Tag: Tom Holland

Retrospective: 40 Years since ‘Fright Night’ By Jesse Striewski

The ’80s were no doubt a creative and unique time for horror films, with the vampire sub-genre being one that really hit its stride by the midway to end points of the decade. Over the course of it, fans had their choice of more tongue-in-cheek affairs such as Once Bitten (1985), My Best Friend’s a Vampire (1987), and Vampire’s Kiss (1988), to more straight-forward, well-known and polished classics like The Lost Boys (1987) and Near Dark (also 1987).

But one has always stood out above the rest (yes even more so than the beloved Lost Boys mentioned above), 1985’s Fright Night. Released on August 2 of that year, newcomer Director Tom Holland blended horror and comedy so seamlessly one easily gets lost within its own world.

William Ragsdale plays Charley, who, after figuring out that his neighbor Jerry (Chris Sarandon) is indeed a creature of the night, does all he can in vain to convince his best friend (Stephen Geoffreys) and girl (Amanda Bearse) of his findings. When they don’t “bite,” he enlists the help of a somewhat passed-his-prime horror show host in the form of Peter Vincent (played brilliantly by the late Roddy McDowall in a tribute to both Vincent Price and Peter Cushing).

From then on, the fun truly begins, leading to a surprisingly atmospheric, good vs. evil film where the young heroes are fighting for their lives while their cries for help to parents and/or authorities just land on deaf ears. What begins as a battle of wits comes down to a classic life-or-death battle in the finale.

A sequel, simply titled Fright Night Part 2, emerged three years later in 1988, and an eventual glossly remake came out in 2011, but neither were able to fully capture the magic of the original. I can still remember discovering it for the first time on TV late at night as a kid, and knowing I was watching something truly unique (everything down to the poster artwork to even the music just felt perfectly placed). As the old saying goes, “They don’t make ’em like they used to.” If you give Fright Night a visit again anytime soon, you’re sure to see why.

Film Review: Spider-Man: No Way Home (Columbia Pictures/Marvel Studios)

By: Jesse Striewski

Aside from Batman, Spider-Man has always been one of the few superhero characters that I don’t mind watching on screen. But as just a casual fan, these newer films with Tom Holland as the titular hero have been much harder to enjoy than the early 2000’s films starring Toby Maguire and directed by Sam Raimi.

I’ll try to sum up No Way Home (what’s with all of the “home” references in the title of every one of the Holland flicks, anyway?) as simplified as possible for fellow outsiders such as myself; Spider-Man/Peter Parker is basically hated by the world for the events in the last entry, Far From Home, and enlists the help of Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to erase everyone’s memory of it. In doing so, it allows other previous foes from other dimensions into his world.

It does allow for some exciting moments, and it was interesting to see some of the actors and characters from the Raimi films appear on the big screen again, such as Maguire, Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin, and Alfred Molina as Dr. Octopus. But eventually it just became as clunky as all of the other ridiculous superhero films these days that I could care less about (like the Avengers or Wonder Woman), and the plot was far too similar to the 2018 animated feature Into the Spider-Verse. And I get there are people really into these movies, but it’s lost on me how they possibly maintain the time and energy to know all of the ins and outs of all these countless characters and storylines (I’d be exhausted if I tried).

I also made the mistake of taking my kid to see it in 3-D, which is the most absurd and shameless gimmick by Hollywood these days, and not only completely pointless for most films (such as this one), it has completely taken away any magic from the concept entirely. But look, it’s not that No Way Home is a bad film per se (it was still better than that new Matrix film, something so disappointing I elected not to even review it at all), it’s just not what someone like me is looking for from a Spider-Man movie. I think I’ll just stick to the simplicity of those old Raimi films next time I’m in the mood for one.

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars