Ah, Fright Night. My teenage years; here they are.
Nervous teenager Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a passionate fan of Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), who, in better years, starred in films as “Peter Vincent, Vampire Slayer,” but is currently relegated to the role of late-night monster-movie host on a show called Fright Night. Now Peter’s show is getting cancelled, because, as he puts it, today’s kids are only interested in “demented madmen running around in ski masks, hacking up young virgins,” and an eviction notice is waiting for him at home. Charley needs his help. He’s just received conclusive evidence that Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), the handsome and charming man who’s just moved in next door, is a vampire: partly because through his window he witnessed Jerry about to bite into the neck of a pretty young woman, and partly because Jerry, fangs bared and eyes glowing red, has just invaded his bedroom and tried to murder him. Much like that one police officer, Peter thinks Charley’s crazy. But soon they’ll both be up against Jerry Dandridge in a battle for the soul of Charley’s girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse). Movie props are pitted against shapechanging bloodsuckers in “Fright Night – for real.”
It might be one of the iconic 80’s horror movies, but I still think Fright Night’s been undervalued in the two-and-a-half decades since its release. As with many of the films of Joe Dante and John Landis, writer/director Tom Holland has a genuinely reverent, Famous Monsters of Filmland-style affection for out-of-fashion monster movies. But it ranks among the best of the decade’s retro-minded horror films not just because the pre-CG special effects (by Richard Edlund) are still very impressive, but also because it doesn’t buckle under the weight of nostalgia and sentimentality. Fright Night not only has a serious beef with those films about “madmen running around in ski masks,” but it treats its themes seriously. Amy is confronting an emerging sexuality which frightens her, but which Jerry Dandridge draws out with a confidence Charley can only envy. Charley’s spasmodic friend, “Evil” Ed (Stephen Geoffreys), is condemned to be a social outcast until Jerry offers him a way out, a means of having power over those who would torment him. Both Charley and Peter are forced to emerge from their claustrophobic worlds, and it’s charming to watch one guide the other on – as they figure out, together, how to become heroes in the face of real danger.
Fright Night is wish-fulfillment for horror geeks (what if Peter Cushing or Vincent Price helped you kill real vampires?), but it also takes care to ground each moment with humor and feeling. Peter Vincent does not become a fearless vampire killer in the space of a heartbeat. There’s a lovely moment after he’s steeled himself to the task, and hesitates just on the brink of the walkway leading up to Jerry’s house. Then he overcomes that hesitation, and marches confidently forward, determined to do the right thing despite his nerves. (And even then, he’ll run in terror when their strategy immediately falls to pieces.)
The script stays sharp as a stake throughout, and Holland is at the top of his game when he stages a dance of seduction between Jerry and Amy on a dance club floor, or when Peter tries to prove to Charley that Jerry is not a vampire by giving him fake “holy water,” and Jerry pauses with the flask near his lips, hoping to the Devil that it’s really fake. Sarandon, chomping on apples and flashing smiles at Charley while smooth-talking the boy’s mother, gives a performance that’s been justly praised. But to revisit the film many years after I last saw it, I’m struck now at how much Ragsdale’s performance is keyed to McDowall’s. Roddy McDowall’s acting has always had an affectation, which can crumble into camp in the wrong role. Young Ragsdale pitches his line delivery to McDowall’s, giving it a similar kind of affectation, and so, subtly, sells the idea that Charley is just a younger version of Peter, and Peter just an older, more world-weary Charley.
Much of the reason Fright Night clicks so perfectly is the pairing of these two actors, who make such a great team that they had to be reunited…although Fright Night: Part 2 was a sad disappointment, saddled with a script that couldn’t quite balance its satire with its horror, and lost this film’s youthful, exuberant flush. Undoubtedly the very-80’s score has aged less well, too often just squealing guitar solos, or smothering the warmer scenes with schmaltz. It regains its footing, you’ll notice, in the climax, aping James Bernard’s muscular scores for the Hammer horror films of the late 50’s and early 60’s, while we’re watching scenes that pay direct tribute to those films. You can slap your head now: the whole film should have been scored this way. But it’s hard, for one of my generation, to not feel a rush of nostalgia during the club scene, scored to the max with a medley of New Wave and power pop: non-hits, the lot of them, but as reassuring as comfort food nonetheless.
