Tag Archives: 2016

WATCH THE SERIES: Fright Night

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Fright Night was the first modern horror film I ever watched. I remember painting in my parent’s kitchen and my father telling me not to be afraid and just watch it with him. It’s a great start — combining the Hammer films that I loved that didn’t scare me with new school special effects and metacommentary.

The very first film in the series, this one really speaks to me as I was part of the last generation to grow up with horror movie hosts on UHF channels. Sure, there’s Svengoolie today and some internet shows, but it’s not the same. Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) is one such host, a washed-up actor who was in a few great movies decades ago and now goes from town to town, playing the same old 1960’s Z list horror films, saying the same lines. 

The defining moment for him is that Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale, Mannequin 2: Mannequin on the Move) believes in all his bull. And when Jerry Dandrige (the untrustable Chris Sarandon) moves in next door and shows all the signs of being a vampire, Charley finds he needs Peter Vincent more than ever before.

Plus, you get a pre-Married with Children Amanda Bearse as Charley’s love interest and a pre-gay pornography/976-EVIL Stephen Geoffreys as Charley’s best friend/worst nemesis Evil Ed. And I just love Billy Cole (Jonathan Stark, House II) as Jerry’s thrall.

This is a movie made for those who love horror movies. After all, Peter Vincent is named after horror icons Peter Cushing and Vincent Price. Creator Tom Holland wrote the part for Price, but the acting great had stopped appearing in horror movies at this time in his career. As they made the film — and the sequel together — Holland and McDowall became life-long friends, with McDowall introducing the young director to Price, who was flattered that the part was written to honor him and thought that Fright Night “was wonderful and he thought Roddy did a wonderful job.”

He’s right — this is a movie that taps into the mind and heart of horror fans, as so many of us have wondered, “What if the monster — and the monster hunter — was real?” The lighthearted yet dangerous tone of the film is letter perfect. That scene in the nightclub, where Jerry takes on the security guard? As good as it gets.

Want to watch it now? You can catch it streaming on Hulu.

Also of note: I’m glad the original ending wasn’t used. It was to close with Charley and Amy making out with Peter Vincent coming on the TV to host Fright Night, saying “Tonight’s creepy crawler is Dracula Strikes Again. Obviously about vampires. You know what vampires look like, don’t you? They look like this!” Then, he would transform, look into the camera and say, “Hello, Charley.”

After the unexpected critical and financial success of this film, a sequel was inevitable. Holland and Sarandon were both making the first Child’s Play, so they couldn’t commit to the film, although the actor did visit the set. Stephen Geoffrey’s didn’t like the script, opting to star in 976-EVIL. Ultimately only Ragsdale and McDowall would return.

Three years and plenty of therapy later, Charley Brewster now believes that Jerry Dandrige was a serial killer and that vampires don’t exist. Now a college student with a new girlfriend, Alex Young (Traci Lind, who dated Dodi Fayed before Princess Diana), Charley sadly discovers that Peter Vincent is back to hosting Fright Night. As they leave Peter’s apartment, a new nemesis, Regine steals Charley’s attention. There’s even a new version of Evil Ed, a vampire named Louie (Jon Gries, who is great in everything he’s done from Joysticks and Real Genius to The Monster Squad and TerrorVision) who is making Charley and Alex’s lives hell.

It turns out that she’s Jerry Dandrige’s brother and here for revenge. Now, the tables are turned and Peter Vincent is the one who has to convince Charley that vampires are real. Even worse, she’s turning Charley into a vampire and has stolen the Fright Night hosting job away from Peter! There’s also a transgender rollerskating vampire, putting this movie years ahead of others in presenting LGBT roles (even if Belle is evil).

One small trivia note: the vampire form that Regine transforms into at the end was modeled after 45 Grave lead singer Dinah Cancer. If you don’t know her band, they sang the song “Partytime” from TThe Return of the Living Dead.

There’s no way that this movie could live up to the original, but it tries. It hasn’t really been seen much, as LIVE Entertainment barely released it on home video. Artisan Entertainment released it on DVD in 2003, but it’s been out of print for a long time and commands big bucks. You can often find a bootleg of the high definition TV edition of the film at conventions (that’s where we got it!).

