Fright Night

I’ve never really liked vampire movies. There was this kid who was the son of a contractor for Seth’s parents when they had that massive two-storey addition to their house who said he believed in vampires and I thought he was a tool for that. I was a vampire slayer for an afternoon. I think it was the same summer of Seth’s house addition. Seth had acquired a life-size cardboard stand-up of his aunt who had recently celebrated a marriage or birthday. Seth stood it up in his yard near his tree fort and carved wooden daggers that we both used to fling at the cardboard stand up from various distances. I remember when Seth hit his cardboard aunt in the face with one of the stakes, his mom was on the porch watching us in silent perplexity. Aside from that afternoon of exhaustive slaying practice, I never really found much interest in vampires. In fact, that theme is among the lowest of my priorities when it comes to watching horror films. “The Lost Boys” was by and large my favorite vampire flick until I saw “Fright Night” quite recently.
Where did I first encounter “Fright Night”? When I was in 8th grade my mom and brother went out to Portland, OR to visit family for a week while I stayed behind with my step-dad. That was the week my step-dad slumped into a frightening alcohol binge; when my mom came back she brought me the Videohound Movie Guide that had brief reviews of essentially every movie made. I discovered “Fright Night” therein and ever since had wanted to see it, but never really had a reason to. On the eve of the eve of my 22nd birthday I watched the movie with Shawna in her apartment in Portland, Oregon and I decided then that it was without a doubt the best vampire movie I could think of. There is something else rather special about “Fright Night” and that is, for better or for worse, many many years down the line I will most likely remember my 22nd birthday because of its connection with this film