Video Store Rental Reviews #3: Fright Night (1985), Fright Night (2011), The Night Stalker (1972)
Horror DVD reviews in the year 2023.
Another month, another handful of visits to the video store. With this being October, all of my pickups were spooky! I decided to go with a vampire trilogy...
Fright Night (1985)
Nobody believes teenager Charley Brewster when he discovers that his suave new neighbor, Jerry Dandrige, is a vampire. So when the bloodsucker starts stalking Charley, he turns to has-been actor Peter Vincent, famed for portraying a ghoul hunter. Unfortunately for the would-be vampire slayers, Dandrige has set his sights on Charley’s girlfriend.
section: horror
I'm not so sure I can get on board with this one, folks.
I know that it's an '80s horror favorite, which is why I thought it would be a good video store pull. But I just don't get it the way that people who (sorry) were alive in the '80s seem to get it. It felt like an amped-up Disney Channel movie, like Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire. Maybe like My Girlfriend’s Got a Date With My Vampire Neighbor?
But I did love Stephen Geoffreys as Evil Ed. My first and hopefully last time seeing one of his performances, if you know what I'm talking about...
Fright Night (2011)
A teenager suspects his new neighbour is a vampire. Unable to convince anyone, he tries to enlist the help of a self-proclaimed vampire hunter and magician in this remake of the 1985 comedy-horror classic.
section: horror
Oh, I get it now! I'm still not the biggest Fright Night fan, but when I look at a 2011 cast of Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant, Toni Collete, Imogen Poots, Christoper Mintz-Plasse, and Dave Franco - people that I like (or if I don't have much of an opinion of them, their presence at least gives me a chuckle) - I can totally look past the imperfections and just have fun with this spooky tale perfect for this time of year.
I can see the draw with the original Fright Night more now. Do I dare try the sequel?
Also, McLovin as a vampire is really something else.
Also also, David Tennant as Criss Angel is something else else.
The Night Stalker (1972)
Wisecracking reporter Carl Kolchak investigates a string of murders in Las Vegas and suspects the culprit is a vampire. His editor thinks he’s crazy and the police think he’s a nuisance, so Kolchak takes matters into his own hands.
section: horror
Thought I would choose another vampire feature to round out a vampire trilogy in this month's column. Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark was checked out, so I reached for this Kino Lorber disc that many point to as an underrated gem.
They're right! I loved this! Darren McGavin (who had a long and storied career, but will always be The Old Man in A Christmas Story to me - and I think to many others) is a dried-up newspaperman who discovers there's a vampire running amuck in Las Vegas, ('70s Vegas looks awesome, by the way.) Even though the guy drinks blood and leaves dog-sized teeth marks, no one wants to admit it's a vampire because that's crazy.
So it's really fun watching him run around with a crucifix and a wooden stake because other people might be messing around with this, but he won't. And at 74 minutes (yay, tv movies!), it's in-and-out spooky fun. It was such a hit for ABC that they ordered a sequel, 1973's The Night Strangler, and a short-lived tv show, Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I will be checking it all out.
Credit: Each plot synopsis from Letterboxd via TMDb.