By the 1980s, bubblegum entertainment was all about teens at the center of their hermetic universes, with their own television sets and telephone extensions (pre-cell), cocooned in self-affirming ‘80s pop culture – ‘80s posters and toys, ‘80s fashions and hairstyles, and most of all ‘80s music. If parents are present, they are mostly clueless, often single, and equally self-absorbed. So when a vampire moves in next door to 17 year-old Charley Brewster, it’s hardly surprising it’s all about him.
In the 1950s, it would have been Jimmy Stewart peering in on Raymond Burr, wondering why he kept leaving and returning with a suitcase in the middle of the night. In the 1980s, it’s up to teens to save the world. What’s interesting about “Fright Night” (1985) is that, in common with “Gremlins,” it’s also set during the twilight of televised creature features with their local horror hosts.
It was an inspired choice for writer-director Tom Holland to include Roddy McDowall as Peter Vincent (the name clearly a portmanteau of Peter Cushing and Vincent Price), a self-doubting cinematic vampire slayer who has seen better days. Vincent is fresh out of a job introducing good old-fashioned lurid monster movies, among them a number of his own faded glories. But when the chips are down, the reluctant Vincent brings all his accumulated lore to bear on battling the undead (a suave Chris Sarandon).
Mike and Marybeth of SciFi Distilled will join Roy and me – in costume! – for our fourth annual Halloween crossover episode, and a discussion of “Fright Night,” on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Order extra garlic on your pizza. The stakes will be high in the comments section, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., this Sunday evening at 7:00 EDT!