When you hear the name “Evil Ed”, what do you imagine? A big bearded dude with a dangly skull earring and leather vest, tearing ass through town on a chopper with those big angular ape hangers? Yeah, me too.
The “Evil Ed” we get in Fright Night, however, is pretty much the exact opposite of that: a diminutive, giggly geek with a penchant for pranks whose demeanor is best described as “repellant”.
You could argue Evil Ed isn’t your typical nerd – he’s perhaps better characterized as a “spaz”, “weirdo”, “screwball”, or “oddjob”. No matter how you slice ol’ Ed, he stills exists under that big, awkward umbrella that covers all of society’s outsiders. And while Ed appears fairly confident throughout Fright Night, and we never see him at the mercy of bullies, the film’s main vampire, Jerry (Chris Sarandon), tempts Ed into the nocturnal lifestyle by promising him, “they won’t pick on you anymore, or beat you up”. That pretty much seals it for ol’ Ed.
Ed, we salute you.
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