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Vampire Chris Sarandon tm «vtl deelgns on the virtuous young woman ptaytd by Amanda Bearee• • •BRING YOUR OWN• ft. white Roddy McDowall and William Ragadala uaa a trted-and-trted method to ward off the vampireYou need something to chase away this turkey of a vampire movieBy Mtehaol Burfcatt The Registerdistributed by New World Pictures. Nope.gers and prison inmates.illThere are some very good reasons to be afraid of the dark,” read the print ads for “Fright Night.” How true. Reason No. 1 is that someone with a projector might force you to watch “Fright Night.”What’s odd about thi8 unfailinglyinane vampire-on-the-loose movie is that it wasn’t produced by cheap-jack sleaze king Roger Corman orThis baby was thrown together by respected movie money man Herb Jaffe (“The Wind and the lion,” “Time After Time”), and it’s been released (and heavily promoted) by Columbia Pictures, which does not usually sink good money into movies that will be viewed fror. beginning to end only by theater ushen, airplane p®e$en-Unfortunately, “Fright Night” isn’t hilariously or even amusingly inept. It’s just unspectacularly lousy.teen hero; the kind of gooey, gloppy special effects that, three or four years ago, were in vogue for about IS minutes; and plot holes bigger than Bela Lugosi’s acting style.MOYIE EEVOfWftAlthough writer and first-time director Tom Holland has called it a ’Vampire movie... placed in a contemporary context,” all he’s added to the genre’s least memorable cliches re the now-obligatoryFor those ushers airplane passengers and prison inmates still with us, Holland's central character is Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale), a normal, middle-America 17-year-old with an almost normal set of middle-Ameri-efcfi teen problems: failing algebra grades, the determined virginity of course. Not even Evil Ed Thompson (Stephen Geoffreys), his seemingly brain-damaged best friend, or former horror-film star/late night movie host Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall).The mm “Fright IsHgt Stam Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, Stephen Geoffreys and Roddy McDowall. Behind the Boenaai Written and directed by Tom Holland.Playlngi Opens today at selected Orange County theaters.Running Ttmei 1 hour, 42 minutes. Ratedt R for language and nudity.Vampire doesn’t want the wtole town to know he likes to suck folks to death (even though he gnawson his victims in front of op i windows), so it becomes hi- goal to put the bite on young Charley. ^hi girlfriend (Amanda Bearse), and the fact that Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), the suave, swinging bachelor who’s just moved in next door, is a vampire.Jerry’s first course of action is to discreetly follow the kid tor a crowded disco, sprout fangs, try. to put the bite on his girlfriend $nd bounce a few bouncers off the wpils with Ms supernatural strength;— all in full, unobstructed view cf’the people be fears will learn his irk and deadly secret.illThat’s the brand of thinking this overblown drive-in movie is loaded with.iNobody believes Charley, of Brand X.*Only the toothsome next-door-neighbcr takes Charley seriously.*Quite understandably, Jerry theLUXURY THtXTRiSWALK-INS * ★ I DRIVE-INS S?$£fTRDium n
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