The Retro Nostalgia Podcast

Fright Night

Sept. 28, 2026

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

We're getting started on Horror Movie Month a little early this year. First up is FRIGHT NIGHT - a 1985 genre-defying film starring Chris Sarandon, Roddy McDowall, William Ragsdale and Amanda Bearse. It was Tom Holland's directorial debut (he'd go on to direct Child's Play, Amazing Stories, Tales From The Crypt and several Stephen King adaptations).

FRIGHT NIGHT was one of Cristina's favorite horror movies as a kid and even claims she was "obsessed" with it as a teenager (mostly due to Chris Sarandon). Chad wasn't familiar with it at all and assumed it was just another cheesy 80s slasher flick. He was pleasantly surprised to find it to be an interesting combination of horror and satire (which Wes Craven's SCREAM series would go on to perfect).

But how well does FRIGHT NIGHT hold up in 2026? Listen to our show and find out.

Watch the video version👉 https://youtu.be/6nxlcHbCLpk

Check out our friends at The Retro Resurgence Podcast👉 https://theretroresurgence.com

NOTE: This is a re-upload. somehow the audio was muted the first time. it should be working now!

Film Reviews

Personal Journals

TV & Film

Society & Culture

English

United States

Use API to fetch this episode in JSON

IN THIS EPISODE

# wes craven

# stephen king

# tom holland

# amanda bearse

# william ragsdale

# roddy mcdowall

# chris sarandon

Edit these tags

TRANSCRIPT 🔗

Are you the producer of this podcast? Add a podcast transcript

Need Audio-to-Text? Transcribe with Listen411 in Just 60 Seconds

SEARCH PAST EPISODES

Search past episodes of The Retro Nostalgia Podcast.

Embed this search bar to your website

OTHER EPISODES IN THIS PODCAST

Lethal Weapon

July 20, 2026

There may have been buddy-cop movies before LETHAL WEAPON, but this franchise has outlived (and out-earned) them all! Mel Gibson and Danny Glover actually play it fairly straight in this first installment. Sure there are jokes and the usual action sequences, but compared to competitors like BEVERLY…

00:29:40

SAVE

CLIP

AKIRA

Aug. 10, 2026

It's "Animation August" so Chad picked AKIRA - the 1988 cyberpunk fever dream that introduced Japanese animation (or anime) to mainstream American audiences. This is definitely one of the most influential films across a variety of genres and Chad and Cristina both agree it's got a timeless quality.…

00:39:06

SAVE

CLIP

An American Tail

Aug. 17, 2026

Continuing with "Animation August," Cristina picked AN AMERICAN TAIL; Steven Spielberg's first foray into animation which was released in late 1986. This movie was directed by Don Bluth, who had a minor hit with "The Secret of NIMH" back in 1982. Much like NIMH, this movie uses all hand drawn anim…

00:27:40

SAVE

CLIP

MY SO-CALLED LIFE (featuring Natalie from @MySoCalledGenXLife)

Aug. 3, 2026

Back in 1994 a show debuted on ABC that would pretty much define what it was like being a GenX/Millennial (Xennial?) of the day: MY SO-CALLED LIFE starring Claire Danes. Unlike other "teen dramas" of the day that were essentially prime time soap operas, this show took a fairly earnest approach of d…

01:02:27

SAVE

CLIP

National Lampoon's Vacation vs. European Vacation

July 27, 2026

There were a LOT of comedies in the 1980s about summer vacations gone awry. This niche sub-genre probably got its start in 1983 with NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION. The movie stars Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo with a young Anthony Michael Hall and a then-unknown Randy Quaid. Written by comedy virt…

00:35:25

SAVE

CLIP

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from No Frills Podcast Network, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.