The 2006 repackaging of the DVD prominently displays the names of Sarandon, McDowall, and Bearse (best known for Married…with Children), but curiously not the star of the film, Ragsdale, who went on to do Herman’s Head for FOX, and continues to work consistently in television.
I originally wrote this review for my old website, but in honor of today’s release of the remake, I’m digging this piece up again as a reminder of the original Fright Night‘s virtues. (Two remakes open today – thanks, Hollywood! – but I already covered Conan the Barbarian last week.)
When last we checked in with William Castle, I suggested that 
Mind you, Zotz! still had a promotional gimmick, but it was non-intrusive: Zotz “magic” coins were distributed to the populace, and children were encouraged to go see the film in order to figure out how their coins worked. At no point in the film does Castle himself appear to ask you to lift up your coin and scream “Zotz!” at the screen, or any such nonsense. Still, this is exactly the sort of film where one of his cameos wouldn’t seem out of place, and he can’t resist a very brief appearance, seated on his famous director’s chair at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen while the Columbia “Lady Liberty” logo is displayed. Lady Liberty turns to Castle and expresses bewilderment at the title of his latest film: “What’s ‘Zotz’?” This kind of pre-credits zaniness is pretty par for the course for a 60’s farce, but it’s unusual (and amusing) to see a studio’s mascot wilfully profaned. And yes, this is a comedy, which was a change of pace that Castle sorely needed. He had become famous for his horror films, but his career, which stretched back to the early 40’s, had touched all sorts of genres; it was time to reestablish himself as a capable, and flexible, director. At a glance, Zotz! seems like the perfect vehicle to achieve this. Since the plot involves a magic coin that grants its owner fantastic powers, it should offer plenty of opportunities for cinematic expression and creativity. Alas, only a fraction of that is realized.
Castle teamed once more with screenwriter Ray Russell, adapting a novel by Walter Karig (who had contributed to the Nancy Drew series under the pseudonym “Carolyn Keene,” which had been used by various Nancy Drew ghost writers). The plot is sheer comic fantasy. Sleepy-eyed Tom Poston (now best known for his role on 80’s sitcom Newhart) plays Professor John Jones, a bachelor who cares only about raising his pretty teenage niece Cynthia (television actress Zeme North), and otherwise pays little attention to the world around him. He teaches archaeology and ancient languages to a class which, really, pays far more attention to the subject than they should. His chief rival is a fellow professor (Jim Backus) whose last name – “Kelgore!” – is spoken with the same kind of impotent rage that Jerry Seinfeld would later shout, “Newman!” Kelgore doesn’t seem like such a terrible fellow, however; just a little self-important, perhaps. So Professor Jones, archaeology expert, who has nothing of the personality of that other famous Professor Jones, is sheepishly maneuvering from one day to the next, when he suddenly receives a package from a fellow archaeologist: a coin with a magic star and some ancient writing. This occult object grants its owner three powers. One: say the word “Zotz!” and you can slow time. Two: point at someone, and you can cause them incredible pain with all the force of a blow to the stomach. Three: point at someone while saying “Zotz!” and the person will drop dead.
So, in summary, William Castle issued coins to young kids, told them they needed to see his latest film to learn how to use them, and then initiated them into a black magic cult where they were taught how to kill. But the gentle Professor Jones only practices the “killing” part on a moth, a lizard, and toy battleships he arranges in his bubble bath, so he can sink them one by one. He also uses his magical powers to watch a tennis match enacted in slow motion, just for the fun of it. Essentially, he does what the young kids in the audience would do, so Zotz! acts as harmless wish fulfillment. That even extends to scenes in which magic doesn’t play a part: Jones, without realizing he’s left his magical coin with his niece, lets laboratory mice loose at a dinner party, intending to kill them one by one with a “Zotz!” Instead, his magical incantations are ineffective as the mice wreak havoc at the party (one man loses his toupee, which then skirts around the room like a living thing, a mouse trapped invisibly beneath it). This kind of slapstick mayhem was a token scene in any Disney family comedy of the period, and indeed, there’s nothing Zotz! resembles so much as the Fred MacMurray Absent-Minded Professor films.
Eventually the plot takes a bizarre turn, as Professor Jones decides to fly to Washington to sell his secret to the government as a “weapon.” Naturally, the brass at the Pentagon aren’t interested in the powers of the professor’s magic finger, but a Communist spy witnesses its effectiveness (Jones almost brings down an airplane by pointing at it, just to prove his powers). After another disastrous dinner party – the professor slows Jim Backus’ speech to a deep-throated drawl – he’s met by the spy and assured that the government needs him right away. Mid-flight, Jones realizes he’s in the company of Commies when the lavatory sign peels away to reveal Cyrillic script. He threatens his captors with severe stomach pains unless they turn the plane around, and eventually he manages to liberate their hostages – his niece, as well as his love interest (Julia Meade) – by “Zotz!”-ing left and right. The finale involves Jones jumping off a roof and slowing his fall with the use of the coin, before that coin escapes both his grasp and the Communists’ when it slips into a storm drain.
So how does Castle handle comedy? Pretty well, actually. Zotz! is disposable but fun, with a few genuine laughs, notably a scene in which the professor’s niece, with the coin on her person, wipes out a city block’s worth of pedestrians by innocuously pointing out of a convertible – or any scene in which ancient languages are laboriously explained (Castle isn’t afraid to have a book-smart protagonist, and the nerdy laughs fly). It helps considerably that he’s cast the small-screen star Poston, who demonstrates a Jimmy Stewart-like ability to carry a film with simple, understated charm. Backus is reliably smarmy as a (harmless) villain, and Julia Meade is sexy and smart as the professor who takes a liking to Jones, although an early scene in which she arrives naked at his home, desperate for clothes and shelter, suggests a more grown-up comedy that never quite arrives. There’s even a cameo from Margaret Dumont, Groucho Marx’s old foil. Will you forget this movie by the next day? Probably. But in the game to prove that he can stretch his talents beyond the horror genre, Castle scores plenty of points.
Brian Foster (Wesley Eure, Land of the Lost) is a young inventor whose latest creation might revolutionize home security. It’s C.H.O.M.P.S. – Canine HOMe Protection System – a robot terrier fitted with a highly intelligent brain, super strength, and X-ray vision. It can even adapt its fighting technique to any environment – let’s say, should two bumbling burglars attempt to disguise themselves as department store mannequins, C.H.O.M.P.S. will instantly determine how to operate a nearby automated tennis ball pitcher, pelting the burglars into submission. He also leaps through windows and brick walls, so you should expect some collateral damage if there’s the slightest hint of trouble.
Perhaps because he did not choose a Great Dane or a Doberman or a bulldog – i.e., one of the manly dogs – it’s a hard sell when Brian tries to describe his one-dog-army to the head of Norton Security, Casey’s dad, Ralph Norton (Conrad Bain of Diff’rent Strokes), but C.H.O.M.P.S. quickly proves himself against some masked bandits. If there’s one thing C.H.O.M.P.S. loves, it’s chasing robbers, and this city is full of them. In this scene, our robot hero pursues his quarry relentlessly, and to the tune of thousands of dollars in property damage:
So you really worried, for a while there, that the real dog, the meat-dog, Rascal, was going to be blown to bloody dog-bits by the explosive device on the training grounds, but thank goodness he blew up that stuck-up guy from Gilligan’s Island instead. The heroes return to Norton Security and catch the burglars in the act of stealing the C.H.O.M.P.S. plans. Surely the movie is about to end, and you’ll probably only have to watch Brian making kissy-face with Casey one more time. But something’s wrong. C.H.O.M.P.S.’s supersonic hearing picks up the ticking of a time bomb. He sprints into the building and down the hallway. And this happens:
Okay, the movie’s trying to tell you there’s dozens of these guys, but really they’re just editing around the same three dogs posed in different locations – I mean, how dumb do they think you are? But still. C.H.O.M.P.S. is alive. Now you are resolved – you must have a ROBOT DOG of your own. There is nothing better than ROBOT DOG. And on the long drive home, your father cranks up Captain & Tenille and tries very, very hard to ignore you.
