WARNING: This Review May Contain Spoilers
From the mind of Tom Holland (no, not that one) came the story of Charley Brewster and the vampire next door. It seems that when choosing to remake this film, Craig Gillespie believed that not enough death took place. So, here’s my opinion on who told the story better (you’ll probably be able to predict the conclusion).
Jerry the Vampire
This is actually the main area in the remake that I well and truly dislike. You all know from reading previous articles, I am never one to criticise the actual acting involved however I really don’t think I can avoid it this time. I’m not saying Colin Farrell is a bad actor but there’s something about him as Jerry that is quite wooden and that’s very unfortunate. I’ll be honest, I can’t un-see Chris Sarandon as Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride but his portrayal of Jerry is so much better. He’s suave and alluring whereas Farrell just looks like he’s ready to knock back a few cans of beer and watch some football but I guess may be that also comes with decade the film has been made in.
The Greatest Vampire Killer
As character comparisons are always so much fun, here’s another one. Truthfully I have no real criticism over the way David Tennant portrays the character of Peter Vincent (a name which I am certain is made of Peter Cushing and Vincent Price but that’s not important) and I even think the way the character has been styled for the 2011 film really suits him. My issue therefore is his occupation. I don’t know if it was decided on for the new generation but I really don’t think there was much need to make him such a showman. It’s well known from the original film that the character is a television charlatan so why the need to suddenly glamorise him?
Too Close For Comfort
I think this may be a tool in the remake that Gillespie tried to use to make the film scarier, but in my opinion it ultimately fails. It seems that everyone that ‘disappears’ in the 2011 version is either a neighbour or classmate of Charley Brewster’s. Isn’t this a little more obvious than the prostitutes that Jerry invites over in the original? Like, how does no one figure this out or go looking for these people? The only connection to Brewster that we know of in the original is that he turns both his friend and girlfriend.
Homages to the Original
This is something I always quite enjoy picking out of remakes because it proves they never can escape where they came from.
Firstly, there’s the apple. When Charley and Doris are escaping from Jerry’s house in the 2011 film, they have a near miss when Jerry decides to go back to the kitchen to grab himself an apple. Interestingly, almost every scene of Jerry in the original film, he is eating a piece of fruit and more specifically – when we first meet him, he throws a half-eaten apple in Charley’s direction…just to let him know he is aware he’s watching.
Then there is the light. I know what you’re thinking, who wouldn’t turn on the light in a dark basement or hallway but there’s something about the way David Tennant does it in the remake that almost give the feel of being a nod to the original film when Charley and Vincent follow Jerry into the basement.
Additional Information
So, here’s something that doesn’t feature in the original film – Peter Vincent’s backstory. I’ll be honest, I don’t know how pertinent it actually is to the storyline to know that his parents were killed by a vampire (who surprise surprise turns out to be Jerry) but what I guess I can say for it is that it changes your perception of the opening scene. I seriously thought what we see at the beginning is the death of one of Charley’s class mates but once you hear Peter’s story you actually realise that wasn’t the case.
In Conclusion
I’m not going to say that I don’t like the remake because on second watching I did think it was a much better film (see, first impressions can be changed) but I still don’t believe it matches up the original. No, I am not going to blame it all on Colin Farrell’s acting, even though I do feel that is big part of the problem, and this isn’t me being a purist (even though I say this kind of thing all the time) I just believe that the idea was portrayed much better in the 80’s than in 2011.
