It’s been confirmed by sources like The Hollywood Reporter and my pals at Fangoria that 1985′s Fright Night will be getting the remake treatment. Now, I don’t want to be one of those people that runs down a remake before it appears; in fact, I thought that the Battlestar revamp succeeded beyond my wildest imagination, and I enjoyed Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead. That said, I think that THIS remake in particular is probably a bad idea.
Why?
Part of the charm of the original is that the plot partially turned on something that has all but disappeared: the local horror movie host. I was born in 1973, and had the good fortune of watching Sammy Terry out of Indianapolis for many years. My experience echoes the experiences of many of my (and at least one previous) generation: their Elvira, their Svengoolie, their Dr. Creep, and so on, were key figures in introducing them to the horror genre. While a few still operate, like Dr. Gangrene, their influence has waned. In fact, several of my college students had no idea that such a phenomenon existed until I brought it up in film class one day. (For more on this, if you’re curious, consult the sublime The Monster Show by David J. Skal, among others.)
So, if you retain that set-up, you’re going to have to explain that set-up, and you’re going to lose a portion of your target audience off the bat. However, without that set-up, there is nothing to distinguish Fright Night from most other run-of-the-mill vampire tales (of the non-sparkling variety). The charm is the bond that develops between Charlie, who believes that his neighbor is a vampire, and Peter Vincent, the washed-up actor turned horror host. And it was important that Peter was a LOCAL TV horror host: had he been a celebrity or a remotely located internet presence, then Charlie wouldn’t have been able to find and interact with him in the first place.
Really, the two original Fright Night films are vestiges of their times. Peter is aware that the world is passing him by, and he sees the vampire fights as his last great adventures. Also, there’s almost a kind of naivete at play in the characters of Charlie and his friends. Today’s teens generally don’t stay in to watch the local horror guy; they’d rent or Netflix or download if they wanted to watch a horror film (especially modern films, due to broadcast TV’s hamfisted editing).
SO . . . if they decide to remake Fright Night and make it a period piece, then it might work. I’d almost tell them to roll back further and set it in the ’70s to eliminate the obvious complications of home video, cell phones, and other conveniences that would overcome elements that present audiences would see as plot holes. However, relocating it too far back would create a problem for the character of Peter, as he actually WOULDN’T be that old and that far out of the business.
As it is, I don’t want to be the guy that says “Don’t remake anything.” In this case, however, they might be better served to just let this one go by the wayside. And if you’ve never seen Fright Night, check it out. It’s not the greatest movie in the world by today’s standards, but I’ve got a soft spot in my dark heart for it (and the performances, particularly the great Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowell, are solid). Pair it with The Monster Squad and you’ve got yourself a fairly light-hearted ’80s creature double-feature.
Ah, The Monster Squad. Maybe we’ll talk of that another day . . .
May 14th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Considering they remade HALLOWEEN which ( the remake) was horrible. And they remade Friday the 13th. ( which took away from the whole first movies premise) Fright Night seems to make more sense as a remake then those.
May 14th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Could not agree more with this. And apparently you aren’t the only one scratching their head today. Other sites, including AICN, are having the same reaction. Obviously, if this reaction is the instant consensus it says one of two things: This is a sample of some ‘suits’ combing old properties for quick buck based on name recognition.. or trying to update or change the premise.. which as you’ve pointed out very well, isn’t very doable.
May 14th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
My great fear is that they’ll take Peter Vincent out of the film altogether, or they won’t be smart enough to figure out the right way to re-insert him – the horror convention.
Hell, my great fear is that it actually happens. It was a good movie, but not so good that I need to see another version of.
I promise you, given the inclination, anyone could come up with at least one new idea for a vampire movie.
May 14th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I agree with everything said.
And, man, do I miss Sammy Terry! And Friday Night Kung-Fu Theater!
May 14th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
“It was a good movie, but not so good that I need to see another version of.”
