Coming before "The Lost Boys", this vampire movie deals with a group of teenagers (led by William Ragsdale) who contact aging horror star Roddy McDowall (now a syndicated TV movie host) to help them deal with the vampire next door (Chris Sarandon in probably his most famous role) who is obsessed with young Amanda Bearse (not my first ideal choice for a modern version of Minna) and prevent him from turning their neighborhood into a bloody mess. This is probably one of the best horror films of the 1980's because it pays tribute to the Dracula legend without completely copying it, and everyone in the cast seems to be having a great time playing it out while taking it all seriously.

One of the teens turns into the equivalent of Renfro while McDowall emulates Van Helsing as if it was a combination of "Lost in Space's" Jonathan Harris, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price and even Karloff, his fey character delightfully campy yet never a caricature. Stephen Geoffrey as the unfortunate teen who becomes a vampire chews up everything here (including what is nailed down) and is deliciously funny although his final scene is very sad. You can't have a non-bloody vampire movie, but this never becomes disgusting. In fact, you can watch this before you go to bed and probably not have nightmares. This is one few 1980's horror films that had a sequel that was nearly as good. The suspense is over-powering, and while I snobbishly rated it a 5 after my first viewing, I rank it much higher now.