We here at Yell! Magazine are awfully big on vampire films, but only the good ones. That’s why we’re dedicated to bringing you coverage on both versions of Fright Night. Today we’re going to plunge straight into the jugular of Fright Night, before 3D – that’s right, the original 1985 version.

The year was 1985; the hair was bouffant, the slang tubular, and the teenagers horny. The latter point is only proved by how the film starts out. Horror movie obsessed Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale, Herman’s Head, Justified) is caught between a rock and a hard place (wink wink) when he fools around with his girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse, Married With Children). He tries to go a little too far for the lady’s liking and they have a tiff; after Charley eloquently complains about a terrible struggle with blue balls, she offers herself up, but the young master’s attention is drawn away all too quick by the intriguing sight of a team of movers carrying a coffin through the yard next door. Amy leaves in a huff and Charley’s mother informs him that there’s a new man (Chris Sarandon, Nightmare Before Christmas) moving in next door. I was surprised that he didn’t say, “Thanks, Captain Obvious!”

The next day a beautiful young blonde woman happens upon Charley in his yard and he redirects her to the house next door. Later that evening, he hears a foreboding scream. The woman later turns up in the evening news in no condition to do what young Charley probably wanted to. He and Amy nearly reconcile, but he’s so disturbed by the TV news that she huffs away, but not before cramming some poor young man’s sandwich into Charley’s face. This is the first time that we are introduced to Evil Ed’s (Stephen Geoffreys, 976-EVIL) hyena-like laughter. For years, Evil Ed has been endearing himself to horror fans or making them want to curbstomp him in short order. Personally, I’ve always felt his stupidity is a little charming, myself. If this is your first viewing of Fright Night (1985), I recommend a pair of earplugs for every time Ed is on screen if you’re so inclined.

Charley tries to investigate the house next door but is shut down stone cold by what appears to be the new neighbor’s toady – or lover, as Charley’s mom thinks. The caretaker Billy (Jonathan Stark, According to Jim) tells him under no uncertain terms to scram. That evening, Charley is awoken and treated to a peep show that was probably created the first confused feelings in many boys (and girls) in 1985. There’s some bare breast action that Charley seems really into before Jerry Dandridge spies him from across the way – but only right after he’s sunk his teeth into the nubile young woman’s flesh. Charley bolts from the room and does the only acceptable thing that every teenaged boy would do in that situation; wakes his mom up to tell her that the neighbors have murdered someone. His mother treats his paranoia with hot cocoa, but it’s still not enough to keep Charley’s crazy ‘conspiracy theories’ at bay.

He calls the police the next morning which proves uneventful, as Charley’s web of paranoia spins out of control. He gets Evil Ed in on the action and proves so insistent that Amy goes as far to hire washed up TV personality (and Charley’s person hero) Peter Vincent (the incomparable Roddy McDowall) to do some ‘vampire slaying’, although one thing quickly becomes certain: Charley has found himself a real live vampire who is EXTREMELY pissed off at certain meddling kids, despite Evil Ed’s scoldings of “There are no such thing as vampires, fruitcake!” They all get a little more than they bargained for in the end and make this film a sweet ride along the way.

Despite the fact that the original Fright Night was made in 1985 and can be expected to be somewhat dated in hairstyle, clothing, slang, etcetera – it still makes for a timeless classic that will resonate deeply with horror fans – specifically those riding the waves of vampire craze these days, if there are any of you left. I know that Twilight has soured so many former vampire fans on the entire bloodsucker genre, but don’t be discouraged – watching this film will give you a glimmer of hope that things CAN change in that arena for the better. There are no outrageous gimmicks in this story; it’s classic vamp all the way and heralds some extremely pleasing results as the end product.

This is a story driven film that isn’t heavy on blood and gore. It mostly relies on elements of good old fashioned mind fuckery, executed wonderfully by Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandrige. He comes across as exactly the sort of man who you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of a game of cat and mouse with. Roddy McDowall and Chris Sarandon effortlessly pull together the cast to make the movie what it is. McDowall’s portrayal of Peter Vincent balances out some of the more serious elements and provides a few solid chuckles. Being that the film was made in 1985, the special effects aren’t as great as most modern movie goers are accustomed to, but the vampires don’t sparkle. Isn’t that a good enough selling point?

