Fright Night (1985/2011)

NanoWrimo is here!!! If you have no idea what NanoWrimo is, then your sane and have a better social life than I do....

The main goal of NanoWrimo is to write a novel of 50,000 words in one month. oh yeah. One month. It's not too late to join. Check out www.nanowrimo.org/ for details.

Mix in a little bit of schoolwork and Long Beach Comic Con, poor little me has needed a break. But I won't get one for a long time so I'm gonna do the next best thing and write a blog post about some really cool movies. The show must go on!

Movies from the eighties are known to be.....pretty far out there. They're whimsical, ridiculous, based on the thinnest of ploys and a lot of foggy effects. One thing that trumps eighties movies from movies released now is that the story is fun to watch. There is a story to follow with lots of whistles and bells. Most movies now are a lot of shine but no foundation. Kind of like shooting yourself from a cannon into the most spectacular fireworks display ever, enjoy for a few seconds, and then plummeting to an antarctic ocean.

And when eighties movies are being remade, it's just plain HORRID. I hate them. "Footloose", "Dirty Dancing"...ugh...ENOUGH!! I was about to throw in the towel and reduse to watch any movie. Until my boyfriend urged me to give "Fright Night" a chance.

I've never heard of "Fright Night". The poster intrigued me but it was the mention from Ralph Garmon from KROQ FM (my ultimate movie guru!) and that my boyfriend urged. So...before I watched the remake, I hunkered down to see the original.

Wow. The original1985 was just soooooo awfully awesome!!!

The story begins with a young teen male named Charley who is trying to make out with his girlfriend Amy (who is played by Amander Bearse....yup...Marcy from "Married with Children"...try to wrap your mind around that!) while they're watching a late night horror show titled "Fright Night" hosted by Peter Vincent. Charley becomes distracted by a sound from next door. From then on, he is convinced that his next door is a vampire. It's up to Charley, Amy, and his best friend Ed. The next door neighbor in question is Jerry played by Cris Sarandom (cool trivia: he has been in all three Fright Movies: the original, the sequel, AND the remake!!).

So many weird things in this movie. I figure it's because it's outdated and corny to me but yet there's still something awesome about it. I wasn't scared but I was intrigued by it. Two things I didn't like was the best friend and the the fight scene in Charleys window. The friend was mega annoying and I was glad when he died. The fight scene was a bit gruesome for my taste.

There was this really awkard scene in the dance club where Jerry has seduced Amy. They dance together in, I guess, a sexy way. It just came off as a little bit sleazy porno way. I even had to force myself to forget Marcy and focus on Amanda as a teenage girl. Cris Sarandon as a vampire is just damn sexy by the way.


Now I was eager to watch the remake. I was on the fence for so long. What was the pushing agent for me???

DAVID TENNANT played Peter Vincent... ..DAVID TENNANT

Sold.

The story follows pretty much the same format with some minor improvements. Charley's character comes off a strong geek whereas the original Charley was a bit wimpy and slightly moronic. Amy was played by a female that looked like a teenager AND she was pretty badass. She fought Jerrys seductive powers for a loong time (the club scene was vastly improved...oh..and so sexy...). Ed was played by Christopher Mintz Plasse as a very, very likable geek. I felt so bad when he died (for reals).

Oh....oh....oh...David Tennat was Peter Vincent. Instead of a failing late night horror show host, Peter Vincent was similar to a Cris Angel type character for a Las Vegas Show. He was charming and a prick. He was a coward but rose up the fight. And he walked around in leather pants.

oh and colin ferrel was jerry. whatever.

The mother had more of a dynamic role in the modern remake and the action was just phenomenal!!! So many suspenseful scenes. So much comedy. I was freakin' out, laughing, clutching the edge of my seat. I damn LOVE the remake.

That is crazy, right!?!?! To love a remake more than the original.Several reasons:
1. there's more of a solid story. The plot holes were pretty filled up and made much more sense
2. the vampire changed from a demon who was there for no particular reason, to a demon who had a very damn good reason to be there
3. great mix of horror and comedy
4. action scenes
5. dynamic characters
6. so much fun!!!
7. DAVID TENNANT

There is one complait I have about both versions:
WHY DOES THE VAMPIRE EVEN BOTHER TO TRY TO KILL CHARLEY?!?!?
If Jerry just let Charley be annoying, then the whole town would have dismissed him as a token teenager. Instead, Jerry just brings more attention to himself. Wow....idiot...

Other than, both were great movies! Definitely recommend both. I haven't seen the sequel but I'm not too sure if I would...

By the way, Colin Ferrell played Jerry with the same sleazy sex appeal as Cris Sarondon did. Both are better vampires than Robert Pattinson...They actually look and act seductive. Not withered to the point that they need stupid sparkles to attract attention.