Fright Nightis a 1985 American horror film written and directed by Tom Holland and produced by Herb Jaffe . It stars William Ragsdale , Chris Sarandon , Roddy McDowall and Amanda Bearse . The film was released on August 2, 1985 and was followed by a sequel,Fright Night Part II(1988), and a 3D remake in 2011.

Charley Brewster ( William Ragsdale ) is a huge fan of traditional Gothic horror films. He stays up late at night to watch the horror movie TV series "Fright Night" hosted by Hammer Horror style actor, Peter Vincent, who played a vampire killer for many years in horror movies.

Charley discovers that his new next door neighbor, Jerry Dandridge ( Chris Sarandon ) is a vampire . Upon coming to this terrible realization, Charley tries to tell his naturally skeptical yet loving mother, and asks his friends for their help. In desperation he calls the police but when he reveals his suspicions to them they believe he has a wild imagination and ignore his claims. That night Charley gets a visit from Jerry himself who offers Charley a "choice" (something he claims he lacks) to look the other way about him. Charley can't bear the idea of people being killed to feed this monster so he tries to use his cross only for Jerry to stop him. Jerry then tries to throw Charley out of the window and nearly succeeds until Charley stabs him in his hand with a pencil. In rage and retaliation Jerry destroys Charley's car.

Charley turns to his vampire-hunting hero, actor Peter Vincent ( Roddy McDowall ) for help, but Vincent dismisses Charley as an obsessed fan. Charley's girlfriend, Amy Peterson ( Amanda Bearse ), fears for Charley's sanity and safety so she hires the financially-desperate Vincent to "prove" that Jerry is not a vampire by having him ingest what they claim is " holy water " but it turns out to only be tap water.

Peter Vincent accidentally discovers Jerry's true nature after glancing his lack of a reflection in his pocket mirror, which causes him to accidentally drop and smash the mirror. With this new, terrifying information, Peter flees but Jerry learns of Peter's discovery after finding a piece of his pocket mirror on the floor.

Jerry hunts down and turns Charley's friend, Edward "Evil Ed" Thompson ( Stephen Geoffreys ), into a vampire. Evil Ed visits Peter tries to attack Peter wards him off with a cross. Jerry follows Charley and Amy to a club. While Charley is trying to call for help, Jerry hypnotizes and takes Amy, who bears a resemblance to Jerry's lost love, whom Jerry has a painting of. With nowhere left to turn, Charley goes to Vincent a second time.

Vincent, frightened from having dealt with Evil Ed, initially refuses, but then reluctantly resumes his "Vampire Killer" role as Charley approaches his neighbor's house. The two are able to repel Jerry's attack using a cross though only Charley's works, since he has faith. Billy Cole ( Jonathan Stark ) appears and knocks Charley over the banister and to the ground, Peter flees to Charley house where he tries to use the phone until realizing the phone line has been cut, Peter runs up the stairs to check on Mrs Brewster instead finds Evil Ed who takes on a wolf form. Vincent kills Evil Ed after staking him through the heart. Charley finds Amy who has been turned by Jerry into a vampire. Vincent says the process can be reversed, but only if they kill Jerry before dawn.

The two then kill Jerry's live-in carpenter, and day time protector, Billy Cole, who is also the vampire's inhuman bodyguard. After being impaled through the heart, Cole dissolves into green slime and dust. Jerry appears but Vincent using a cross and faith is able to lure the overconfident Jerry in front of a window. Just before the morning sun lights him ablaze. Jerry turns into a bat and flees to his coffin in the basement, while Amy completes her transformation and attacks Charley. By breaking the blacked-out windows in the basement, Vincent and Charley are able to expose Jerry to the sunlight and kill him.

Amy returns to normal. A few nights later Vincent returns to his Fright Night TV series and announces a break from vampires, instead selecting an alien invasion movie. The last shot shows two red eyes in the darkness, followed by Evil Ed laughing sarcastically, "Oh, you're so cool, Brewster!" indicating he might be still alive and still a vampire, thought the film never clarifies.