11 horror movies given a second life by LGBTQ audiences
By Rachel Roth
11. Fright Night
There are two versions of Fright Night, one in 1985 and a remake in 2011, and though the remake is my personal favorite, it’s the 1985 original that’s up for discussion. Indeed, Fright Night is a vampire movie, but it’s really a story about a teenage boy named Charley (William Ragsdale) faced against an unusual obstacle in his quest to get laid, vampires.
In what’s been interpreted as a metaphor for fighting one’s sexuality, the film starts with Charley being an average teenager eager to sleep with his girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse) until he suddenly becomes distracted by his vampire neighbor, Jerry (Chris Sarandon). Now he’s found something more important than sex, spying on a grown man.
Then there’s the case of Charley’s best friend, “Evil” Ed (Stephen Geoffreys) who is basically seduced by Jerry and turned into a vampire. Following his transition, Ed finds and leans in close to Charley, stopping short of biting his neck to exclaim, “I’m feeling a little homo right now.”
The film has since been considered a metaphor for sexual identity influenced by the wave of homophobia occurring during that time thanks to the AIDS epidemic.