Book Review: Fright Night by John Skipp

Charley has seen the coffin and the bodies drained of blood. He knows he will be the vampire's next victim. But no one will believe him: not the police, not his girlfriend Amy, not even the school weirdo, Evil Ed. Charley's last chance is to enlist the help of Peter Vincent, Vampire Killer, star of a hundred horror movies and host of TV's Fright Night.

Nobody thinks he's telling the truth—until Evil Ed becomes a vampire and Amy is dragged into his next-door neighbour's evil, foul-smelling house of death!

My Review: 
Charley is obsessed with vampires and loves nothing more than watching Fright Night, where former horror film star turned host Peter Vincent presents his own films. On this night, Charley is distracted to see a coffin being taken into the basement of the house next door and he is curious enough to do a bit of spying. First he hears a woman scream, and then he sees his neighbour Jerry Dandrige with fangs and preparing to bite a second woman, both of their faces appearing on the news later as dead. The trouble is Jerry has seen Charley watching too. In a panic Charley turns to the police who back away as soon as he mentions vampires, and even his horror loving friend Ed doesn't seem to believe him. His only hope to survive is Peter Vincent but will he believe him?

Charley is just a normal teenage boy who loves horror films, hanging out with girlfriend Amy and lives with his neurotic mother. He is exactly the kind of kid you go to school with and don't pay much attention to. His best friend is the school weirdo and fellow horror film fanatic 'Evil' Ed, though being with Amy is more of a priority. Amy is a bit of a pain with her sulks every time Charley isn't paying her full attention. Stopping talking to her to catch a local news broadcast about murders in the town is enough for her to throw a bit of a hissy fit. I find her a little bit self obsessed in the book. Ed is somewhat resentful in the book that Charley doesn't hang out with him now that he is seeing Amy so he is a bit bitter and refuses to do anything to help Charley at all, until Amy forces him too.

The book stays pretty close to the film in terms of content, most of the minor changes are in conversations with the characters, a few as mentioned above in the way the characters interact. In the scene at the club though, the author talks about the music being things like Michael Jackson's Thriller and Duran Duran's Hungry like the wolf and though I'm a big fan of 80's music like that, I found myself wondering why the songs from the film weren't actually given a bit of promotion in the book. The film soundtrack was excellent and I own it for my collection. I just found it strange that the music was changed in the book here. The scene of the chase to the club loses the tension as in the book Jerry keeps popping up with witty one liners as he follows them-I much prefer the menacing looks from the shadows in the film.

The character of Peter seems even more pathetic in this book but we do get a brief insight into how he became a star somewhat reluctantly and I'd have liked seeing a bit more of this. You can't blame him for being so scared when confronted with a real vampire-Peter Vincent is a character that the man played for money and he never believed in his subject matter. I'd also have liked to see more of Billy. We get a paragraph about what drives him but I'd have liked to see that explored a bit more, alongside his relationship with Jerry. I liked the brief glimpses into Ed as a vampire and wanted to see more of that too.  Jerry's character though, was a bit of a disappointment. His dramatic 'witty' jokes throughout the book's supposed tense and scary moments were an unwelcome distraction and made him feel more like a pantomime bad guy than the suave, charasmatic and deadly vampire he is in the film. I didn't much like turning him into a bit of an idiot.

The reason I loved the film so much is that vampires were the first film monsters that I really loved. I'd watch Christopher Lee as Dracula in the old Hammer films and become fascinated by scary vampires. Watching a film that gets me thinking what if a vampire actually did move in next to you is fun! You certainly won't be going to tell the police and your friends are likely to think you are either going mad or playing a dumb joke on them, so what happens to Charley is quite realistic. I enjoyed the humour from Jerry, Billy and Ed in the film, which mixes nicely with the horror action. My favourite scene was Peter in Jerry's house and waving his cross yelling 'back, spawn of Satan!' only to have Jerry laugh at him. 'You have to have FAITH!' I also loved Billy's interactions with the cop over the vampire topic but that was sadly changed too much for the book.

Biggest niggle in this book is the lack of attention to detail when it comes to editing. There is no break in the text between paragraphs and new scenes, which is pretty annoying for a book written to accompany the horror film. Without paragraphs the scene just changes several times from one line to the next. I can't recall where it stands on spelling mistakes and sentence structure as I put nothing in my notes about it. 

Overall it is a decent read but the author has changed a few too many elements which loses the charm of the film and characters a bit. It's ok but not one I'd go back to again, unlike the film. 

Read October 2019
3 stars.