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Fright Night (franchise)

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Fright Night
Official franchise logo
Based onCharacters created by
Tom Holland
Release date
1985–present
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$68,908,628
(Total of 3 films)
Box office≤ $47,100,000
(Total of 3 films)[a]

The Fright Night franchise consists of American vampire horror-comedy films, including three theatrical releases with an original movie, its sequel and a remake, followed by one straight-to-home video sequel to the remake. Based on an original story by writer-director Tom Holland, the overall plot of each installment follows an adolescent hero who determines that his next door neighbor is a real-life vampire and his pursuits in defeating the monster.

The original film was met with positive financial and critical reception.[1][2] Conversely its sequel lost money for the studio, and was met with negative response from critics.[3] Despite this, it has found some welcoming retrospective praise in later years.[4][5] The 2011 remake movie was deemed a critical and box office success.[6][7] In modern-day analysis, film critics have deemed the film to be one of the best horror remakes of all-time,[8][9][10] with some arguing that its a better movie than the original.[11][12][13] The film's respective sequel was met with overwhelming negative reception from film critics, and earned little income from video rentals.[14][15][16]

The franchise will continue with a legacy-sequel to the 1985 movie, currently in development.[17][18]

Film

[edit]
Film U.S.
release date 		Director Screenwriter(s) Producer(s)
Fright Night August 2, 1985 (1985-08-02) Tom Holland Herb Jaffe
Fright Night Part 2 May 19, 1989 (1989-05-19) Tommy Lee Wallace Tommy Lee Wallace and
Tim Metcalfe & Miguel Tejada-Flores 		Herb Jaffe and Mort Engelberg
Fright Night August 19, 2011 (2011-08-19) Craig Gillespie Marti Noxon Michael De Luca and Alison Rosenzweig
Fright Night 2: New Blood September 30, 2013 (2013-09-30) Eduardo Rodríguez Matt Venne Michael J. Gaeta and Alison R. Rosenzweig

Fright Night (1985)

[edit]
Main article: Fright Night

Charley Brewster, a teenage fan of a weekly television series titled Fright Night who is an avid horror enthusiast, begins to question the intentions of the neighbor who recently moved into the neighborhood named Jerry Dandrige, and his roommate Billy Cole. After a number of occurrences, Charley begins to suspect that Jerry may actually be a vampire. When a series of suspicious homicides involving women are brought to light, Charley is convinced that Jerry is responsible. After attempts to inform the police prove unsuccessful, Charley, his girlfriend Amy, and his friend Edward "Evil Ed" Thompson seek the help of has-been host of his favorite television program, Peter Vincent. Though Peter is initially skeptical, he begins to realize there is more to Charley's suspicions than everyone realizes. Together the team looks for a way to kill the vampire living next door.[19][20][21]

Fright Night Part 2 (1989)

[edit]
Main article: Fright Night Part 2

After three years of overcoming his trauma from the events that transpired with his vampiric neighbor, Charley Brewster realizes that the incident is improbable. The now twenty-year-old survivor attends numerous counseling sessions, where his counselor is convinced that the undead monsters he came in contact with years before were merely figments of his overactive imagination. As a part of his therapy, he avoids contact with Peter Vincent who had helped him slay the vampires. When several new residents move into the neighborhood, including the seductive actress named Regine Dandrige, Charley begins to question their intentions. Charley realizes that she is Jerry's sister, as she begins to take unusual interest in Charley, his new girlfriend Alex, and Peter. The team come to the conclusion that she is a vampire seeking revenge for the destruction of her undead brother. Haunted by the past, and hunted by a monster, Charley must overcome his fears to once again defeat the monsters that feast on the civilians of his town.[5][22][4]

Fright Night (2011)

[edit]
Main article: Fright Night (2011 film)

Charley Brewster, a teenage senior in high school who's dating the most popular girl at school named Amy, is enjoying his school year. This changes however, when Jerry Dandrige moves in next door. Jerry is charismatic and becomes a person of interest, when Charley witnesses some unusual activity going on next door. After a series of events, Charley becomes convinced that his new neighbor is a vampire. Though he shares his theory with others, no one believes him. Together with his girlfriend, he seeks the help of an illusionist and expert of the supernatural named Peter Vincent. As a team, they set out to kill the monster that is plaguing their neighborhood, before he overtakes them all.[23][24][25][26][27]

