Fright Night (1985) with my daughter

 On Saturday, my daughter got to choose two horror films for us to watch. Fright Night (1985) was one of her choices. And I'm glad she did. How many times have I watched this? Seriously. I think probably, what, a hundred times easily? I'll just do a top five favorite scenes for the film.

1. The club where Dandridge lures Amy to the dance floor
2. Dandridge bites Amy after seducing her
3. Peter Vincent stakes Evil Ed Thompson at Charlie's house
4. Jerry Dandridge challenges Vincent and Charlie at the top of his stairs
5. Charlie must kill Jerry Dandridge before sunrise or else Amy will fully turn, somehow needing to keep from killing her before she kills him

I could easily do a top ten because Dandridge's seductive bite to Ed in the alley is an atmospheric triumph, with plenty of gay subtext that would and is still discussed today or Jonathan Stark's Billy Cole, believed to be not only Dandridge's protector but part-time lover, just dissolving into green goo and bones. Vincent finally having faith for the crucifix to work and battling Dandridge in bat form. Dandridge rising like nosferatu, his true vampire form, and Amy with that mouth of teeth. Charley and Vincent's reaction to Billy dissolving after multiple gunshots and a stake to heart.

One of the most fascinating aspects to me is why wouldn't Dandridge just kill Charlie and his mother? Plenty of chances, why not just remove the problem? Charley's mom is no threat and she did invite Dandridge in. This is an intriguing part that wasn't always on my mind as a youth. And the missing father and husband...you can see Dandridge using that as a tease towards Charlie, the teen forced into being the man of the house, with a sweet and quirky mom who works different shifts. I get that Holland needs mom out of the picture and that if Dandridge were to have killed Charlie and his mother there would be no picture.

When I last watched this, last year, the soundtrack has been a consistent rotation favorite when working out or driving places. Some of these songs just stick to the mind...so catchy!

This was a big hit with my daughter, which obviously made me proud. When the film went to credits she asked if we could watch it again next year. Like father like daughter.