Written by Holland and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace (Halloween III: Season of the Witch and the original It, as well as the writer of Amityville II: The Possession, a movie I never cease trying to get people to watch), this movie suffered at the hands of a very real tragedy.

McDowall loved playing Peter Vincent and was eager to bring Holland back to make a third film, so he set up a meeting with the two of them and Carolco Pictures chairman Jose Menendez. Legend has it that the meeting did not go well. Later that night, Menendez and his wife were infamously murdered by their sons, Lyle and Erik. When McDowall learned of the news, he called Wallace and said “Well, I didn’t do it. Did you?”

As a result of the murders, Fright Night Part 2 lost its nationwide release schedule and only played in two theaters before being released directly to video. All of the planned advertising and public relations were canceled as well, which meant that most folks didn’t even know it was released until it showed up on video!

If you thought Hollywood was done with Fright Night, you’re wrong.

Colin Farrell plays Jerry here as “the shark from Jaws.” Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays Evil Ed as a geeky kid who was once best friends with Charley, who is now one of the popular high schools (remind me to tell you about the child vampire that used to chase me through my grandparent’s backyard someday). And former Dr. Who David Tennant is more Criss Angel than Zacherley.

This is a film that I really tried to get past and enjoy, but I just couldn’t be entertained by it. I’m not the only one. Tom Holland said, “Kudos to them on every level for their professionalism, but they forgot the humor and the heart. They should have called it something other than Fright Night, because it had no more than a passing resemblance to the original. What they did to Jerry Dandrige and Peter Vincent was criminal. Outside of that, it was wonderful.”

That said, there is a nice moment where Chris Sarandon makes a cameo as a victim of the new Jerry. Otherwise, this one is mean-spirited where it should have heart. No part of it feels fun. I was shocked to learn that it was directed by the same person who made I, Tonya and Lars and the Real Girl, Craig Gillespie.

And if you think that one is bad…

This direct-to-video sequel completely ignores the first remake, instead being a simultaneous remake of the first two films. The Gerri Dandridge in this one is a Romanian history and culture professor who teaches Charley, Evil Ed and Amy when they take a class trip to Romania. And this Peter Vincent hosts a reality show where he hunts vampires.

For some reason, Fox greenlit the movie and rushed it into being at a record pace. The first draft was written in a week and it was finished in 23 days. If only it didn’t feel like it went on for 24. This movie is a complete waste of time and the name of this franchise. It was like they heard someone say, “Nobody can make a worse remake than the last Fright Night.” And replied, “Hold my cup of blood and apple.”

Here are some other spinoffs:

NOW Comics released 27 total issues of a Fright Night comic that adapted both movies, as well as starting new stories where Peter and Charley battled a spider boy, squid people, aliens, a minotaur and the Legion of the Endless Night, which eventually brings back Jerry Dandrige to begin a new army of the undead peopled by French prostitutes!

Terror Time put out a new Fright Night comic book this year, Fright Night: The Peter Vincent Chronicles, which explains what happened to Peter between the first two original films. You can grab it — and the Fright Night coloring book and the screenplay too — right here.

In 1988, an Amiga video game was released. Strangely enough, you play as Jerry, trying to make it through your home and transform people into vampires. Everyone from the original Fright Night appears in the game as enemies and potential victims except Billy Cole.

And in 1989, the Indian film Kalpana House was released. It’s a loose remake, with Peter Vincent’s character being a priest and plenty of musical numbers. Yep. Really.

Finally, there’s the exhaustive 3 hour and 37-minute documentary You’re So Cool, Brewster! The Story of Fright Night. In addition to pretty much everything you’d ever want to know about the original two films, the filmmakers also created a series of trailers for the fictional movies The Resurrection of Dracula, Psychedelic Death, I Rip Your Jugular and Werewolf of Moldavia, which starred Peter Vincent (Simon Bamford, Ohnaka from Nightbreed and the Butterball Cenobite from the first two Hellraiser films) and Christopher Cushing (Nicholas Vince, Kinski from Nightbreed and the Chattering Cenobite from the first two Hellraiser films).

Sadly, these trailers are on the hard to find physical release of the documentary. You can watch it on Shudder right here, though!