Another selling point is the sheer nostalgia on the T&A front. Aside from the boob action that I mentioned above, there’s also what may be an infamous seduction scene at a nightclub. Amanda Bearse channels Marcy Darcy like you’ve never seen her before, all to the beat of dark ’80s synthpop. More importantly than the overt sexuality in the film is how far it pushes the story along and what it does to reinforce the idea that vampires can be both seductive and creepy, without making it as sleazy as it could have been or making the two mutually exclusive.

If you’re looking for a good vamp flick or just looking to see how Fright Night 3D (in theaters August 19) stacks up to the original, you’ve come to the right source. As something of an elitist, I think I can already say which version I prefer despite the all-star cast in the upcoming film. The bottom line is that this is a substantial retro popcorn flick that’s perfect for hazy summer night viewing and will serve horror fans well for years to come.

“Nobody wants to see vampire killers anymore, or vampires either. Apparently all they want are demented mad men running around in ski masks, hacking up young virgins!” Don’t fret, Peter Vincent. Some of us are still out there.

Check back shortly for a review on Fright Night 3D.

Fright Night (1985) Trailer

Yell! Rating (x/5 Skulls):

[rating:3.5]

Year Released:

2 August 1985

Director:

Tom Holland

Cast/Crew

Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Stephen Geoffreys, Art Evans, Roddy McDowall, Jonathan Stark and Amanda Bearse

Genre

Horror, Thriller

Official URL:

none

I know that you probably spend far too much time drinking Mountain Dew and wondering why your cheating girlfriend hasn’t called to sit through five movies about me, so I’ll fill you in. A death-rospective, if you will. Now, as the most notorious killer doll in the universe, my opinions on my own damn life might be a bit biased. But think about this: I’m Chucky and I’m your best friend. Would I lie to you?

Child’s Play (1988)

Directed by Tom Holland

See, once I was Charles Lee Ray, a badass serial killer who’s only flaw was being a human. I know that humans would like to think of themselves as the most dominant things on the globe, but we have one fatal flaw, we die. Get it? Fatal flaw. Dying. That’s great. Write that down for Chucky 7.

I’d been shot by some detective, but considering that I knew all sorts of voodoo and shit, I put my soul in a Good Guy doll, which is what most people call “irony.” Sure, now I had these lame ass suspenders and red hair that looked like it came off an orphanage’s collection of Peter Pan figures, but at least I could survive. Or that’s what I thought.

I got shot as a doll, and bled. I bled! Do you know how many dolls bleed? Follow the sound of the crying children if you want to scavenger hunt that number. Needless to say, I was surprised, so I go to the guy who taught me voodoo as a human, and he says that I have to put my soul in the first person that I confided the truth about my not-really-being-a-doll to, because I’m slowly becoming more of a man as a doll. Do you know how much it would suck to be a doll sized man? I can’t go through drive-thrus. Picking up girls at bars would be nearly impossible. I can’t really think of any more reasons why I’d hate it, but suffice it to say, I needed a body, fast. So I chose Andy, the kid who I was given to accidentally at the beginning of the movie.

It doesn’t work out as smoothly as I planned. I got set on fire, dismembered, shot in the heart, and then put in bags for police evidence. Obviously, not my finest hour.

Child’s Play 2 (1990)

Directed by John Lafia

So I get rebuilt and go after Andy again. Why did they rebuild me? Well, the idiot that did it is dead as shit, so you can’t ask him. Call it “luck.” Or maybe you should call it “I’m a super-powered doll with a human soul who’s pretty hard to kill.” Ease off your “logic,” Internet. Sometimes, us killers come back ‘cause we’re better than you and CAN come back. Don’t question it. Just enjoy the movie, mouth breathers.

Andy gets accused of some of the murders I did, and I tried to do another ritual but it got interrupted and I got pissed. So I decided to kill Andy. I wasn’t thinking clearly. It was a crime of passion, which ended up being a crime of Chucky getting his head blown off. Strike two.

Continue reading about Child’s Play 3, Bride of Chucky, and Seed of Chucky after the jump…

You would think that, but it would be really naive of you.

