Fright Night/Fun Facts

• Cast and crew members have recalled that Roddy McDowall videotaped extensive on-set behind-the-scenes footage. None of them saw the tapes, and their whereabouts remain unknown.

• It was Chris Sarandon's idea to have Jerry eating apples throughout the film. While researching Vampire lore, Sarandon looked at information about bats and concluded, "Jerry had a lot of Fruit Bat in his DNA."

• At the time this was being filmed, the studio was sinking all its efforts into making a hit out of Perfect (1985), and they also gave high priority to The Slugger's Wife (1985). "Nobody paid any attention to Fright Night," commented writer/director Tom Holland. "It was wonderful!"

• The film's genesis came in Tom Holland wanting to do a vampire story crossbred with The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Avoiding using special effects at the expense of good acting, Holland included plenty of humour, warmth and relationships. He also wanted to make it valid to a modern audience by rooting it in reality - hence the suburbia setting.

• In 2015, when asked if he could do a sequel to any of his movies (ignoring existing reboots) for a You Tube fan questions video, writer/director Tom Holland replied that he'd like to do a follow-up to "Fright Night" utilizing the original cast. His proposed plot was that single-father Charley Brewster inherits his mother's home and, soon after taking up residence, his two teenage children become convinced that there's something "evil" in the house next door - namely Evil Ed, who is squatting in the abandoned mansion, attempting to resurrect Jerry Dandrige.

• Although the part of Peter Vincent was based upon and originally written for Vincent Price to play, Roddy McDowall decided Peter Vincent was not in the same league as Price. "My part is that of an old ham actor, I mean a dreadful actor," McDowall commented in a 1985 interview with Monster Land magazine. "He had a moderate success in an isolated film here and there, but all very bad product. Basically, he played one character for 8 or 10 films, for which he probably got paid next to nothing. Unlike stars of horror films who are very good actors and played lots of different roles, such as Peter Lorre and Vincent Price or Boris Karloff, this poor sonofabitch just played the same character all the time, which was awful."

• Frustrated that they'd never been asked to do DVD extras, all of the principal cast members except Amanda Bearse (who was unavailable at the time) recorded two "pirate commentaries" which were released as free mp3s on the Icons of Fright website in 2008. Due to a contractual stipulation with Sony, distributor Twilight Time was unable to produce original content for their 30th anniversary edition blu-ray release in 2015, so they included both commentaries and other preexisting bonus materials.

• The character Peter Vincent is named for two actors well-known for their appearances in horror movies: Peter Cushing and Vincent Price.

• Much of the film's 9.5 million dollar budget was spent on special effects (it was the first vampire film to spend one million dollars on special effects).

• Amanda Bearse was required to remove her top for a scene in the film in which her back and shoulders are viewed, but she was uncomfortable being topless in front of the crew so she covered her breasts with duct tape.

• A puppet that was created for the ghost librarian's monstrous visage in Ghostbusters (1984) was rejected as being too terrifying for a PG-movie. When the FX crew subsequently went to work on Fright Night (1985), they realized the rejected model resembled the vampire bat that they'd created, so they repurposed and utilized it for the vampire's fiery destruction.

• Because of his theatrical roots and the long hours spent in the makeup chair, Chris Sarandon helped apply his own vampire makeup and often worked on the finger extensions while the makeup artists were putting appliances on his face.

• The crew spent a lot of time and money composing the scene where Jerry walks through Mrs. Brewster's bedroom and casts no reflection in the mirror. "It doesn't work," director Tom Holland has frequently commented. "The audience never notices it because I framed it badly."

• The most financially successful horror film of the 1985 summer season, and the second highest grossing horror film of 1985 behind A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985).

• Charlie Sheen auditioned for the role of Charlie Brewster, but the director decided his looks weren't right for the character, so William Ragsdale was ultimately cast. "Charlie Sheen was a hero," Tom Holland commented in an interview with The Projection Booth. "Bill Ragsdale in playing Charlie Brewster was the guy next door."

