damage was so severe that it took two days to repair it. Close-up shots of the bat had to be postponed.
- For the filming of one scene, Steven Jeffreys was given some solution in his mouth to thicken his saliva, and then they realized it was an adhesive substance used by dentists, which immediately began to glue the actor's mouth shut.
- The "vampiric" contact lenses for actors Steven Jeffreys and Chris Sarandon were made by Steve Johnson. Small glitter was attached to the inside of the lenses to create a yellowish glow around the pupils.
- A full-size wolf doll was made for the filming of the scene of the character’s transformation, played by Steven Jeffreys. However, the film actually featured the actor himself in werewolf makeup and with a prosthetic head.
- William Ragsdale intentionally did not look at the actress doubling for him in makeup until the filming of the scene where his character is frightened by seeing Amy transformed into a vampire (played by Amanda Birze).
- In the scene where Chris Sarandon's character grabs a bouncer by the throat and lifts him up, the bouncer was actually standing on a large wheeled box that was just outside of the camera's view. The bouncer then began to slowly rise, creating the impression that he was being lifted into the air, after which he was dragged across the floor.
- Handmade contact lenses were made of durable plastic, and wearing them caused the actors pain. Stephen Jeffries was unable to see anything for a while. Amanda Birze experienced such unpleasant sensations that she asked for the lenses to be further processed so they could be worn painlessly.
- A theater master's graduate of the Catholic University of America, Chris Sarandon helped the makeup artists "transform" him into a vampire. While they were applying makeup to his face, the actor himself attached special lengthening prosthetics to his fingers.
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