After three years of extensive therapy with Dr. Harrison, Charlie Brewster is convinced that his best friend was killed by a serial killer, not a vampire. After his final session, he returns to his college dorm room and throws out a box of vampire hunting equipment. That night, Charlie takes his girl friend, Alex, to meet actor Peter Vincent, host of “Fright Night,” a late night horror movie show. Peter shows off his apartment full of horror movie paraphernalia and reminisces how he and Charlie once killed a vampire. Alex is too polite to tell Peter she does not believe him. As the young couple prepares to leave, Charlie looks out the window and sees a moving van arrive with three coffin-sized wooden boxes. After saying goodbye to Peter, Alex and Charlie go to the lobby where Alex excuses herself to go to the bathroom. As he waits, Regine Dandridge, a beautiful woman walks in, followed by Louie, Belle and Bozworth, three strangely dressed men. Regine stares at Charlie as the elevator doors close. While driving back to school, Charlie pulls to the side of the road to make out with Alex. He opens his eyes and hallucinates he is kissing Regina instead of Alex and grabs her breasts. Appalled by Charlie’s aggressive behavior, Alex pushes him away, gets out of the car and walks onto campus alone. She enters her dorm just as another girl leaves and walks into the fog. Belle appears on roller skates, uses his long fingernails to rip open the girl’s neck and drinks her blood. Back at the dorms, Louie, who is a werewolf, scales the building to Alex’s window, but falls when Alex slams the window shut, snapping off his nails. Across campus, Charlie is awakened by a knock at the door. He opens it to find Regine. She takes him in her arms and bites his neck. Later, Charlie wakes up screaming when there is a knock at the door. Grabbing a rosary for protection, he opens it to find Alex, who apologizes for running off. Frightened, Charlie visits Dr. Harrison who convinces him he was dreaming. Exhausted, Charlie is napping when his friend, Richard “Richie” Green, barges in begging to borrow a tie so he can impress an “artsy” lady. Later, Charlie drives to meet Alex when he sees Richie getting into a limousine with Regine. He follows them back to Peter’s apartment building and climbs the fire escape on a building across the street. There, he sees Regina and Belle feasting on Richie. Charlie runs to tell Peter what he saw. Although doubting Charlie’s story, Peter grabs some vampire fighting equipment and they go to Regine’s apartment. There, they discover a party in full swing and Richie passed out on a couch. Charlie checks Richie’s neck but does not find any marks. Richie wakes up pushes him off. Regine appears, drags Charlie onto the dance floor and removes the rosary from his pocket. As she holds it to her face, she reveals yellow eyes and fangs. When the music stops, Regine removes her false fangs and yellow contact lenses, informing Charlie she is a performance artist. Relieved, Charlie rushes off to join Alex. Peter enjoys the party until he realizes that neither Belle nor Regine cast reflections in the mirror. He rushes into the hall only to find his way blocked by Regine who informs him that the vampire he and Charlie killed was her brother. She promises to take revenge on Peter after she takes care of Charlie, then turns into a bat and flies away. That night, Regine enters Charlie’s room in the form of mist and feeds on him as he sleeps. All night Peter tries to telephone Charlie. When the sun rises, Peter rushes to the television studio to broadcast a warning about vampires being in town, but discovers he has been fired and replaced by Regine. He finds Charlie and Alex and tells them Regine is a vampire. When he is unable to convince them, he packs up his belongings, loads his car and leaves town. Throughout the day, Charlie notices that he is staring at women’s necks, and the smell of garlic makes him nauseous. He passes a television and sees a newscast announcing the murder of Richie. After finding Peter is not home, Charlie sees Bozworth going to the basement. He follows and finds the vampires’ coffins. Breaking a leg off an old wooden chair to make a stake, Charlie opens Regine’s coffin, but she opens her eyes and mesmerizes him. He walks away in a trance. That night, Alex studyies in the college library when Charlie arrives with a bouquet of roses. As Alex sets up a romantic dinner on a library table, Charlie turns on a portable television to play a Haydn concert. Instead, he sees Regine performing an erotic dance on “Fright Night.” After seeing the same broadcast, Peter tells a bar patron he is a vampire killer. He drives back to the television studio, where he attempts to drive a stake into Regine’s heart. Security guards wrestle him to the ground. At the library, Louie arrives, changes into a werewolf and leaps on Charlie. Alex thrusts her roses into Louie’s mouth, causing him to burst into flame before leaping out the window. Police arrive and arrest Charlie and Alex, and Dr. Harrison bails Alex out of jail. They discover that Charlie was released to Regine and Peter was sent to an insane asylum. As they drive to the asylum, Harrison stops the car at a railroad crossing and turns into a vampire. Alex jumps out of the car, pulls a board from the railroad track and impales him. Using Harrison’s credentials, she gains entrance to the asylum and rescues Peter. They drive to a church to acquire holy water, an altar cloth and communion wafers. Meanwhile, Regine has brought Charlie to her apartment and is bathing him in preparation for turning him into a vampire, explaining that she wants Charlie to be immortal so she can torture him forever. Alex and Peter come back to his apartment and arm themselves with movie props before lowering themselves from the roof onto Regine’s window ledge. Seeing Charlie sleeping, they are about to enter when Richie comes in. He wakes Charlie and explains that Regine used makeup to hide Richie’s puncture wounds at the party. When Richie leaves to get a cup of tea, Alex and Peter enter the room. As they lift Charlie from the sofa, Richie returns. Before he can cry out, Peter douses him with holy water, causing him to melt. Charlie strangles Peter until Alex wraps him in the altar cloth. Peter opens the window to find Louie in werewolf form, waiting. Alex tosses Charlie a crossbow and he shoots Louie in the heart, sending him crashing into the fountain below. They run into the hallway, where Belle and Bozworth grab them. Regine enters and welcomes them to “Fright Night.” Bozworth knocks Peter unconscious and Belle grabs Alex. Forcing her to her knees, he pulls back her hair to expose her throat so Charlie can feed. Charlie drops the crossbow and shrugs off the altar cloth. Bozworth grabs Charlie and stands him in front of Alex. When Alex declares she loves him, Charlie reaches forward, grabs Belle’s hands, and thrusts his long nails into Bozworth’s stomach, causing maggots and beetles to spew out of the man’s disemboweled intestines. Alex throws the altar cloth around Belle. He crashes into a hallway mirror and disintegrates. Peter revives and opens the curtains, allowing in the early morning sun. Regine screams and leaps into the elevator. As the car descends, Charlie pries open the doors and jams the crossbow into the elevator gears, stopping its descent. Hearing Regine ripping out the elevator floor, Alex and Charlie leave Peter and race to the basement. There, they place Eucharists into Regine’s coffin. Regine bursts through the elevator roof in the form of a bat. She then dives down the shaft, but veers away upon seeing the Eucharists in her coffin. Swooping down a second time, Regine knocks Alex unconscious as she passes. Seeing a cross Alex dropped, Charlie reaches for it, only to have Regine change to her human form and kick it away. Peter retrieves a piece of mirror and uses it to angle sunlight down the shaft, striking Regine. Unable to escape the rays, Regine bursts into flames, falls into her coffin and explodes. Days later, Charlie proposes to Alex and they make love in a rose garden.