• Jonathan Stark auditioned with the scene where he's being questioned by the detective. The scene was written to be played straight, but Stark decided to play it comically, which won him the role.

• William Ragsdale injured his foot running down a staircase during the last shot filmed on 24 December 1984, just three weeks into principal photography. Ragsdale's action scenes were postponed until he was healed sufficiently to perform them and the director filmed other scenes to stay on schedule.

• Director Tom Holland sought out Brad Fiedel to score the movie because he had been impressed by the music in The Terminator (1984).

• One of the life-masks of Roddy McDowall taken for the Planet Of The Apes franchise is visible in Peter Vincent's apartment.

• The fact that Amy resembles a lost love of Dandridge's was Chris Sarandon's idea. He wanted Dandridge to have added dimensions - and not just be some evil bad guy.

• Chris Sarandon claimed that, because of the long hours in makeup he had to endure, if he didn't try hypnosis or meditation to cope with it, he'd go stark-raving mad.

• During the scene where Amy and Evil Ed arrive at Charley's house and find his room adorned with crosses and candles, Stephen Geoffreys was suffering from a bad case of food poisoning.

• For "Evil" Ed's transformation scene, a full size wolf puppet was made. However, it's actually actor Stephen Geoffreys buried under the more werewolf-like makeup and fake head.

• Writer/director Tom Holland conceived the role of Peter Vincent with Vincent Price in mind, but Price's health was declining and he was trying to shy away from accepting horror roles by that point in his career.

• Because of the horrible experience he'd had making The Sentinel (1977), Chris Sarandon was apprehensive about taking a role in another horror movie. Meanwhile, writer Tom Holland decided to direct 'Fright Night' himself because he was so disgusted by the film that had been made from his last screenplay, Scream for Help (1984). Both movies were directed by Michael Winner.

• While blocking a scare scene, director Tom Holland asked visual effects man Randall William Cook if he could devise a "shark mouth" for one of the vampires. There was neither time nor money left in the budget to create an elaborate prosthetic, but Cook agreed to concoct a rig over a weekend with the proviso that it would only be seen on-screen for a few seconds. Ultimately the crudely made mouthpiece was not only featured extensively in the film, it was also utilized in the movie's famous poster art.

• Director Tom Holland asked the wardrobe person to rub ice on Heidi Sorenson's nipples prior to shooting her scene.

• Chris Sarandon has often joked that the finger extensions he was required to wear made it difficult for him to go to the bathroom.

• Roddy McDowall's idea for the 'Fright Night' TV show within the movie was that Peter Vincent had had minor success playing a vampire killer in a series of films in the 1960s, but his career puttered out 15 years before the movie takes place. Trying to make a living, Vincent conceived the 'Fright Night' TV show and traveled with it to various syndicated markets in the United States. "He'd go six months in Iowa, six months In Podunk," McDowall stated in a 1985 interview with Monster Land magazine.

• When Jerry lifts Charley by the throat and carries him across the room, the actor was being pulled on a furniture dolly.

• Coincidentally, Stephen Geoffreys and Amanda Bearse had played a couple in Fraternity Vacation (1985) and went straight from filming that movie to working on 'Fright Night.' Both films were also scored by composer Brad Fiedel.

• For the scene in which Jerry picks up the night club bouncer by the throat, the actor was crouched on top of a large wheeled box out of the camera's view. As Jerry grasped his throat, the actor gradually stood up to create the illusion he was being lifted high into the air and dragged across the floor.

• Roddy McDowall was interested in playing Peter Vincent because the character was featured from ages 30 (in the old film clips) to 60 (when the events of the movie take place). "I'd never played anything that old," the then 57 year-old actor commented in a 1985 interview.

• Writer/director Tom Holland encouraged each of the actors to pen 1-2 page biographies so they would fully understand their characters and motivations and be able to draw upon that information for subtext.

