As far as horror movie history goes, 1985 was the year of (at the time) disappointing sequels. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Day of the Dead, Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge…all in the same year. In other words, it wasn’t a time with particularly thick competition for being the best horror flick of the 365-day period. But, even if it were a tough competition year, Tom Holland’s Fright Night would likely win. A stylish, smart, and sublimely acted horror comedy, it’s something of a miracle movie. A vampire movie that was able to fully shake up an already well-worn subgenre simply by utilizing a particularly loving retrospective lens.
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Not many horror remakes can even come close to replicating the level of quality seen in an original film, especially when that original film is as terrific as Fright Night. And yet, Craig Gillespie’s 2011 reimagining starring Colin Farrell managed to do it.
What Is Fright Night About?
Like Holland’s original film, Gillespie’s Fright Night follows teenager Charley Brewster (the late Anton Yelchin), who lives alone with his mother (Toni Collette) and has very few friends outside Edward “Evil Ed” Lee (Superbad‘s Christopher Mintz-Plasse). He lives a pretty standard, even boring life, one mostly filled with watching horror movies with Ed and spending time with his girlfriend, Amy (Imogen Poots).
Life becomes quite a bit more exciting when Jerry Dandrige (Farrell) moves in next door. Not because Dandrige is a partier so much as because he’s a bloodthirsty vampire. The first one to recognize this fact is Ed, who Charley believes is out of his mind. But Ed’s right, and soon their small town gets gradually smaller unless Charley can step up to the plate. But, to do so, he’s going to need the help of an expert, which is what he thinks Las Vegas magician Peter Vincent (David Tennant) is. Unfortunately, Vincent isn’t much of an expert in anything outside selfishness.
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What Makes Fright Night Such a Fantastic Reimagining?
The changes between original to remake are fairly small, yet the viewing experiences are quite different. As with any remake that debuts 26 years after the original, there’s an increased glossiness, and that’s usually not a great thing. Here, though, it works, because Gillespie’s Fright Night is still careful to include certain humorous stylings without ever short-changing the audience on the scares.
Some of the characters are slightly altered, but their trajectories remain the same. That’s an important element because, while the Peter Vincent of the original film was the host of a spooky movie-related, low-budget TV show, his character truly existed to be an example of how bravery can be attained when it becomes obvious what the correct path forward is. In the case of both Fright Nights, the correct path forward is to forsake one’s own safety to rescue someone who is undoubtedly in danger.
“Evil Ed” is also somewhat altered. In both films, he and Charley have a falling out and, in both films, Ed is turned by Dandrige. But, in the remake, this happens far earlier. This is mostly due to the fact that in the original film it’s Charley who initially becomes suspicious of Dandrige. Here, it’s Ed, and Charley doesn’t believe him. Admittedly, it works a little better for it to be Charley who gradually becomes more paranoid about his next door neighbor, but even still the 2011 Fright Night works from front to back.
And, while Yelchin leads the film well (as he always did) and Collette steals her scenes, the film’s success is mostly owed to Farrell. Chris Sarandon (who has an ill-fated cameo in the remake) was not an easy recast. His Dandrige in the original film is flat-out iconic. But Farrell does a terrific job, primarily because he doesn’t try to play the character up, he plays the vampiric role in a fairly straightforward manner. Both versions of Dandrige have style and swagger, which is something both Farrell and Sarandon were able to pull off with ease.
It’s just a shame more people didn’t see Fright Night when it was in theaters because, like The Cabin in the Woods, it’s indicative of the simple fact that it’s not always the best horror film that becomes the most profitable in any given year.
Fright Night currently isn’t streaming free on any platform, but can be rented digitally on Prime Video.