Fright Night 2: New Blood (2013)

[edit]
Main article: Fright Night 2: New Blood

Some time after their near-death experiences while encountering Jerry Dandrige, Charley Brewster attends a college in Romania as a foreign exchange student, alongside his friend "Evil" Ed and his ex-girlfriend Amy. Following a series of events, he begins to suspect that his seductive art professor Gerri Dandrige may also be undead. As he begins to investigate his suspicions further he discovers that she is actually the ancient Elizabeth Báthory, a vampire who seeks to complete a pagan ritual with the blood of a "new moon virgin" and that she plans to do so with Amy. Though their relationship didn't last, Charley still loves Amy, and is determined to stop the sacrifice from happening. As things seem to be hopeless he turns once again to the person that helped him defeat Jerry, the vampire hunter Peter Vincent. Together they race against time, to stop the monsters from completing their scheme which will turn them all into creatures of the night.[14][28]

Future

[edit]

In October 2020, Tom Holland announced that a legacy sequel to the original film which largely ignores the events of Part 2, was in development. Holland stated that he is working on a script that is tentatively titled, Fright Night: Resurrection. The project will largely, retcon the events of the 1988 sequel. Though the filmmaker would not reveal many of the story details, he stated that the plot involves original characters: Charlie Brewster, Edward "Evil Ed" Thompson, Jerry Dandrige, and Billy Cole.[17][18]

Main cast and characters

[edit]
List indicator(s)

This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in more than two films in the series.

  • An empty, dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
Character Title
Fright Night
(1985) 		Fright Night Part 2 Fright Night
(2011) 		Fright Night 2:
New Blood
Charley Brewster William Ragsdale Anton Yelchin Will Payne
Jerry Dandrige Chris Sarandon mentioned Colin Farrell mentioned
Edward “Evil Ed” Lee Stephen Geoffreys   Christopher Mintz-Plasse Chris Waller
Peter Vincent Roddy McDowall David Tennant Sean Power
Regine Dandrige   Julie Carmen  
Elizabeth Báthory
Gerri Dandridge 		  Jaime Murray
Amy Peterson Amanda Bearse   Imogen Poots Sacha Parkinson
Alex Young   Traci Lind  

Additional crew and production details

[edit]
Film Crew/Detail
Composer Cinematographer Editor Production
companies 		Distributing
company 		Running time
Fright Night (1985) Brad Fiedel Jan Kiesser Kent Beyda Columbia Pictures,
Vistar Films,
Columbia-Delphi IV Productions 		Columbia Pictures 1hr 46mins
Fright Night Part 2 Mark Irwin Jay Lash Cassidy The Vista Organization,
New Century Vista Film Company 		TriStar Pictures 1hr 44mins
Fright Night (2011) Ramin Djawadi Javier Aguirresarobe Tatiana S. Riegel DreamWorks Pictures,
Michael De Luca Productions,
Gaeta/Rosenzweig Films 		Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures 1hr 46mins
Fright Night 2:
New Blood 		Luis Ascanio Yaron Levy Don Adams 20th Century Fox,
Gaeta / Rosenzweig Films 		20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 1hr 39mins

Reception

[edit]
For more details on the reception of each film, see the "Reception" section on each film's article.

Box office and financial performance

[edit]
Film Box office gross Box office
ranking 		Video
sales gross 		Worldwide
sales total 		Budget Worldwide total
net income 		Ref.
North America Other territories Worldwide All-time
domestic 		All-time
worldwide 		North America
Fright Night (1985) $24,922,237 — $24,922,237 #3,196 #4,460 figures not available > $24,922,237 $7,000,000 > $17,922,237 [1][29][30]
Fright Night Part 2 $2,983,784 — $2,983,784 #7,324 #11,283 figures not available > $2,983,784 $8,000,000 > -$5,016,216 [3][31][32]
Fright Night (2011) $18,302,607 $22,700,000 $41,002,607 #3,834 #2,949 $10,738,948 $51,741,555 $30,000,000 $21,741,555 [6][33]
Fright Night 2: New Blood — — — — — $1,009,614 $1,009,614 < $2,100,000 ~ -$1,090,386 [16][34][35]
Totals $46,208,628 $22,700,000 $68,908,628 x̅ #3,589 x̅ #4,673 $11,748,562 > $80,657,190 ≤ $47,100,000 > ~$33,557,190

