Caught this on Tubi about 40 years after having last seen it in the theaters and not remembering a thing about it (In fact, I'm not even sure I saw it in the theaters... I believe I did.) I expected it to be a much-too-1980s corndog, and it was; however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that as the film went on, they put some effort into some odd aspects of it here and there, and in the middle of all the cheese there are a couple of passing images or short scenes that are surprisingly effective.

It reminds me, in a way, of how Tobe Hooper would occasionally take on cheesy projects (Think "Mars Attacks") but, then, because he's Tobe Hooper, would occasionally inject genuinely scary moments in them when you didn't expect them. This was a bit like that.

The plot is that a very 80s kid suspects his neighbor is a vampire; but it doesn't matter. Roddy McDowall hams it up in a role originally (and very obviously) written for Vincent Price, the special effects are mostly cheezy and it's as much of a corny '80s-o-rama as you could expect—think a very slightly darker "Gremlins" type outing. But, the occasional strong touches... well, I can't say I exactly liked it, but I liked moments of it, and I do understand why it has something of a cult following among people who were young enough not to be bothered by some of the more rubbery special effects. I was mildly—very mildly—pleasantly surprised.