Fright Night (1985) (30th Anniversary Limited Edition) [Blu-Ray]
Director: Tom Holland
Cast: Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall
Release Date: Limited Edition Series Blu-Ray Now Available =SOLD OUT=
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 9.5/10
Disc Rating: 9.5/10
Plot Summary:
When a teenager learns that his next door neighbor is a vampire, no one will believe him.
Tom Holland’s 80’s masterpiece ‘Fright Night’ has arrived on Blu-Ray once again as part of Twilight Time’s Limited Edition series in the form of a 30th Anniversary Edition. ‘Fright Night’ has always been one of my favorite horror films from the 80’s and one that continues to hold up in almost every regard even 30 years after its initial release. Tom Holland (director of ‘Child’s Play’ among others) wrote and directed ‘Fright Night’ which also marked his directorial debut and if you haven’t had the pleasure of this unique and truly fun gem of a film, I would highly recommend checking it out. It’s an incredibly well done horror comedy of sorts that does a fantastic job of really bringing things back to the basics while having a lot of fun with itself in the process and never skimping on the blood and gore either.
While I wasn’t fortunate enough to have acquired a copy of Twilight Time’s initial release, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of this latest edition thanks to the amazing folks over at TT. So while I’m not able to compare with the last Blu-Ray release, I can still say that the ‘Fright Night: 30th Anniversary Edition’ delivers pretty gorgeous high definition video and audio presentations in addition to a hefty helping of bonus content including Multiple Audio Commentaries and much more (more detailed information regarding the bonus content can be found in the special features section of the technical specification coverage below) making this an absolute must own for fellow fans of this wonderful film. While unfortunately the release has already completely sold out (limited to 5000 units this time) those hard core fans can surely get a copy of the Blu-Ray by other means, although it will definitely cost a pretty penny at this point.
VIDEO:
The Twilight Time Limited Edition 30th Anniversary Blu-Ray release of ‘Fright Night’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.35:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty magnificent in my opinion; I know a number of folks have ranted and raved regarding apparent issues with the video in freeze frame, but whether or not that might be the case seems irrelevant if you’re going to be watching the movie like, well a movie. Not a single person is going to watch it frame by frame and in my opinion the video presentation looks pretty solid overall, delivering a crisp, bright and clean picture that should leave most fans more than pleased, it certainly didn’t disappoint this fan.
AUDIO:
The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack as well as a 2.0 Stereo DTS-HD Master Audio Soundtrack. I myself opted to watch the film with the 5.1 channel soundtrack utilized and for an older film it sounds pretty great. There is a fair amount of background activity during a number of moments and the films score sounds pretty magnificent here as well. The dialogue is always more than audible and sounds crisp and discrete at all times, even during the action and other intense or loud sequences.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Twilight Time Limited Edition 30th Anniversary Blu-Ray release of ‘Fright Night’ certainly delivers when it comes to the bonus content. This absolutely loaded Blu-Ray release includes two Audio Commentaries, the first with Writer & Director Tom Holland, along with Actors Chris Sarandon and Jonathan Stark and Moderated by Filmmaker Tim Sullivan; the second features Writer & Director Tom Holland once again, along with Actors William Ragsdale and Stephen Geoffreys plus FX Artist Randall Cook and Moderated by Journalist Jeremy Smith and Filmmaker Tim Sullivan. The release also includes an ‘Isolated Score Track’, plus ‘1st Ever Fright Night Reunion Panel – Fear Fest 2 (2008): with Tom Holland, Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Stephen Geoffreys, Amanda Bearse, Jonathan Stark, and Moderated by Rob Galluzzo. We are also treated to ‘Shock Till You Drop Presents: Choice Cuts with Tom Holland and Ryan Turek’ in addition to a ‘Vintage EPK with Behind the Scenes Raw Footage’ and ‘Stills and Memorabilia Gallery from the Tom Holland Archives’ and of course the ‘Original Theatrical Trailers’. Last but not least there is a full color included booklet featuring a detailed write-up about the film from ‘Julie Kirgo’.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.