Critical and public response

[edit]
Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore
Fright Night (1985) 92%
(38 reviews)[2] 		62/100
(13 reviews)[36] 		—
Fright Night Part 2 30%
(10 reviews)[37] 		— —
Fright Night (2011) 72%
(180 reviews)[7] 		64/100
(30 reviews)[38] 		B−[39]
Fright Night 2: New Blood TBD[15] — —

Stage

[edit]

The official stage adaptation made its debut at the Carnegie Stage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2018. Directed by Erynn Dalton, with a stage-play written by James Michael Shoberg, the production was a joint-venture production between Rage of the Stage Players, and Infinite Abyss studios. Dan Finkel, Elena Cristina Lázaro, Greg Crawford, Corey Shaffer, Brian Ceponis, and Ryan Ott featured in the primary cast: Charley Brewster, Amy Petersen, Peter Vincent, Edward "Evil Ed" Thompson, Jerry Dandrige, and Billy Cole, respectively. The plot closely followed that of the original film, while adding additional content and plot devices.

The play was well received by critics with praise directed at its cast, the script, its use of nostalgic undertones, the cast's performance, the production quality including costumes and set design, the integration of horror-campiness, the suspenseful story, and the interactive nature of the play. Criticism was directed at its pacing.[40][41]

In other media

[edit]
Literary releases
  • Novelizations:
  • Fright Night (1985): Published by Tor Books and developed to release as a novelization to coincide with the feature film debut, in 1985. The book was co-written by Craig Spector and John Skipp, after the authors received a copy of the script. Though the plot follows the movie closely, there are additional scenes in its pages that explore character releations.[42][43]
  • Fright Night: Origins (2022): An adaptation and expansion of the original film, published by Holland House and Encyclopocalypse Publications. The novel expands on the source material, and is co-written by franchise creator Tom Holland, alongside A. Jack Ulrich. The plot is stated to include greater detail and convey ideas that Holland had to cut previously due to time constraints on the movie. Holland stated that, the book is "intend to take the Fright Night universe far beyond the story the films have told". The book was released on September 6, 2022.[44]
  • Comic book series: A series of 27 comic book literary releases, published by NOW Comics and released from 1988-1993, the standalone series of comic books released Fright Night Part 2 as a graphic novel. After its release, the continuing series centered around the further adventures of Peter Vincent and Charley Brewster, who team up to fight an array of monsters. In the final issues, Jerry Dandrige was brought back from the dead and featured in a story-arc where he accumulates an army of French vampire wives. The comics were abruptly cancelled when the company filed for bankruptcy.[45]
Video game