Last year, Tom Holland announced that he’s writing Fright Night 2 as a book, with the goal of obtaining the rights to the series by 2019 and making a new movie. In the past, he’s talked about continuing the series by having single-father Charley Brewster inherit his mother’s home with his two teenage children learning that something evil is in the house next door — Evil Ed, who is trying to bring Dandrige back.

Whew! Here’s hoping you enjoyed our look at the past, present and hopefully future of a horror classic. And if you haven’t seen the original sequel, hunt it down! It’s pretty good!

Ken Foster (2016)

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According to CBC, “In some circles, Ken Foster is a well-respected artist with a unique style and an international following. To others, he is known as the guy living in alleys who has been hawking his work on city’s streets for more than 20 years.”

For over eighteen months, documentary filmmaker Josh Laner followed Foster, known to locals as Vancouver’s Vincent Van Gogh, through the streets of the city’s rough and tumble Gastown.

Foster is incredibly prolific and while he has said he won’t sell a painting for other twenty dollars, in the same breath he says that he’s sold one for $2 to buy a Slurpee. That said, he’s also painting to support a crack habit that he feels keeps his schizophrenia under control.

The film starts moments before Ken enters Vancouver’s Art Battle competition, which is all about live competitive painting. It seems like everyone there is abuzz about Ken’s appearance, but they all seem to be more excited than he is to be there.

This film raises plenty of points — are the people buying Ken’s work supporters of art who supporters of his drug habit? Is the madness that Ken endures why he’s such an amazing artist? And can he move into becoming a legit fine artist and leave the street and the people of it behind? In fact, when asked, what would you give up, smoking crack or art, Foster is unable to decide until figuring that art is what he loves, but that question is inherently silly to him because crack is such a fundamental part of his life.

Foster doesn’t have a relationship in his life that doesn’t seem painful, from how he feels about his mother to how his girlfriend randomly disappears, only to come back and battle with him. Only art feels like a constant in his life, but he only feels like he has reached one percent of what he could have been. And he feels like he is nothing to his daughter, which kills him as he doesn’t even know if he wants to be alive. Trust me — this is a rough watch.

The hardest part of this movie to watch was Ken leaving one of the Art Battles, even as a viewer is telling him that he is a true artist, because he needs crack to set his mind right. Crack no longer makes him high, each toke only sets his brain as straight as it can be so he is no longer in a heightened state of anxiety. He hates what he has painted and it begins to send him into a downward spiral. This scene is animated instead of shown, so everything becomes heightened and more frightening as real life gives way to darkness and terror.

Going into the finals, Ken can’t even find his brushes and is losing control, even as he’s the crowd favorite. You can’t invent drama like this. I don’t want to spoil the rest of the film at this point, so you should really watch it for yourself. I wanted Ken to emerge from this saved, but I don’t truly know if that’s possible, so I realize that’s a spoiler, but it helps going into this movie knowing how harrowing it is. People genuinely love him and tell him but none of it ever gets through or fixes anything.

Want to still watch it? You should. Ken Foster is now available on Cable VOD and Digital HD, including iTunes, Google Play, Comcast, Cox, Verizon Fios, Dish Network and more.

Disclaimer: I was sent this film by its PR team and in no way did that impact my review.

Channel Zero: Candle Cove (2016)

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Our frustration with so-called “elevated horror” and television tripe like American Horror Story made us really tentative toward even giving this series a try. Luckily, we overcame our fears of it being pablum and discovered something truly unsettling.

The beauty of Channel Zero is that each season is short — six episodes with the same cast — and only shares thematic elements with one another. So far, the three seasons have explored the dangers of clinging too strongly to the past and whether your blood kin or adopted network of friends makes for the healthier family unit. Oh yeah — they also share the simple fact that the world as we know it is not the reality that actually exists.

The first season, Candle Cove, is based on a creepypasta written by Kris Straub. The title refers to a TV series that could only be seen by certain children while others would only see static. The more the series was watched, the more it began intruding into the real world. As the children grew up, they wondered if they were the only ones who knew about Candle Cove, like the episode that just consisted of the main characters screaming in fear.

