Fright Night is a 1985 vampire horror flick that launched with a meager budget and ended up becoming a cult hit. After being disappointed by how his screenplays were being adapted, Tom Holland decided to direct his own films. Fright Night was his first. The movie was a revitalization for the vampire genre, which in Holland’s mind had been degrading for some time.

Don’t Cry Wolf with Vampires

Director Tom Holland was desperate to bring the old monsters of horror back to the big screen. He came up with the idea for Fright Night after thinking about what it would be like to be a teenager who knows his neighbor is a vampire and how far he would have to go to prove it. Originally the idea was just an amusing thought and but when Holland decided that the boy would seek the help of a Vincent Price type TV character, the screenplay took off.

Sure, let’s just shove plastic crescents into the actor’s eyes, what could go wrong?

Fright Night was very heavy on makeup effects. Richard Edlund was the head of the special effects and with the skills he had learned on the set of Ghostbusters he was able to keep his budget down and make great matte effects. The transformation for Chris Sarandon’s character alone took eight hours of makeup prep. The actors also suffered through some of the worst contact lenses ever made. These giant lenses were plastic and hand painted by the special effects crew. Numerous times actors ran on screen while blinded by these contacts. Stephen Geoffreys kept them in for more than 40 minutes, and had visible scratches on his eyes for months afterwards. Geoffreys was also the victim of another special effects screw up when the crew poured what was supposed to be fake saliva down his wolf mask. It was actually dental adhesive, which threatened to glue his mouth shut.

Is it gay or just the 80s?

There was a hidden homosexual subtext to the vampire characters in Fright Night. While it wasn’t apparent to Chris Sarandon and Jonathan Stark during the making of the movie, the way it was cut included some overtly sexual scenes. There were awkward hugs from behind as well as a scene where Stark’s character is supposed to be cleaning Sarandon’s bloodied hand, but instead is on his knees in a position that implies a more oral form of cleaning. Of the genitals.

Spooky Actors and Typecasting

The character of Peter Vincent was a combination of two horror icons: Peter Cushing and Vincent Price. The role was actually written for Price, but he turned it down after being typecast in horror for so many years. After Price rejected the role Roddy McDowall was cast. Eventually McDowall would introduce director Tom Holland to Vincent Price, who thought that the homage was a wonderful compliment.

Fruit Bats and Improvisation.

Chris Sarandon improvised some aspects of his character after reading about bats. He learned that most large bats were frugivores, meaning they only ate fruit. He decided that “Jerry had a lot of fruit bat DNA.” Usually vampires are unable to consume anything other than blood, but Tom Holland liked the change and let Chris run with it. This is why he is seen eating apples to cleanse his pallet after a bloody feeding.

Bonus Fact: You’re So Cool Brewster and Future Roles

Stephen Geoffreys, who so enthusiastically shouted “You’re so cool Brewster!” went on to have a lot of success acting in porn. He made dozens of movies with titles like Butt Blazer and Manhunt. He performed under the name Sam Ritter.

Fright Night may not be the most well known vampire movie ever made but it certainly added to the thriving horror genre in the 1980s. It was a film with great vision and spectacular effects. It also had one of the strangest catchphrases to ever enter the vaunted halls of cinema. “You’re so cool brewster!”

What did you think of the film? Did we miss any major facts? Hit up the comments below.

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Tony Southcotte: Tony hails from the Rocky Mountains somewhere around the state of Colorado. Possibly raised by grizzly bears, this gritty denizen of the arena now spends most of his time grappling with Java updates and dysfunctional RAM. With not much fiction under his belt, it might seem tempting to bet against Mister Southcotte, but an impressive knowledge of everything from PVC pipe to psychedelic drugs makes Tony a storehouse of fiction waiting to hit the paper. Plus, you know, there’s the possibility of him ripping you apart like a grizzly bear.

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