Day 21 in my 31 Days of Vampire Movies feature is going to be a little different, because I’m going to cheat a little. But never fear! You get two movies instead of just one!
Fright Night 1985 and Fright Night 2011 are both great vampire movies. The original is a fun coming of age movie about a teen who discovers his next door neighbor may be more than he’s letting on, and joins forces with two of his friends and TV horror host Peter Vincent to put a stop to his vampire killing spree. Chris Sarandon plays vampire Jerry Dandridge as the kind of guy your divorced mom would totally try to bang the second you left the house. He has a roguish charm that he can turn on and off on a dime, just a little bit sleazy but in a charming way, all the better to weasel his way into your life before he ends it.
The reboot follows the same basic premise, but moves the setting from the generic suburbs into the ‘burbs of Las Vegas, and updates Peter Vincent’s character from a late night TV horror host to a flashy Las Vegas stage magician a la Cris Angel. David Tennant takes over from the beloved and lovable Roddy McDowell, and does a fantastic job of making the character his own. Colin Farrell takes over the part of Jerry Dandridge from Chris Sarandon, and dials up the sleazy charm to 11. He leans into the dangerous bad boy image, complete with motorcycle and the white wife-beater T-shirt. This version of Jerry Dandridge swaggers in with a six-pack and a grin, and you just know he’s going to be a lady killer in every sense of the phrase.
Both movies are a good time, but there’s one thing I just can’t get past in the original Fright Night: Charlie is a little shit. For the time, he was written as a relatable every guy, an underdog hero who’s caught in that ephemeral space between kid and adult, trying to navigate life and girls and all that. But watching the movie, especially at the beginning, he’s an entitled asshole who browbeats his girlfriend into having sex when she’s not ready, and when she finally psychs herself up for it, when she clearly doesn’t want to, he drops her like the proverbial hot rock to spy on the neighbors without even thinking about what he’s doing to her psychologically and emotionally. She rightfully storms out on him, but apologizes the next day at school when she should have run him over with her car.
Amy in the original Fright Night deserves so much better, but I’ll cut that rant short.
Charlie in the reboot, played by the late Anton Yelchin, is a much more likable version of the character. He’s still in that awkward phase of teenager, not a kid anymore but still with a lot of growing up to do, and he’s endearing as he tries to fit in with this movie’s far more worldly version of Amy, who holds her own against Jerry. They make a much better pair, and you can see why Amy and Charlie are a couple and why they stay together. Plus, Charlie isn’t a sex pest in this movie, so that makes it a much better watch all the way around.
If I had to recommend one over the other, I’d choose the reboot, which is not something I say very often. This version of Charlie is far more likable, and David Tennant is always a good time when he’s hamming it up onscreen. But check them both out. You won’t be disappointed by either.