Along with Robert Wise 's The Haunting , this is the granddaddy of haunted house movies; a creepy and atmospheric scare flick that ranks up there with the classics. A team consisting of a physicist, his wife, a young female psychic and the only survivor of the previous visit are sent to the notorious Hell House to prove/disprove survival after death. Previous visitors have either been killed or gone mad, and it is up to the team to survive a full week in isolation, and solve the mystery of the Hell House.  First off, this movie has multiple shorts shitting moments, and that's without adjusting for inflation given that this mofo was made in 1973. That's right, The Legend of Hell House is one year younger than I am and it's scarier than me. Wanna fight about it!?!? What's awesome is that Hell House achieves its scares through atmosphere, camera and sound effects, and editing. There was no CGI in 1973, so director John Hough and screenwriter Richard Mathe...

Basement contributor Matt Bellamy has taken it upon himself to watch and review at least one horror movie a day for the month of October . . . because he's awesome that way! For the latest installment in his series, Bellamy welcomes us . . . to Fright Night!   "Welcome to... Fright Night! For real". There were two movies I watched on regular rotation by the time I was four years old, the first was Jaws, and the other was this horror gem. I recall the first time I saw the trailer for the new remake in theatres, many younger people verbally complained "what a rip-off of Disturbia!", I simply shook my head, they really had no idea. Not like the 1985 original didn't borrow heavily from anything else *cough* Rear Window *cough* but simply added vampires into the mix, which is A-OK with me! The remake was solid, I enjoyed it but everything about the original is better; the actors, the vampires, even some ...

I first saw this movie back in 1985. It's the first horror film I watched in a theatre and it scared the crap out of me. Now it's just a great funhouse ride of laughs, scares and gruesome, but fun, visual effects. Chris Sarandon is just awesome as the vampire and Roddy McDowall is a joy to watch as Peter Vincent: Vampire Killer. This was made back when horror movies, and movies in general, were a lot of fun and it shows. I find it hard to believe the remake will have anywhere near the energy and wit writer/director Tom Holland put into every frame of his movie. A Good for me.

I remember my cousin Tony taking me to see the original Fright Night on its opening weekend back in 1985. I was 13, we were in Vancouver and it was the first R-rated film I ever saw in a theatre. It was a crazy experience. I was both awestruck and terrified. It was awesome! The film is held in a special place in my heart. It's a great mix of campy, scary, funny and gruesome. And you can't beat a cast that includes Roddy McDowall as a TV horror movie host who does battle with a real vampire. I don't know what to make of this remake. The film's been moved to Las Vegas and the Peter Vincent character is now some Sin City magician. And we've got Colin Farrell as the vampire. Whatever. The preview looks OK, but watch and judge for yourselves.