In the movie business, remakes can be a gamble. Either they’ll be a great success or a complete failure, and there is absolutely no in between. With this in mind, one would think the big Hollywood executives would be cautious when thinking about going down this path. Those in horror, though, go at it with full speed, all caution thrown to the wind.

 

Because horror movies can be cheap to make and require their actor to know more about how to wield a knife than recite a dramatic line, remakes are a dime a dozen. Of course these are not always the circumstances, but the fact still remains that Hollywood loves making horror film remakes. And sometimes, they actually get it right.

With successes like “The Ring,” “The Grudge” and “The Hill Have Eyes,” sometimes movie go-ers are given a film worthy of their money. These bloody, terrifying, waking up in the middle of the night and screaming-worthy movies made both financial and critical achievements.

The whole idea can be a bit complicated but at the same time so simple. Keep the story the same but add in a new twist. The original did well for one reason or another so why would one take that and butcher its storyline and characters into something unrecognizable?

“Prom Night,” originally made in 1980 starring “Scream Queen” Jamie Lee Curtis, was a story based on a revengeful killer going after a bunch of teens on their prom night. 2008’s remake finds its unfortunate party go-ers being sliced by their teacher turned stalker.

“Halloween” and its remake also fall prey to this, as the newer version tries to actually find reason for infamous Michael Meyer’s killings while the original threw any reasoning out the window, making the killer and his unexplainable actions more eerie and deadly. An even bigger mistake is that remakes sometimes amp up the gore and blood so much it turns its viewers off and sends them running from the theater instead.

The recent opening of the remake, “Fright Night,” however, didn’t disappoint. The story is straightforward enough: a teenage boy discovers his neighbor is a lethal vampire and scrambles to protect his girlfriend while getting some help from a supposed vampire expert/actor. Some comedy ensues along with enough scares and blood to deem it a “horror.” The remake stars Colin Farrell as the sexy vamp next door, Anton Yelchin as the poor kid to discover it, and David Tennant as the reluctant vampire “killer.”

The story still follows the original plot line if not for some small changes such as the film’s scenery, slight changes to characters and their stories, and better graphics. The new remake was even released in 3D.

While financially “Fright Night” didn’t make much to brag about, it was still praised for its acting and overall effect. Entertainment Weekly awarded the film with a B rating and commented on Farrell’s acting, “Colin Farrell’s performance as Jerry is the pulsing, stakeable heart of the movie. If the Twilight melodramas have tamed bloodsuckers by turning them into gelded (and gilded) objects of affection, Farrell makes his vampire terrifying precisely by returning his sexual agency and ramping up his boot.”

 

So, it is possible to make a horror remake right. Just stick to the roots, revamp it a little but not too much, and don’t try to overall gross out the viewers. And in terms of vampires, follow Colin Farrell’s example and remember that vampires viciously eat and kill people and don’t fall in love with them. (Sorry, Edward.)