When we hear the term ‘horror movie’, so many of our minds are bombarded with the slew of remakes from past horror masterpieces. These remakes, however, are quite often sub-par (or worse). I know I am constantly referring to classics and remakes (and admitting, on occasion, that a remake can succeed the original – BUT THIS IS RARE!!!) but unfortunately at the moment this is almost the definition of a cinema-released scary flick. It seemed only relevant with its modern reimagining coming out that I write about Tom Holland’s 1985 vamp comedy/horror ‘Fright Night’.
This is another one that I have to thank my dad for… take that, Twihards who are going to go and see Colin Farrell try to be a sexy vampire with the name ‘Jerry’. Sorry guys, as much as I like Colin Farrell, there is no replacement for Chris Sarandon as Jerry. Anyway, I’m once again getting off track…
The film is centered on Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) who is certain that a vampire has moved into the house next door and is killing off people close to him. Of course, nobody believes him, so he sets out to find the one person who will believe him – late night TV host of horror show ‘Fright Night’, Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall). However, much to Charlie’s dismay, Peter Vincent’s show is based on fiction rather than fact, and it takes a lot of convincing (and some cash incentives) to gain his knowledge and help to defeat Jerry.
Obviously this is about all of the premise I’m going to give you as I don’t want to give away any of the defining moments in the plot (and also because I know some of you will choose to see the remake over the original, and I am unsure how true to the original it will be). I really enjoyed this movie the first time I watched it (as a teenager??) and continue to enjoy it every time since. I think because it has that perfect blend of scary moment and laughs, and of course, cheesy 80s vampires (gotta love it). Roddy McDowall is awesome (his facial expressions are gold); I’m really interested to see how his role is portrayed in the 2011 version. David Tennant of Doctor Who fame is playing Vincent, albeit in such a fashion that is a cross between Tommy Lee and Criss Angel. I love this movie and will be going to see the new version as soon as it is released (hopefully with not too high of hopes)… I have faith in it knowing that Marti Noxon is involved; she was heavily involved in my all time favourite TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Watch the original before the 2011 version, if you can help it, and I will blog the latter as soon as I have seen it. In the meantime, give the 1985 version a fair go – it is definitely worthwhile. Enjoy!
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