I talk a lot about growing up in the 1980s and how the slasher genre helped shape my cinematic aesthetics. I loved the Jasons and the Freddys. But the truth is I watched those films at home, edited on basic cable. It wasn’t until years later that I watched them as intended and in order. But there was another set of horror films that I watched unedited even back when I was a kid. These were, well, not family-friendly as such, but they were more palatable to the grown ups allowing us kids to watch them on videotape.

Films like The Monster Squad (1987), House (1985), and my favorite, Fright Night (1985), fall into the comedy horror genre. They are goofy and silly but still provided some good scares. I loved them as a kid. But once I grew up, I more or less forgot about them.

About fifteen years ago, not long after my daughter was born, I rewatched Fright Night and its sequel. I was a little disappointed in both. They didn’t live up to my nostalgia. But the first one has been popping up in my streaming feeds the last few weeks, and I decided to give it another revisit. I seem to be doing that a lot lately – revisiting film I loved decades ago. Trying to see if they still hold up, I guess.

I liked Fright Night quite a lot this go ’round. It is a film from the 1980s that loves classic horror, and even Hammer-era horror. It is fun, and funny, and makes great use of practical effects, and has some very decent thrills.

Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) loves old horror movies. He watches them on a local station hosted by Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), a Peter Cushing-esque old horror star. Whatever happened to those old shows where they show old movies with introductions by goofy, sexy, creepy, hosts?

We’re introduced to Charley as one of those old movies plays in his bedroom. He’s making out with his girlfriend Amy Peterson (Amanda Bearse), but when it cuts to Peter Vincent talking about one of his movies, she stops with the face sucking to tell Charley he should watch. She knows he’s a huge fan. But he’s got other things on his mind. Mainly losing his virginity. They fight over it a bit, but then she finally agrees, takes off her top, and crawls into bed. But then he notices something strange in the neighbor’s yard. Two men seem to be carrying a coffin inside.

Amy feels increasingly insecure and practically begs him to come to bed. But he’s too fascinated with what’s going on out there. She leaves in a huff, and it is only then that he seems to notice her again.

It is a fascinating way to start the film, as it tells us so much about these characters. He’s desperate to have sex with her. So much so that he doesn’t care about catching his favorite show. A show she is quite aware he loves (thus she cares about him, knowing what he likes) and uses it as an excuse to get his paws off of her for a bit. She becomes vulnerable, admitting that she’s just scared about losing her virginity and is willing to finally lose it with him. But then something real and weird and scary happens outside, and he suddenly forgets all about his girl.

That becomes something of a theme for this film. He’ll periodically declare his undying love to her, but then immediately become distracted by oncoming horror.

Anyway, over the next few days, he sees very attractive women entering the neighbor’s house but never leaving. One night he gets a binoculared view of the new owner, Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), getting sexy with one of those ladies when suddenly he grows fangs. His new neighbor is a vampire!

He tries to convince Amy and his best friend Evil Ed (Stephen Geoffreys) of this, but they aren’t having it. He tries to enlist Peter Vincent to help him destroy the vampire, but he thinks Charley’s crazy. Vincent’s having a bit of a hard time himself. He used to be an important actor. Or at least he was working. Making cult films. Now he’s hosting a cheesy late-night show for local television. And he’s just learned he’s been fired from that. Because these days “all they want to see are demented madmen running around in ski-masks, hacking up young virgins.”

Amy and Evil Ed convince Peter Vincent to lend them a hand. Not in destroying the vampires but in convincing Charley that he’s mistaken about the whole thing. They figure they can visit Mr. Dandridge, give him a few vampire tests, and all will be well.

But of course, Dandrige is a real vampire, and the tests backfire. Now the gang will have to destroy him for sure, before he turns them into bloodsuckers.

Tom Holland wrote and directed the film, and he does a nice job blending the scares with the laughs. It isn’t really scary (or all that funny if I’m being honest), but I found it quite entertaining. It has a very enjoyable vibe.

The practical effects are terrific. When the monsters die, they die slowly, transforming into goopy, bloody corpses. There is a werewolf transition that rivals the famous one in An American Werewolf in London (1981).

Roddy McDowell is great fun. He plays the pathos of this aging actor perfectly, giving him a wonderful vanity mixed with terror as he realizes that all those monsters he fought on the movie screen are real, and that he doesn’t have near the courage his characters did. Chris Sarandon is a bit miscast in my opinion. He’s clearly having fun, which is infectious, but he doesn’t have nearly the sex appeal or menace a great vampire has.

This isn’t great cinema, but it’s great fun.