May 1, 2008

Where Do You Keep Your Coffin?
















Those of you who are super-observant may notice that I have added a super-sweet poll to my blog! Let me enlighten you as to its purpose.
It all started when I was a little kid, maybe around 7 or 8 years old. I had what some may call an "early exposure to violent horror films at a young age." I vividly remember watching movies such as The Fly, House, Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Lost Boys which, having re-watched them since, I found to be way too messed up for a little tyke such as myself. Among this plethora of monsters and madmen, one particular film stands out to me. This movie was about as influential on my developing psyche as The Wizard of Oz and Follow That Bird. This movie was called... Fright Night! I suspect that most of you have seen it (since I either grew up in the same house with you or have sat you down and forced you to watch it with me).
It's about this snot-nosed, horny teenager named Charley Brewster who notices that all of these strange murders have coincided with the appearance of a his new neighbor, Jerry Dandridge. Being the paranoid horror movie geek that he is, he starts spying on his neighbor and his encounters with the local escort service. He sees that Jerry has fangs and abnormally long fingers, which immediately tips him off. The thing that sucks is that Jerry now knows that Charley knows about him. So, the movie is about how Charley chooses to deal with the situation. He goes to the cops, but makes the foolish mistake of telling them that a vampire is living next to him, which (duh) no one believes. He ends up enlisting the help of Peter Vincent (he's kinda like Peter Cushing from the old Hammer Dracula movies) who hosts a TV show called "Fright Night" (ironic, isn't it?) to help him battle Jerry and his undead manservant.
Anywho, it's a pretty awesome movie. I think that I must have watched it fifty or so times as a kid. I can't really say why this particular horror movie didn't freak me out to the point of tears like so many others, but I remember liking it for that reason. It was like a safe foray into a world that terrified and fascinated me.
Plus, the soundtrack is kind of awesome. If anybody knows where I can find it, that would be righteous.

Speaking of music, I just got Portishead's new album. The only thing that I can really say about it is this: It's a collection of songs that you have always wanted to hear, and eleven years was far too long to wait for such awesomeness.

Oh, and this semester is finally over! Shit yeah!

4 comments:

Sheree said...

Chris Sarandon is eighties-hot! However, I'm not a huge fan of this movie. As far as awful eighties vampire movies go, give me Once Bitten any day of the week. I think I need to watch Fright Night again, this time when I'm on the verge of falling asleep.

Check out this list of top 80s vampire movies, which shockingly did not put The Lost Boys as number one. The Lost Boys is one of my favorite horror-type movies EVER. Just in case you didn't know.

Ryan said...

Hey!

This reminded me!

You know how they just came out with that remake of "Prom Night?" Well, I guess when the production company or whatever bought those rights, they bought a couple of other 80's flicks to remake too, including Fright Night.

So maybe there will be a Fright Night remake.

Which is equal parts awesome and terrible.

Ryan said...

Plus, isn't it weird how two of the movie's horny teens, Amy and Evil Ed, are gay in real life (not that there's anything wrong with that)? And that in fact Stephen "Evil Ed" Geoffreys was so gay that he changed his name to Sam Ritter and starred in such classics as "Latin Crotch Rockets," "Buff and Gay," and yes, the aptly titled "Guys Who Crave Big [rhymes with socks]"?

And all William "Charley Brewster" Ragsdale can say is that he was in "Herman's Head."

(Which, if you think about it, sounds more like a Sam Ritter film than a Fox Network sitcom.)

Unknown said...

Fright Night, Portishead, Gay Porn, ahh, growing up Springer...