• Roddy McDowall got a little upset with Stephen Geoffreys for getting too physical in the scenes where Ed attacks Peter. Geoffreys was encouraged to "go all-out" by Tom Holland.

• A 30th anniversary limited blu-ray edition packed with extras was released in 2015. The 5000 discs sold out in less than 48 hours.

• The nightclub set used in "Fright Night" was a former hardware store near the studio which had been renovated for the Frankie Goes to Hollywood sequence in Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984) the previous year. Both films were released by Columbia Pictures.

• Tom Holland's directorial debut.

• Charley's 1966 Ford Mustang actually belonged to writer/director Tom Holland. The car was totaled in an accident a decade later.

• Jonathan Stark was supposed to be wearing a pair of vampire contacts when he came up the staircase, but the actor was blinded by the lenses and kept tripping on the stairs, so the director told him to remove one.

• Although William Ragsdale and Amanda Bearse are playing teenagers, in reality Ragsdale turned 24 and Bearse was 27 during filming.

• When playing Peter Vincent, Roddy McDowall based his character's movie persona on some bad actors from the films he used to watch as a child. To depict how his character reacted to the situation he was thrust into, McDowall found inspiration in The Lion from The Wizard of Oz (1939).

• The final shot that Jonathan Stark filmed was the introduction of his character painting the window.

• Writer/director Tom Holland has admitted that the scene with Billy Cole creeping up the staircase behind Peter and Charley was inspired by Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

• The vampire contact lenses worn by actors Stephen Geoffreys and Chris Sarandon, as created by make-up effects designer Steve Johnson, were molded with actual flecks of glitter inside to achieve their bilious yellow reflective quality around the pupils.

• Amanda Bearse was the last actor cast. The director couldn't find the perfect "girl next door."

• It took 8 hours to do the makeup for Jerry's final transformation.

• Pays numerous tributes to Salem's Lot (1979), such as the house with the large staircase and window backdrop, the basement finale at dawn, the older man/younger boy vampire hunters, the human guardian and his final demise on the stairs. The head vampire in Fright Night is also similar to the Barlow character in the novel by Stephen King, which was drastically altered in the teleplay.

• The character of Peter Vincent claims he has been fired from hosting Fright Night because "all they want are demented mad men running around in ski masks hacking up young virgins." - an obvious reference to the Friday the 13th franchise. The bouncer (Nick Savage) at the club, who first confronts Jerry, plays one of the 3 motorcycle gang members killed by Jason Vorhees in Friday the 13th Part III (1982).

• The bulk of the film was shot on the Disney back-lot, and the neighborhood had then-recently been used in Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983).

• In 1988, the film was adapted as a PC game for Commodore Amiga computers. Players portrayed Jerry Dandrige, who had 12 hours of darkness to visit every room of his sprawling mansion and kill intruders. All of the principal characters from the film were included (even bit-part "hooker" Cheryl Lane) with the glaring exceptions of Detective Lennox and Jerry's henchman, Billy Cole.

• "You could say Evil Ed is the gay kid who was bullied," director Tom Holland told Dread Central," "but I wasn't thinking that. I was thinking he's the kid who reads all those E.C. Comic Books." He commented on the implied gay relationship between Jerry and Billy, "The stuff with Chris Sarandon and Jonathan Stark, that's me."

• Originally the filmmakers had planned to enhance Jerry Dandridge's demonic vampire voice electronically, but the tests were poor so Chris Sarandon's real voice was utilized.

• While fending off a bat with a bone for the climax of the film, Roddy McDowall accidentally cracked the puppet's skull. The crew scrambled to fix the bat so they could continue shooting, but such extensive damage occurred that it took two days to properly reassemble, so they had to temporarily delay filming further close-ups of the creature.

• When Stephen Geoffreys received the script, he presumed he was being asked to audition for the Charley Brewster role. Geoffreys was baffled and upset when the casting director informed him that she wanted him to audition for Evil Ed.

