The stage curtains open ...
Being a big fan of the original "Fright Night" (1985), I gladly jumped into this documentary on the making of the movie despite it's incredible length of 3 hours and 37 minutes. We got to revisit one of the best vampire movies ever made with highlights, interviews, the special effects that went into it, the marketing for it, the music, and it's cultural impact.
The film starts with the great vampire killer himself, Peter Vincent (played here by Simon Bamford), as he takes us back to the set of the TV Show, Fright Night and reminisces about the old days of the film which then opens up with interviews from the original film's cast members, director, and other noteworthy people behind the camera. We get to see what William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, Chris Sarandon, Stephen Geoffries, Jonathan Stark, Art Evans and Tom Holland look like these days. We are also given a very nice nod to Roddy McDowall who passed away in 1998.
Everything in this documentary is covered. How Tom Holland came up with the idea for the movie, how it was casted, how it was filmed and edited, how the music was created and incorporated, how they did all of the creature special effects and so on and so on and so on. We also got some insights into the sequel, with interviews from its cast members, director and special effects crew as well. And then, at the very end, they spend a little time talking about the 2011 re-make. They literally covered all of the bases here.
The problem I had with this was that it was far too long. Also, one thing that I have enjoyed with other similar documentaries on other movies, were fan and critic reactions and memories. For instance, with the Friday the 13th documentary, "His Name Was Jason - 30 Years of Friday the 13th", we got interviews from other film directors and celebrities who had no actual part in the filming - and I really enjoyed those outside viewpoints. This documentary gives us none of that. Also, in that Friday the 13th documentary, they covered all of the series films inside of only about 90 minutes. This Fright Night documentary was 2 hours longer than that.
By the time I finished watching this, I was so done with it. I was Fright Night'd out. It was too much. If you have roughly 4 hours of time to burn, and you are a fan of the films, you would like this. It is as in depth as they come. I am still a very big fan of the original movie. The sequel and resulting re-make and it's sequel, I honestly could do without. I give this one a nod at only 5 stars out of 10. It was worth watching, but very long - and nothing I'd watch again. I will queue up the movie instead and re-live my own memories.