Within the show, famous child psychologist Mike Painter (Paul Schneider, Parks and Recreation) has been having intense nightmares about the show, which may have only lasted for two months, but ended in the abduction and murder of several of his brother and several of their friends. Now that he’s returned to Iron Hill, the show has started attempting to return. And oh yeah — there’s a creature called the Tooth Child that is a sentient being made completely of he teeth that have been sacrificed by possessed children.

That’s what I meant when I said that this is an unsettling show. It’s surreal at turns, but it’s not afraid to be ominous and doom-laden with little to no escape valve. Even the cute puppets of the show become brutal when the Jawbone the pirate crosses over into the real world. And as the children of the town become more malevolent, Mike’s sanity — already frayed a psychotic break — slips and the children he grew up with begin to suspect that he’s behind the madness that has returned to their town.

That said — I’ve heard talk that people think the performances weren’t great for the first season. I disagree — it never took me out of the show. And I absolutely adored the art direction, as the show within a show reminds me of the Krofft shows of my youth.

I don’t want to reveal much more. This is too delicious to spoil. The reveal of the true killer — and true evil — of the story surprised me. We’ve been on board for Channel Zero for every season now, buying the box sets and watching them in a day or less. Now, Shudder has picked up the entire series, playing one season each month for the next few months. It’s exciting that a bigger audience can now see this show and I’m excited to discuss each season! Feel free to treat the comments below as a spoiler-laden zone where we can freely talk about this awesome show!

The Void (2016)

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Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie, who also worked on Manborg, created this ode to all that is wonderful and slimy and bloody and gross about 80’s horror. Seriously, this film feels like a spiritual cousin to Prince of Darkness by way of Halloween 2, with an army of cultists surrounding an understaffed hospital which becomes a gateway to another dimension.

A drug fiend flees a farmhouse, followed by a woman who is shot and killed by Vincent and his son, Simon. The running man is found crawling away and brought to a hospital by Deputy Carter, who is worried about running into his ex-wife Allison, who works there as a nurse.

They aren’t there for long before another nurse tears her face off and kills a patient, only to be shot dead by Carter, who collapses and has visions. He is told by state trooper Mitchell to leave the scene, but once he walks to his patrol car, he’s attacked by robed cultists who have surrounded the building.

Meanwhile, Beverly’s dead body has transformed into a tentacled otherworldly beast straight out of Carpenter’s The Thing. Just then, the father and so from the beginning arrive and a standoff occurs — they want to kill James. At the last moment, Beverly’s monstrous form kills the state policeman before being killed.

One of the patients is pregnant, so some of the staff go to find supplies while the attending physician, Dr. Powell, reveals that he is the leader of the cult. He begins tormenting Daniel, telling him that he knows all about the visions that he had while unconscious.

Powell appears to Allison and explains how he has learned to defy death after losing his daughter, then he removes his face. He then claims that she has something growing inside of her. Meanwhile, deformed corpses in the basement come to life and attack.

As the patient is about to give birth, she reveals that she was carrying Dr. Powell’s child. And Allison also gives birth to a tentacles creature that is still inside her body, killing her. Daniel attacks her remains with an axe, then walks into a room with a glowing triangle on the wall. There, Powell claims he can give him his child back (he and Allison had lost a baby, which led to their separation) if he dies first.

The pregnant woman reappears and stabs Daniel and kneels before a skinless Powell, who recites a ritual that causes her to explode and be reborn as his daughter. The father and son return to save the day, setting everything on fire, but Powell has begun his ascension and is asking Daniel to join him. Simon, the son, escapes with Kim, one of the nurses while Daniel tackles the doctor and sends them back into the void.

As the movie closes, we see Daniel and Allison holding hands, somewhere in a netherworld — an ending that is very similar to Fulci’s The Beyond.

The Void is the first modern horror film to excite me in some time. I’ve been disappointed by overhyped projects in the past, so I was pleased to discover that this film has its practical effects heart in the bloodiest of places. Several have complained that the film makes no sense, but I see it as the spiritual successor to absolute films such as Inferno and the aforementioned The Beyond and Prince of Darkness. And it’s robed cultists, who silently wait for the command to kill, are the most artistically arresting horror villains in decades.

The Void has my highest possible recommendation.