Fright Night, 1985 – SNMS Presents: Saturday Night Movie Guestovers
Welcome to a new SNMS feature that we are affectionately referring to as Saturday Night Movie Guestovers, where an esteemed guest comes over and joins in on the movie sleepover fun!
Suffering from Halloween horror withdraw, this week J. Blake invites a good friend of the SNMS podcast, writer/podcaster/musician extraordinaire Mike Vanderbilt (@MikeVanderbilt), to discuss a mid-1980s horror film that Mike, in particular, holds near and dear to his heart, 1985’s Fright Night—written & directed by the great Tom Holland and starring the late Roddy McDowall.
After a brief introduction of Mike to the SNMS listeners and a discussion about writer/director Tom Holland’s career before Fright Night (as well as a bit of swapping stories about their own personal interactions with the horror movie living legend), the boys make their way through the beloved vampire classic, discussing the strength of its cast of actors and what they brought to the plot and their characters during the film’s extended rehearsal period. The guys also revel in the film’s numerous practical special effects, examine the state of horror and classic movie monsters at the time of Fright Night’s release, discuss the film’s original intended ending, its sequel as well as its remake, its fan-favorite soundtrack, the tie-in comic book series and much much more! Is this film actually the start of both the 1980s vampire boom and the “meta” horror film? Were all 80s teenage boys’ bedrooms exactly the same? Do vampires really eat apples? Are the film’s vampiric villain and his loyal manservant the “Odd Couple” of the 80s? Do they have thin crust pizza in Chicago? Was Marvel’s casting of Tom Holland as the new Spider-Man a bold choice? These are just some of the important questions J. Blake and special guest Mike Vanderbilt try to answer in this giant-sized premiere of Saturday Night Movie Guestovers!
As always the podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher and most other podcast apps and sites.
Follow us on Twitter: @SatSleepovers
Follow Dion Baia on Twitter: @DionBaia
Follow J. Blake’s book on Twitter: @ScoredtoDeath
For all things Mike Vanderbilt, follow him on Twitter: @MikeVanderbilt
EXTRAS:
Check out Icons of Fright’s pirate commentaries, featuring cast & crew, for Fright Night and other films by CLICKING HERE!
As mentioned in this episode, you can read Mike Vanderbilt’s interview with Fright Night writer/director Tom Holland by CLICKING HERE!
Also, you can read Mike Vanderbilt’s interview with Fright Night music supervisor David Chackler by CLICKING HERE!
CLICK HERE to see the trailer for the documentary that the guys mention in this episode, You’re So Cool, Brewster! The Story of Fright Night.
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I think Fright Night was one of the first horror movies I ever saw. I was very young when this hit cable and I have a vivid memory of Evil Ed in full Vampire-face pointing and laughing from the back of the car from when I was little.
And for the 2013 version of Fright Night 2…oh, that’s a weird one. It’s not a sequel to the remake, it’s not a remake of the second movie…it’s another remake of the first movie! Charlie, Amy and Ed go to Romania on a class trip and their professor is a woman named Gerri Dandridge. And Peter Vincent is the host of a Ghost Hunters-esque show called Fright Night.
There’s some good ideas in there and it’s not terrible, but I remember being thrown off by yet another remake of the first movie.
Thanks for the insight Jose! And thanks for the continued support! We hope you enjoyed the episode.