That pretty much sums up my thoughts on Fright Night as well, but I just wanted to comment on the horror-host aspect. I grew up in the tail-end of Dr. Creep’s run on local broadcast tv. Watching “Shock Theatre” with my mom is a great memory, and I truly wish something like this would be on television now. As it is, Dr. Creep and other horror-hosts can be found on Public Access channels, and have their charms, but it’s sad that this great bit of Americana is pretty much gone from the TV landscape.
Anyhoo, I wish I could provide more information, but Dr. Creep (real name Barry Hobart) has fallen pretty ill, and there’s been a small charity set up to help him out. The only thing I could find is a myspace page for a Dr. Creep Benefit concert. http://www.myspace.com/drcreepbenefit.
Also there’s a documentary on the late-night horror host called “American Scary”.
May 15th, 2009 at 3:20 am
I say, bring it on! Placing the burden of success on a plot device, while important to the setup, held little significance to the payoff. The basic ingredients of FRIGHT NIGHT can be reproduced wonderfully for today’s market.
Vampire moves into quite neighborhood. Boy cries wolf. Hi jinx ensue. Boy convinces reluctant horror-star-has-been to help save the day. This foundation is so rich and yet extremely accessible for updating.
More, make the boy a fanatical horror geek, ramp up the movie’s self consciousness, and you’ve got a movie that can do for vampires what SCREAM did for slashers.
May 15th, 2009 at 8:05 am
“And they remade Friday the 13th. ( which took away from the whole first movies premise”
They did? I’m pretty sure they included that in the brief opening sequence. They had to fast forward through it, though, as people show up to a Friday the 13th movie looking for Jason.
FRIGHT NIGHT has a special place in my heart, too. I especially remember the protagonist’s geeky friend who seemed to be turning up in a bunch of product around that time and then POOF…disappeared. Guess once his look couldn’t really get him adult roles.
I wouldn’t put this on par with MONSTER SQUAD, though, as I think this actually made an effort at being scary.
Part of me thinks that they’re mainly just interested in the title, more than the premise. It’s such a basic, on-the-nose title for a horror movie. Been too many horror movies with more than 3 words or syllables in their title. Need to keep it simple and to the point with today’s audiences.
May 15th, 2009 at 10:03 am
We had Zacherley in New York, of course, and there were a couple of good hosts on cable for a while. Commander USA’s Groovie Movies was fun, and Lenny Clarke had a show on WSBK in Boston called the Lenny Clarke Late Show. And of course, after SNL, WWOR had Fright Night.
I’d say the closest thing to this the latest generation had was MST3K and Elvira. Damn shame. Rob Zombie hosts TCM Underground where he runs all sorts of genre and exploitation films, so that’s something.
A lot of things from early TV have gone away. In addition to the late-night host, I’m a big fan of the local kiddie show host. New York had Wonderama, Captain Jack McCarthy and a lot more.
May 15th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Well, my view is basically “FRIGHT NIGHT was great. Don’t remake great movies. Remake crap that can be improved.”
As for how to work in Peter Vincent – I’d make him a former actor that had the bad fortune to live near horror-freak Charlie. Give them a pre-established relationship of Charlie bugging him about real monsters for years, maybe, so this is just one more time that the kid won’t leave the tired old man alone…until he realizes it’s true.
That said, I’d still rather they just left it the heck alone
and did something new.
Besides, FRIGHT NIGHT has already been remade once. Anyone see NEVER CRY WEREWOLF?
May 15th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I’m going to have to go against all the praise for the original.
I don’t have very favourable memories of the thing at all.
I particularly remember the vampire makeup as looking ridiculous rather than either scary (for any of the scary scenes) or tragically horrifying (like in the scene where the girlfriend is shown to have turned; her reveal made me laugh, at a point where you definitely weren’t supposed to). The split-faced huge-mouth version of a vampire face was clearly meant to blow the audience away with how much more over-the-top it was than what had been done in other vampire films, but it just came across as clownish in execution.