The campers sneak into Cropsy’s cabin and plant a rotting human skull of dubious origin with tealight candle eyes by the man’s bedside. They howl outside of his window and when he wakes up, he’s predictably frightened. In his panic, Cropsy knocks the skull over onto his leg and the fire spreads outrageously. There’s a gas can in his cabin and not in a storage shed somewhere. You can guess what happens next — it isn’t pretty. Cropsy runs out of the cabin and goes rolling down a ravine into the river, while the horrified campers decide just to run away.

The next scene shows a doctor and an orderly walking down a hospital corridor making idle chit chat. The orderly informs the doctor that he’s seen some shit and has something really special to show him. The orderly peels back about fifteen curtains to get to a mysterious burn victim, urging the doctor to come and take a look. The burn victim’s grotesque looking arm is revealed when he reaches out to grab the orderly. The doctor promptly runs out of the room, leaving the orderly to pry himself out of the man’s grasp.

The title credits roll and after them, we see that it is now five years later. There are voice overs of people telling Cropsy that he needs to leave now, the skin grafts haven’t taken, that he shouldn’t be bitter to the little shits who ruined his life, and that he’s lucky to be alive, as he’s wheeled to the hospital doors. His first point of order is naturally to kill an overly chatty and whiny-voiced sex worker who doesn’t much care for what she sees when she gets a glimpse of the extensive burns the man has. He stabs her repeatedly in the stomach with her own sewing scissors and then pushes her out the window.

The film flashes to a view of a scenic lake. Camp Blackfoot is now called Camp Stonewater — because hey, no one will ever know about gruesome accidents as long as you change the name, right? There are campers participating in various activities, but the real highlight is Eddy (Ned Eisenberg, Law and Order) telling Dave (George Constan– err, Jason Alexander, in his film debut) about how much he’d like to get with camp shy-hottie Karen. During a baseball game, a female camper has to chase the ball into the woods and Cropsy lurks behind her, ready to strike. Just as he’s about to make his move, she skips back to daylight and sunshine without apparently noticing that there’s a huge burn victim ready to kill her.

For the next twenty or so we’re treated to a more personal glimpse of the campers lives. It gives us enough time to know exactly who want to see killed first without being so obnoxious that it derails the tone of the film. Camp weird guy Alfred (Brian Backer, later from Fast Times at Ridgemont High) sees Cropsy appear outside his window and no one believes him, because he’s the camp outcast. Their mistake. There are a few more near scares before the campers embark on a doomy sounding canoe trip. The campers are treated to Camp Blackfoot/Cropsy’s origin story, via campfire ghost story. Of course there’s a camper waiting to jump out of the bushes just at the good part in the story and everyone regards the tale as nothing more than campfire fluff.

The film picks up at a reasonable pace after that. The atmosphere is nicely maintained throughout the movie, with help from the decent score by Rick Wakeman. Worth noting is that the special effects were some of Tom Savini’s earliest works and he’s said that he was only given three days to come up with Cropsy’s makeup. That being said, he did a good job with what he was afforded and the effects certainly aren’t terrible, especially for a film that was made in 1981.

The Burning – Raft Massacre Scene

It’s worth noting that this isn’t just the film debut of Jason Alexander, but also Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit, Hackers) and Oscar award winner Holly Hunter (The Piano).

The Verdict

For me, this film embodies one of the earliest examples of a true slasher flick. There are no real twists and turns, no guessing games of ‘who’s the killer’ from the audience, and there’s not a lot of looking into Cropsy’s psyche or trying to understand what he’s done. It’s just a solid attempt from the Weinstein Brothers to capitalize upon the early slasher genre. And for this reviewer, it was a successful one. The acting is as good as it needs to be in a slasher film and the directing from Tony Maylam does it’s job. It’s a no-brainer movie that stands out for this reviewer as a cult classic that has gotten the attention it’s deserved over the years and remains little known for no good reason.

It’s definitely worth a view for connoisseurs of slasher movies or people into older horror flicks, or any of you who want to see something different from today’s modern horror film offerings.

The Burning trailer

Sacred Heart Synopsis:

Sacred Heart chronicles the journey of a religious man, who rejects God and his faith, after the tragic death of his pregnant wife and then challenges the Devil. He receives a visit from his priest, who pushes him to question his own beliefs. The Priest turns out to be a mirror of his own insanity, pushing the boundaries between heaven and hell.