• The phrase "Children of the Night" as mentioned at the beginning of this film refers to wolves howling at the moon as mentioned in Dracula (1931) as well as Bram Stoker's original 1897 novel of the same name.

• Tom Holland had total control in the casting decisions. The only suggestion he got was from Guy McElwaine who asked Holland to meet his friend Roddy McDowall, who'd be cast. In an interview Holland said that "it was a terrific suggestion".

• William Ragsdale went through several callback auditions for the film. On Halloween night 1984, he was told that he had the part.

• The opening shot lasts for two minutes without an interruption. In fact quite a few shots run on without a pause.

• Jonathan Stark's feature debut.

• In 1988, Now Comics adapted the film in the first two issues of a comic book series which was followed by 20 more issues chronicling the further adventures of Peter Vincent and Charley Brewster. Amy was quickly phased out of the comics but Evil Ed made frequent appearances and Jerry Dandrige was ultimately resurrected. Gradually the comics became serialized but running storylines were never neatly tied up because the publisher filed for bankruptcy in 1990.

• According to the book, Charley arrives at Dandrige's home at 2:00am. Which would mean that the last quarter of the film takes four hours to play out.

• When Judy Brewster invites Dandrige over for a drink, he's drinking a Bloody Mary.

• When Charley Brewster first meets Peter Vincent outside the TV studio, that was the filming location for the start of the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

• Roddy McDowall doesn't appear in the flesh until 34 minutes into the film.

• An excerpt of Brad Fiedel's original score for the movie was utilized in the American trailers and TV spots for The Monster Squad (1987), which featured Jon Gries, who subsequently starred in Fright Night Part 2 (1988).

• The cast extensively rehearsed the script prior to filming and writer/director Tom Holland invited friend and fellow writer/director Colin Higgins to sit in on rehearsals and give input.

• Amanda Bearse was supposed to be playing a young high school girl, but at the time of filming she was 27

• Stephen Geoffreys auditioned for Fright Night (1985) while filming Fraternity Vacation (1985).

• Not the only film of 1985 to feature someone who collects a lot of clocks and puts them on walls. Doc Brown did the same in Back to the Future (1985).

• While writing the script for Cloak & Dagger, Tom Holland amused himself when he conceived the idea of a horror-movie fan becoming convinced that his next door neighbor was a vampire, but he didn't initially think this premise was enough to sustain a story. "What's he gonna do," Holland asked, "because everybody's gonna think he's mad!" The story percolated in his mind for a year and finally one day while discussing it with John Byers, then the head of the story department at Columbia Pictures, he finally figured out what the boy would do. "Of course, he's gonna go to Vincent Price!'" In that era, many local TV affiliates in the United States had horror hosts (such as Zacherle, Svengoolie, and the nationally syndicated Elvira), so Holland decided it would be natural for the boy to seek aid from his local host. "The minute I had Peter Vincent, I had the story. Charley Brewster was the engine, but Peter Vincent was the heart." Once he'd conceived that character, Holland knocked out the first draft of the script in three weeks. "And I was laughing the entire time, literally on the floor, kicking my feet in the air in hysterics." Holland wrote the film for himself to direct, in part because he was so disheartened by the film that was ultimately made from his previous screenplay, Scream for Help, and he'd developed enough of clout from the successes of his screenplays for Class of 1984, Psycho II, and Cloak & Dagger that the head of Columbia Pictures said, "Let's take a chance on the hot screenwriter kid," not figuring that Fright Night would be as successful as it ultimately became

• The song Jerry is whistling as he sneaks into Charley's bedroom is "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra.

• Unlike the sequel and the remake this has much of an emphasis on horror than comedy

• Tom Holland: [supernatural dis-belief] character sees something supernatural, but can't get anyone else to believe them. See also Child's Play (1988) and Cloak & Dagger (1984).

