PHANTASMAG
QUEER HORROR CLASSIC #2 
FRIGHT NIGHT (1985)
Words by Alex Secilmis
17 June 2024
A horror adventure with extra helpings of humour and heart, Tom Holland’s Fright Night (1985) is a classic for a reason and a must-have on your queer horror watchlist.

We have a wickedly fun premise that begins as Rear Window meets Dracula. Charley’s a high schooler who should be spending time with his girlfriend and watching his favourite TV programme, “Fright Night with Peter Vincent”. Instead, he’s living in one of his beloved scary movies when he suspects his new neighbour is a blood-sucker.

There’s a superb spooky-yet-seductive turn from Chris Sarandon and an excellent “unlikely friendship” dynamic between Charley (William Ragsdale) and Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall). Their relationship strongly recalls that of Doc and Marty from Back to the Future (which, funnily enough, was released in the summer of ‘85 alongside Fright Night).

Vampirism is, and has long been, very gay. Consider its shades of dangerous desire and deviance, its defeat by the cross, and the erotics of “infection”. Accordingly, queer audiences have seen something of themselves in Charley’s socially awkward, morbid best friend, “Evil Ed” (Stephen Geoffreys). As an outsider who doesn’t want the kids at school to pick on him anymore, he starts to find the possibility of growing fangs quite alluring…