David Field, Kipan Rothbury (Water Rats) and Lizzie Schebesta (Sleeping Beauty) star in the new thriller.

Sacred Heart is available on VOD/DVD and BluRay from Gravitas Ventures now.

Rock Hard \m/

Downrange is a dark new thriller, which takes place on a country side road where six college students are confronted by a very deadly situation. Who and when will escape?

Six college students are carpooling cross-country when one of their tires blows out on a desolate stretch of country road. Getting out to fix the flat, they quickly discover that this was no accident. The tire was shot out. With their vehicle incapacitated, the group is pinned down and mercilessly attacked by an unseen assailant as they desperately attempt to find a way to escape.

The film stars newcomer Kelly Connaire, Stephanie Pearson (Insidious: Chapter 2), Rod Hernandez-Farella, Anthony Kirlew, Alexa Yeames (The CW’s The Originals), and Jason Tobias (ABC Television’s Notorious).

Downrange will stream exclusively on Shudder in the US, UK, and Canada starting on April 26th. Make sure to mark this date down in your calendar.

Stay tuned to Yell! Magazine for much more news in horror.

Jackals is disturbing vision of a fractured family that will do anything to get their estranged son back from a murderous cult, only to find themselves under siege when the cultists surround their cabin. A vicious battle unfolds, testing familial loyalties and unleashing a bloodbath in which there are few survivors.

Jackals stars Deborah Kara Unger (Crash, Silent Hill), Ben Sullivan (Hell on Wheels, Stonewall), Chelsea Ricketts (Scream Queens, True Blood), and Nick Roux (Jane by Design), with Johnathon Schaech (That Thing You Do!, Arsenal) and Stephen Dorff (Blade, Leatherface).

The horror film hits select theaters and On Demand September 1st, 2017 from Scream Factory Films.

Jackals poster

We Go On Synopsis:

The second feature film from YELLOWBRICKROAD creators Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton, We Go On tells the story of one man’s quest to find out if there is more out there after we die. Paralyzed by his fear of dying, Miles Grissom (Clark Freeman) offers a cash reward to the first person who can show him a ghost, an angel, a demon -– anything that can prove that We Go On after our deaths. He narrows the responses down to three viable candidates –- a scientist, a medium, and a worldly entrepreneur. Along with his fiercely protective mother (Annette O’Toole), he embarks on an adventure that will spiral into an unthinkable nightmare.

Directed by Andy Mitton & Jesse Holland (YELLOWBRICKROAD), with screenplay by Mitton, We Go On stars Annette O’Toole (Smallville, Superman III), Clark Freeman (YELLOWBRICKROAD), John Glover (Scrooged, Gremlins 2, Smallville), Giovanna Zacarías (The Legend of Zorro), Jay Dunn, and Laura Heisler (YELLOWBRICKROAD).

Rock Hard \m/

Lavender Synopsis:

When a photographer (Abbie Cornish) suffers severe memory loss after a traumatic accident, strange clues amongst her photos suggest she may be responsible for the deaths of family members she never knew she had. Justin Long plays a psychiatrist who helps her recover lost memories.

Lavender will be released in theaters, on VOD, and digital HD on March 3rd.

Rock Hard \m/

When troubled teen Chloe (Lucy Boynton) raps at the door one night, she has no idea the horror she’s about to unleash. Fleeing to the country home of her estranged mother (Katee Sackhoff)—a recovering addict who’s turned her life around to become a famous artist—Chloe must learn to trust the woman who gave her up years ago in order to stop the bloodthirsty, shape-shifting demon stalking them.

IFC Midnight has unleashed the films first official trailer for an early taste on what’s to come on February 3rd, 2017. Don’t Knock Twice was directed by Caradog W. James.

Check it out and spread the word on this new horror film.

When three college friends stumble upon the horrific origins of the Bye Bye Man, they discover that there is only one way to avoid his curse: don’t think it, don’t say it. But once the Bye Bye Man gets inside your head, he takes control. Is there a way to survive his possession?

The Bye Bye Man was directed by Stacy Title starring Douglas Smith, Lucien Laviscount, Cressida Bonas, Doug Jones, with Carrie-Anne Moss and Faye Dunaway.

STX Entertainment unleashes the curse on January 13, 2016.

Official Trailer