Subtitles:

English (SDH), none

Extras:

• Isolated Score Track

• 2 Trailers (1:21, 1:27)

• Julie Kirgo liner notes

''FRIGHT NIGHT'' has a lot more personality than the usual horror film, which is a distinctly mixed blessing. It tells of a nice teen-ager, played by William Ragsdale, who becomes alarmed at the possibility that a dapper vampire may have moved next door. To investigate the secret life of this soigne neighbor (played by Chris Sarandon, who's made a specialty out of playing smug, slightly dissipated heavies), he enlists the help of an over-the-hill screen star.

The actor, played by Roddy McDowall, speaks with a great many rolling r's and assorted other flourishes as he says things like ''Where is the lair of the suspected creature of the night?'' Mr. McDowall appears to be enjoying this a great deal, and indeed, if it were better developed it might make for an amiable satire. But Tom Holland, who wrote and directed this debut feature, is forced to change gears midway through, in what seems more an accommodation to audience tastes than a legitimate plot development. In any case, the film's last 25 minutes are devoted to the grisliest special effects Mr. Holland can muster.

Charley (Ragsdale) has seen a coffin being carried into the house next door and a corpse being dragged out, but no one will take him seriously. In desperation he enlists a TV vampire killer, who's initially charmed by neighbour-from-hell Jerry (Sarandon), before noticing the absence of his reflection in a mirror. A farrago of cartoonish exaggeration (mouthfuls of fangs, razor-sharp talons and eyes like burning coals), knowing humour and '80s camp, it shouldn't even begin to work, and yet, strangely, it does, sort of, thanks to the assured handling of writer/director Holland, and two performances in particular - Geoffreys as Charley's pal Evil, and McDowall as the timid vampire killer. The music helps, covering an ambitious range from piano-murdering suspense-raisers, through disco fodder, to a Sparks tune, 'Armies of the Night', by Ron and Russell Mael.

Gary Tooze

December 12th, 2011