This Movie Sucks, Literally

This Movie Sucks, Literally

Believe it or not, Tom and I recently watched another movie that was released after 1995! I know, I know, this is so out of character for us, but we have a really good reason for seeing this one. Fright Night, starring Anton Yelchin and Colin Ferrell was released in 2011 but it is a remake (isn’t everything these days?) of the awesome horror movie of the same name from 1985. Now, I do have a soft spot for the original, since the next door neighbor/vampire is none other than Prince Humperdinck from one of my all-time favorites, The Princes Bride; and the Vampire expert is played by the great Roddy McDowall. How could you possibly top that in a remake?  Because we are such big fans of the original, Tom and I were very skeptical of seeing a remake starring Colin Ferrell but were willing to give it a chance.  

Here is Chris Sarandon in Fright Night and in The Princess Bride. 

 

The 1985 Fright Night was everything a good 80’s horror movie should be. It’s cheesy/funny/scary/bloody/silly with a story that sucks you in all at the same time. The story of both the 1985 and 2011 versions revolve around a kid who thinks that a vampire has moved in next door. He proceeds to investigate this neighbor situation with the help of TV Vampire expert Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) who turns out to be a joke in the preternatural field, but only in the 1985 version. In the 2011 version, Peter Vincent is played by David Tennant and he is a rich successful Las Vegas act who has tons of half-naked hot women hanging all over him.

 

Can you believe that those two are playing the same character?

In both movies, there is this really great but annoying best friend character, Evil Ed. In 1985, he is played by this weird looking guy Stephen Geoffreys who in real life grew up to be a porn star. The 2011 version is played by McLovin.

The character is a little different in each movie. They sort of swap the roles of the main guy and the best friend around for the remake. In 1985 the main character has to convince his best friend that the neighbor is a vampire and in 2011 Evil Ed is the one doing the convincing.

The vampire character is very different as well. As I said earlier, in 1985 the vampire, Jerry (isn’t it awesome that the vampire’s name is Jerry?), is played by Chris Sarandon who is also Prince Humperdinck. (I love The Princess Bride so much that at our wedding ceremony we played the movie’s main theme for the Bridesmaids procession and I named my turtle after Princess Buttercup.) Humperdinck does have a surprise cameo in the remake, which we were both very excited to see. He gets brutally killed by Colin Farrell, the 2011 version of Jerry the vampire.

Going into the remake, I was very skeptical about Colin Farrell playing Jerry. Tom even said to me during the opening credits, “Let’s see how long it takes before his accent slips out.” But to our surprise, Farrell really nailed the role. He was brutal, violent and scary while being charming and sexy at the same time. He is exactly what you would think a vampire should be. That is, of course, as long as you aren’t on that ridiculous Twilight band wagon.

Just a little side note… I love vampire stories. I mean good vampire stories. I own and have read numerous times the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles Series and the Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series which are both pheeeenooooomenal. I tried to read Twilight and wanted to throw the book out the window then run over it with my car, back up and run over it again. I forced my way through the first 2 books and found that they were not only poorly written (my English teacher sister wanted to take a red pen to them) but incredibly boring and anti-climactic. If you want to read a good vampire novel just let me know and you can borrow any of mine by Rice or Hamilton. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Anyway, I definitely would recommend both the old and new versions of Fright Night. When remaking this movie, they stayed true to the original by mixing humor with blood and scares. You should really try to fit this one into your busy schedule. After-all, even Prince Humperdinck made time for a cameo, and he's swamped.

On behalf of the McWatters Movie Blog, we officially give Fright Night two fangs up and The Humperdinck Seal of Approval.