30 of 33 found this interesting | Share this

Spoilers

• When Stephen Geoffreys is buried under the werewolf mask, the FX team poured a solution into his mouth to add a thick saliva-like texture and then realized they'd used dental adhesive, which was gluing the actor's mouth shut.

• For her final transformation into a vampire, Amanda Bearse donned a prosthetic breast plate to enhance her cleavage. In 2012, Bearse brought them to a horror convention and encouraged fans to feel her boobs while she signed autographs.

• According to Chris Sarandon, He wanted Jerry to whistle "Whistle While You Work" rather than "Strangers in the Night" when first confronting Charley, but Disney would not give their permission to use the song.

• Jonathan Stark was covered in green and red gore after he shot the scene in which his character melts, so he asked to take a shower and was told that there was a plumbing problem in the building. On his way home, he realized he was about to run out of gas, so he pulled into a full-service gas station. "Some guy comes out and when he looked at me he turned white," Stark said at a reunion. "He gave me the gas, but when I left I saw him on the phone and I'm sure he was calling the cops!"

• Originally the script featured a radically different ending which was revised prior to filming. As Charley and Amy lie on the bed making out, "Fright Night" comes on TV and Peter Vincent declares, "Tonight's creepy crawler is 'Dracula Strikes Again.' Obviously about vampires. You know what vampires look like, don't you? They look like this!" Charley and Amy are horrified as Peter begins to transform. Once his transformation into a vampire is complete, Peter stares into the camera, says, "Hello, Charley," and then the picture freeze-frames and the credits roll.

• For the final transformation of Evil Ed, Stephen Geoffreys endured 18 hours of makeup.

• The custom contact lenses were hard plastic, handmade and excruciating for cast members. Stephen Geoffreys was temporarily blinded and suffered severe scratches; Amanda Bearse found herself extremely uncomfortable with her second pair and had to stop shooting to have them sanded down.

• The novelization fills in some background details on the characters. Despite Charley saying he and Amy had been a couple for nearly a year, they'd only been seeing each other for three months. His father had left the family years ago. Charley's middle name is Alan. He was planning to propose to Amy someday. Peter Vincent's real name is Herbet McHoolihee. He auditioned for a bit part in a horror movie and instead got the lead role, so he changed his name to Peter Vincent. He's been an actor for 25 years. After being fired, he planned to move to Cleveland to host a new show. Jerry Dandrige is at least 400 years old, possibly more. He'd been the first to publicly claim to the vampire community that chemical additives upped blood's nutritional value to the undead. Dandrige is highly rated in vampire society. He comes from Transylvania originally and can implant psychic commands into people's minds. He knows right away that "Evil" failed to kill Peter. Billy Cole has served Dandrige for 113 years. Although not a vampire he's not human either. But he does eat and drink, and the book implies he's a necrophiliac. Billy sometimes envied Jerry's powers. Jerry and Billy claim to be business partners. Dandrige deals in antiques which is how he made his fortune. He finds them and Billy restores them. He claims the coffin he and Billy were carrying into the basement was a 16th Century Bavarian chest. The reason why Peter is hosting Fright Night at the climax is because after he was fired, one of the stagehands got the job. The teen audience were outraged and Peter was back by public demand. The end scene is supposed to be set three months later. Even though Amy's human again, she still has the breasts of a vampire. Much to Charley's delight. And Charley and Amy's relationship has moved onto the sexual level.

• In an attempt to produce an authentic reaction of fright when Charley sees Amy as a vampire for the first time, William Ragsdale did not see the stunt actress in makeup prior to shooting the scene.

• Chris Sarandon spent as many as eight (8) hours having vampire makeup applied. Stephen Geoffreys spent as many as twelve (12) hours having transformation makeup applied, which was required twice.

• The character Billy Cole played by Jonathan Stark seems to be based upon the character Willie Loomis from the Dark Shadows series. They were both "handlers" of their respective vampires.