All 4 Fright Night Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

Tom Holland’s Fright Night released in 1985 to relatively positive reviews, which caused it to become a cult classic movie that spawned a sequel as well as a reboot. In his directorial debut, Holland tackled the classic vampire creature in new, inventive ways that hadn’t been seen in the genre before. As a result, not all Fright Night movies are equally as impactful as the original. With four movies and a fifth on the way, each offers something entirely different, but how do they compare to one another? Here’s every Fright Night movie ranked from worst to best.

The 1985 movie stars Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandridge. The actor famously voiced Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas and starred in Don Mancini and Tom Holland’s Child’s Play as Detective Mike Norris. When Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) discovers that his neighbor Jerry is vampire, he must figure out a way to prove this fact and stop him before he harms anyone else. As the movie progresses, Charley is faced with having to stop his girlfriend’s transition into a vampire and his friend Ed becoming a werewolf then, later, the living dead. It is a highly involved movie that utilizes several creatures popular to the horror genre. Three years later, Tommy Lee Wallace of Halloween III: Season Of The Witch fame, directed Fright Night‘s sequel.

After approximately 23 years, a reboot was announced with Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) directing. It stars the late Anton Yelchin as Charley Brewster and Colin Farrell as Jerry. The movie follows the same basic premise of Holland’s original movie with some minimal alterations to the ending and characters. The sequel to the reboot was marketed as a horror/comedy, and released in 2013. It was largely unsuccessful, but still garnered some attention from the original cult classic’s fanbase. With Tom Holland’s news of a brand new sequel to his Fright Night, he intends to ignore every installment that followed and seems confident in his ability to create the follow-up it deserves. Without further ado, here’s how every existing Fright Night movie compares to one another.

4. Fright Night 2: New Blood (2013)

Fright Night 2: New Blood features an entirely new cast from the 2011 remake and follows almost the exact plot. Due to its marketing as a horror/comedy, fans were somewhat skeptical about this new addition to the franchise. It was largely underwhelming and featured Charley Brewster in the same situation he was in during the 1985 movie as well as the 2011 remake, which made it feel too repetitive. Fright Night 2: New Blood doesn’t offer anything but a history lesson about the franchise. The inclusion of Romanian history and its involvement with vampiric creatures as well as its repetitive plot makes it more of a reimagining of the original movie rather than a true sequel to the reboot.

3. Fright Night Part 2 (1988)

The follow-up to the original 1985 movie begins with Charley Brewster in therapy working through the trauma he experienced three years prior to the events of Fright Night 2. This is a familiar mode of progressing a character arc, and was featured in McG’s 2020 sequel to The Babysitter, The Babysitter: Killer Queen. Fright Night 2 made the transition from the original to the sequel more fluid by outlining the progression Brewster made in his personal life. Regardless of what it did well, Fright Night 2 was poorly received for its inability to match the creative flare of its predecessor. It relished in the original’s success as a cult classic, but didn’t perform in the ways that it needed to in order to be remarked as a good movie.

2. Fright Night (2011)

While it wasn’t an entirely necessary remake, Fright Night delivered a similar energy to its original with remarkable actors and special effects. It is a star-studded movie with Anton Yelchin as its lead, Colin Farrell as the villainous Jerry, and David Tennant (Doctor Who) as the vampire hunter Peter Vincent. Holland’s movie isn’t traditionally referred to as a horror/comedy, but its remake offered a mixture of hilarity within the horrors of a murderous vampire living next door. As far as remakes go, Fright Night is one of the best in comparison to others such as Rob Zombie’s take on Halloween and Jaume Collet-Serra’s House Of Wax. 

1. Fright Night (1985)

As is the case with most movie series and franchises, the original trumps every additional installment. Fright Night offered the same dose of horrors blended with practical effects that made other 1980’s horror movies so impeccable. While vampiric tales were traditionally relegated to various depictions of Dracula (or similar characters), Holland took an entirely different route and posited the question: what would someone do if they discovered their neighbor was a blood-sucking creature? There is no other director who can deliver the same brilliance behind the original Fright Night like its creator, which makes the upcoming sequel a highly anticipated flick that aims to give the 1985 movie justice.

About The Author