The Bizarre, the Beautiful, and the Divine: Fright Night

There was a campy and fantastic duo of vampire movies produced in the eighties that had that wonderful blend of comedy and horror. The series is centred around Charles Brewster (Charlie to his friends) and through him the not so brave vampire hunter Peter Vincent.

Fright Night (the original) sees Charlie as a normal teenager who is trying to make it with his girlfriend, has a passion for a late night horror program on TV called Fright Night, and plays voyeur. This habit is what brings trouble down on him (moral lesson) when he spies his new neighbour Jerry and his "assistant" disposing of a body. He investigates and eventually discovers that his neighbour is a vampire. His life is in danger and his friends think he's crazy, however Charlie doesn't just give up; he goes looking for help in vampire hunter Peter Vincent (the host of Fright Night). Who only humours him until, by chance, he sees that Jerry casts no reflection. It's a battle between fear and courage from then on, with the heroes triumphing in the end.
As a side plot, and the reason it is not the featured film, is that Charlie's girlfriend Amy looks just like the neighbours long dead beloved. So of course she becomes his target and must be rescued. Not original and not appealing.

The remake of Fright Night is a much better version of this story, with Charlie being the vampire's main target. Anton Yelchin as Charlie is unparallelled (there are times when you can just feel his anguish and terror) and Colin Farrell as Jerry is menacing and alluring.

Fright Night Part 2 is by far the better film. It builds on what has come before and layers the horror as our heroes are stalked, their lives being slowly destroyed by the vampires hunting them. This time Charlie is the victim and one in need of rescuing. The vampire Regina plots to turn him into a vampire, kill his friends, and drive Peter Vincent crazy. After the trauma of the first movie Charlie is in therapy and has been convinced that vampires don't exist, so it is up to Peter and Charlie's girlfriend Alex to save him from an eternity of torture at Regina's hands.
I love this movie. The writing is strong, the pace is good, and the characters retain what made them so enjoyable: Peter is still not the brave hunter and Charlie is a sort of hapless hero. Although scoffing at the thought of vampires initially, Alex is awesome enough to take control and go off to rescue her man.