There is a lot in Tom Holland’s Fright Night that works, and a lot that doesn’t, but a winning performance by Chris Sarandon as a debonair vampire helps maintain its status as a cult favourite.

17 year-old Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a dedicated horror movie fan who is obsessed with late night horror movie show Fright Night and neglecting his girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse). When he discovers his new next-door neighbour Jerry Dandridge (Sarandon) is a vampire, he tries enlisting the police, his friends, and Fright Night host Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) in helping to destroy it.

There is a great set-up at the heart of Fright Night, one that positions a classic Hollywood monster deep inside modern-day American suburbia and then builds a combination of comedy and horror on top of it. To an extent the film follows on from Joe Dante’s Gremlins (1984) but also strongly prefigures a growing mass of subsequent ‘teenagers versus monster’ productions including The Lost Boys, The Monster Squad (both 1987), and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). It was also Hollywood’s first significant vampire film in some years, assuming one ignores the more oblique attempts that pushed away from genre traditions (such as The Hunger in 1982).

Chris Sarandon dominates the picture, portraying Dandridge as a stylish and charming bachelor with a streak of cruelty and the sort of calm patience you only see in top-of-the-food-chain predators. It is a strong character, and Sarandon advances it with a funny, immensely watchable performance. It is up to debate whether this, or The Princess Bride’s Prince Humperdinck (1987), is his mostly fondly remembered performance.

Similarly appealing is Roddy McDowall, who brings a very old-fashioned and theatrical style to the character of Peter Vincent. His combination of stagey pomposity and brittle cowardice works brilliantly, despite a rather unconvincing wig. It’s a well-placed comic role that harks back to an earlier generation of horror movie. The nostalgia for old-school horror, typified by Vincent, is one of Fright Night‘s best elements. The film also features some absolutely brilliant physical effects and monster make-up, much of which is both surprisingly sophisticated and unexpectedly gory.

The film is less successful when it comes to its teenage characters, both in terms of writing and performance. Charley Brewster is not only fairly unlikeable; he defies belief, turning down losing his virginity to girlfriend Amy in order to watch his next-door neighbour with a pair of binoculars instead. His treatment of Amy is relatively odious throughout, and sadly her character is underwritten and denied the chance to find her own agency. Stephen Geoffreys is solid as best friend “Evil Ed”, although it cannot be denied that the character is something of a stereotype.

It is worth persevering through the first and second acts, however, as once Charley and Peter enter Dandridge’s house it forms a rather effective and suspenseful climax. It balances the shock moments and body horror with humour and visual gags wonderfully, and manages to hit an entertaining extended climax.

A sequel followed in 1988 – McDowall and Ragsdale returned, although no one else did – as well as a remake in 2011 starring Colin Farrell and Anton Yelchin. In terms of quality that remake likely just beats the original into first place, but there is still a lot to love in Holland’s film. Certainly it can still inspire a lot of nostalgia for children of the 1980s.