Fright Night Reviews

When I came across this film here on Netflix my first thought was "oh, yeah! I always meant to watch that." Visions of wandering through the local video store as a child raced through my mind as soon a I laid eyes on the unforgettable cover art. After browsing through many of the reviews I was suprised at how almost universally loved this film is on this site. Anticipation grew as I turned out the lights and promptly clicked "play". Now, two hours later, I feel disappointed and sorely mislead. My surprise at the strong ratings has quickly turned to utter shock, borderline disbelief. Did I watch the same film? Because the one I saw contained zero thrills, which would be forgiveable if only the movie made up for it with a laugh thrown in here and there. But sadly, these were no where to be found, either. What this movie did have in ample supply was poor acting, bad pacing, and unacceptable editing. Watch the initial bedroom scene between Charlie and prince Humperdink again...Yeah, you see what happened there? Twice? Ok, so I guess I did let out a couple of hearty laughs. I will credit this movie for some sharp special effects for eighties standards, or any standards really. Unfortunately many of them are buried in a third act that runs WAY too long so that rather than being greeted with appreciation and wonder they turn into just one more thing holding up the end credits. I guess my mother was wise not to allow me to rent this movie as a kid.