"One of the reasons the genre faded was that vampire films were done as period pieces during their heyday in the 1950s and nobody could figure out how to contemporize them. I was determined to respect all the conventions of a traditional vampire story--coffin beds, empty mirrors and the like--but to place them in a contemporary context."
"In addition to it's modern setting, "Fright Night" also makes use of recent technical advances in the areas of special effects, photography and makeup to bring the vampire movie into the present day. Jaffe and Holland opted for the best, hiring Academy Award winner Richard Edlund's Boss Film Corporation (of "Ghostbusters" fame) to create the effects for the movie.
"There are places in the film, though," explains Holland, "where I deliberately wanted to suggest, rather explicitly paint, the vampire's supernatural powers. Some of the 'flying' sequences, for instance, are done with optical effects, but others are created by establishing the vampire's point of view from the sky with a Louma crane camera. One thing I wanted to avoid at any cost," says Holland, "was having the special effects overshadow the acting."
Producer Herb Jaffe, a long-time acquaintance of Holland's who had twice before collaborated successfully with new directors, got involved with the project on the basis of Tom's desire to direct his first feature. Says Jaffe, "I thought I could put something together if we had a corking good screenplay--and this one was irresistible. It's not just a vampire story per se, but a terrific tale about some young kids and how they're affected by their encounter with the creature.
"There's a lot more to the story than just its frightening moments. It's very strong on warmth and relationships, and it's got a lot of humor in it," Holland explains. "We needed really good actors to carry off those elements, and once we had them, I wanted to let them show their stuff."
Holland also wanted to make sure that an element of the vampire story that has persisted from Victorian times received proper attention in "Fright Night."
"The vampire is a metaphor for seduction," says the writer-director, "and that's something which runs through this film as a subtext. It's one of the reasons that the vampire must be, and is, appealing. Forgetting about the horrible aspects of vampirism, on one level this is a story about an older man trying to take a younger man's girl away from him, so a lot of what this film is about is sexual jealousy."
For the role of Jerry Dandridge, the seductive and terrifying vampire, Holland chose Chris Sarandon, about whose talent he and producer Herb Jaffe were in agreement. "We needed someone who could be both sexual and frightening at the same time," Jaffe says, "and Chris was wonderful for the part." The two men also agreed that Roddy McDowall was the perfect choice to play Peter Vincent, the former horror-film star who eventually helps try to conquer the vampire, and that newcomer William Ragsdale should play the pivotal role of Charley Brewster.
Cast in the role of Amy, Charley's girlfriend and the object of the vampire's seductive wiles, was Amanda Bearse. Stephen Geoffreys was chosen tp play Evil Ed Thompson and Dorothy Fielding plays Charley's slightly flaky but loving mother, Judy Brewster. Playing Lt. Lennox, the skeptical detective who won't believe that Dandridge is responsible for a string of local murders, is Art J. Evans. Jonathan Stark fills the role of Billy Cole, the vampire's housemate and fellow ghoul.
Principal photography on "Fright Night" began December 3, 1984, at Laird International Studios in Los Angeles, where production designer John De Cuir, Jr, had created the interiors and exteriors of the mult-level Brewster and Dandridge houses. Duplicates of the exteriors and yards were also erected on the Disney Studio's lot, which provided the outdoor space needed for the crane shots. In addition, various locations around Los Angeles were utilized for the movie's disco and street scenes.