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ These figures are based on the available numbers for the theatrically released films.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Fright Night (1985) - Financial Information".
  2. ^ a b "Fright Night". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Fright Night Part 2 (1989) - Financial Information".
  4. ^ a b Bolding, Hunter (September 14, 2020). "THS Fright A-Thon: Fright Night Part 2, A Fitting Sequel to the Original Classic". The Hashtag Show. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Miller, Seth T. (September 30, 2019). "Retro Review: FRIGHT NIGHT PART 2 (1988) A Guilty Pleasure". The Horror Syndicate. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Fright Night (2011) - Financial Information".
  7. ^ a b "Fright Night". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  8. ^ Phillips, Marian (November 20, 2022). "All 4 Fright Night Movies Ranked From Worst To Best". ScreenRant. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  9. ^ Paul, Beau (September 28, 2022). "One of the most underrated horror remakes ever still delivers a sharp bite". We Got This Covered. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  10. ^ Fugere, Mike (December 14, 2017). "Why the Criminally Underrated 'Fright Night' is a Near-Perfect Horror Remake". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  11. ^ Donato, Matt (July 4, 2022). "'Fright Night': A Remake So Good It May Outshine the Original Classic [Revenge of the Remakes]". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  12. ^ Bartle, Trisha (March 10, 2022). "6 Reasons Why The 'Fright Night' Remake Is Better Than The Original, I Swear". Collective World. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  13. ^ McCoy, Joshua Kristian (September 28, 2021). "This Horror Remake Is Surprisingly Better Than The Original". GameRant. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  14. ^ a b Hunter, Rob (May 25, 2020). "'Fright Night 2: New Blood' Is A Direct-To-Video Sequel To A Remake, So You Can Guess The Quality". Slash Film. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Fright Night 2: New Blood". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  16. ^ a b "Fright Night 2: New Blood (2013) - Financial Information".
  17. ^ a b Pockross, Adam (October 26, 2020). "Tom Holland is 31,000 Words into Fright Night 2: Resurrection, and Yes, Evil Ed is Back". SyFy Wire. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  18. ^ a b Vanacker, Rebecca (November 5, 2020). "Fright Night 2 In Development With Original Director, May Retcon 1988's Sequel". ScreenRant. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  19. ^ Variety staff (December 31, 1984). "Fright Night". Variety. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  20. ^ Ian, Nathan (April 27, 2006). "Fright Night Review". Empire. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  21. ^ Kacvinsky, Chris (October 31, 2020). "Welcome to Fright Night (1985) – Retro Review". Screen Mayhem. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  22. ^ Thurman, Trace (February 12, 2019). "[Horror Queers] The Delicious Camp of 'Fright Night Part 2' and its Genderqueer Henchvamp". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  23. ^ Koehler, Robert (August 17, 2011). "Fright Night". Variety. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  24. ^ Clarke, Cath (September 1, 2011). "Fright Night – review". The Guardian. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  25. ^ Scott, A.O. (August 18, 2011). "Those Good, Old Vampires, and Now They're in 3-D". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  26. ^ Tilly, Chris (August 18, 2011). "Fright Night Review". IGN. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  27. ^ Staskiewicz, Keith (August 21, 2011). "Fright Night Review - Colin Farrell". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  28. ^ Walkuski, Eric (October 1, 2013). "Fright Night 2: New Blood (Movie Review)". JoBlo. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  29. ^ "Fright Night".
  30. ^ Champlin, Charles (March 16, 1985). "Critic At Large : Fangs For Those Memories". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  31. ^ "Fright Night Part 2".
  32. ^ "AFI|Catalog".
  33. ^ "Fright Night".
  34. ^ "Fright Night 2: New Blood Blu-ray Review | High Def Digest".
  35. ^ Stephen Follows (September 22, 2014). "What's the average budget of a low or micro-budget film?". Stephen Follows Film Data and Education. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  36. ^ "Fright Night (1985)". Metacritic.
  37. ^ "Fright Night Part 2". Rotten Tomatoes. Red Ventures. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  38. ^ "Fright Night (2011)". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  39. ^ "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. CinemaScore: Hollywood's Benchmark. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  40. ^ Thomason, John (July 15, 2022). "Theatre Review: "Fright Night" Scares Up Laughs, Horror, Nostalgia". Boca. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  41. ^ Orange, B. Alan (September 11, 2018). "Fright Night Gets Turned Into a Stage Play by Pittsburgh Theater Company". MovieWeb. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  42. ^ Skipp, John; Spector, Craig (1985). amazon.com: Fright Night by John Skipp and Craig Spector. ISBN 0812525647.
  43. ^ "A Conversation with John Skipp". shocktotem.com. 2011-02-12. Archived from the original on 2011-02-24. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  44. ^ Squires, John (September 29, 2022). "'Fright Night: Origins' – Tom Holland Returns With Brand New 'Fright Night' Novel!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  45. ^ "It's So Long For Now: Caputo Files for Bankruptcy Liquidation", The Comics Journal #140 (February 1991), pp. 11-12.
  46. ^ "Fright Night (Amiga)". Moby Games. Moby Games. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  47. ^ "Info Magazine Issue 28". September 28, 1989. Retrieved August 25, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
  48. ^ "ST Amiga Format Magazine Issue 011". Retrieved August 25, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
  49. ^ "Amiga Computing Magazine Issue 014". July 28, 1989. Retrieved August 25, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
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