Being bit by vampires is not the only thing that women have to be afraid of in Tom Holland’s horror classic Fright Night. This film was released August 2 1985 and is rated R. This film is about a teenage boy named Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) who teams up with a television vampire hunter named Peter Vincent (Roddy Mcdowall) to kill the Vampire that moved in next door who’s named Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) who has also kidnapped Charley’s girlfriend Amy Peterson (Amanda Bearse). The film Fright Night portrays woman in a rather unflattering light, as do many horror movies. Whether it be male gaze, sexual shaming, or even just showing woman as being weak and helpless, the woman in Fright Night are portrayed in an unrealistic and somewhat degrading manor.
The first way in which women are degraded in the movie Fright Night Is by using the male gaze. For those of you that do not know the male gaze is defined as, “The perspective of a notionally typical heterosexual man considered as embodied in the audience or intended audience for films and other visual media, characterized by a tendency to objectify or sexualize women.”(Male gaze). This is used throughout the movie as a way to keep men “interested” in the movie and as a way to show the woman as slightly inferior. In the first scene of the movie we meet Charlie and his girlfriend Amy. In this scene we see Charlie all over Amy and begging her to move further in their sexual relationship and she makes it clear that she is not ready for that. Charlie keeps begging Amy for more and when she finally starts to give in he gets distracted by the neighbors. In this scene Amy is especially shown as an object that is there for Charlies use. When Amy yells “stop it” at Charlie when he keeps trying to lift up her shirt he stands up and yells at her. The camera angle shows her in a vulnerable and almost scared looking position. This gives the impression that he is almost in charge of Amy and the fact that he gets mad at her for not wanting to do more shows a lack of respect for what she wants. As well as being sexualized, woman in this movie are shown to be helpless.
Throughout this movie women are portrayed as defenseless and helpless, they are typically the ones who are being sought after and get entranced by the vampire. This is mainly portrayed through Charlie’s girlfriend Amy. Throughout the movie the vampire is the “evil villain” and is feared by Amy, Charlie, and all of the protagonists. Yet as soon as there is a dance floor and very seducing and almost “sexual” music, the vampire is able to seduce Amy and put her into a trance where she is his. My question is, if he can do that why wouldn’t he do it to the male characters too who are trying to kill him? It implies that woman are not as strong willed and that Amy is in a way simple minded. That she couldn’t resist herself when the men in the film can. This also happens with Charlie’s mother, not exactly the same because the vampire did not feel the need to actually put her into a trace but she easily became infatuated with him and immediately almost “fell” for him. It gives us the indication that the woman in this movie are weak minded and are not strong enough to resist temptation. Amy ends up being kidnapped by the vampire and is in the process of being turned into a vampire. And the men in the movie have to come and save the day. This implies that woman can’t take care of themselves and need a male protector and or savior to keep them safe. These situations cause the woman in this film to appear to be helpless and defenseless which is degrading and untrue.
Thirdly one of the ways that Fright Night shows woman in a bad light is by sex shaming them. According to an article by Woman and Film this is present in many horror films, “The theme most pick up on when looking at women in horror is the blatant sex shaming. The girls who are more promiscuous or partake in sexual activities are often the girls who are punished, usually by being the first to be killed.”(Woman). This insinuates that when a woman is sexual she gets punished for it where if a man does they often times can get away with it. This presented a lot in Fright Night. The first victim of the vampire that we see is a beautiful woman who is dressed in a very revealing dress. We see her go into the vampires house and then we hear on a news broadcast the next day that she was a known prostitute and that she was murdered that night. The next night we see a beautiful naked woman in the window with the vampire as he is about to kill her. Then we see her body in a trash bag be brought outside to be dumped. The two sexual woman in the film not only died but were the first two people to die within the film, and it seems the reason that brought them to their death was sex itself. So it seems the message is that they should not be allowed to express their sexuality.
Throughout the history of horror movies woman have never been shows in the best of light. They are either sex objects, second rate characters, or even just another person to die. Luckily in recent years this has been changing and there are more lead roles with woman in them such as in the movie Cabin in the woods, and the recent Evil Dead, and more female directors. This has helped things such as male gaze and the roles women play but there is still work to be done.
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